Johnson has set a course for a vote later this week on a package of Ukraine funding that also includes Israel and Taiwan. But he could also potentially lose his job in the process.
Kentucky 4th District Rep. Thomas Massie told reporters the plans he’s heard from Johnson so far on the issue could be a step too far for GOP lawmakers increasingly disenchanted with his leadership.
"If Mike Johnson insists on getting to the endpoint that Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer want... I don't know that there's any red lines, but I think he's already overdrafted on his political capital," Massie told a bank of reporters this week.
The speaker has acknowledged he'll need Democratic support to hold separate votes on each of the aid packages — a move Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has said puts Johnson “out of step” with Republicans who don’t want to pass bills relying on Democrats.
Massie is cosponsoring Greene’s motion to vacate, which would leave the House without a speaker again. The Kentucky congressman is calling on Johnson to voluntarily resign.
Sen. Rand Paul is also joining the right-wing chorus against Johnson, who is facing renewed threats to his leadership as he works to navigate a contentious the intraparty debate.
Paul said Massie is “doing the right thing” by joining the call for Johnson to step down.
The Kentucky senator told Fox News that Speaker Johnson isn’t living up to his conservative principles.
"I wanted to give him a break and I have for a couple months. This is the first time I've really spoken out, but the speaker has got to be a speaker. He's got to be a leader of his party, not a capitulator to the other party," the senator said.
Currently, any single member of the House can force a floor vote on the motion to vacate — part of the deal Kevin McCarthy made to become speaker last year. CNN reports Johnson is being lobbied to raise the threshold required to trigger that procedure, a move that could insulate him from threats of removal.
