Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Out Mike Johnson's Faith

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, has called House Speaker Mike Johnson's faith into question following the approval of the $1.2-trillion government spending bill for the 2024 fiscal year.

After months of delaying a government shutdown with stopgap bills, Congress managed to keep the government funded until September 30 after Congress passed two spending bills, including a $1.2-trillion bill that would keep agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Greene said that Johnson "can't follow Christ and fund full-term abortion clinics. That's the inconvenient truth.

"And EVERY Republican in my conference that voted for the $1.2 TRILLION woke, trans ideology, DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], Open Border Policy, abortion ABOMINATION omnibus that is upset with me, YOU should be outraged that your Speaker made you walk that plank for him in order to pay our military soldiers."

She continued: "My motion to vacate is a force for change and Republicans better take it seriously and spend the necessary time planning and coming together for new leadership that will not serve the Uniparty, but instead holds firm to our convictions and the promises we make to the people who send us to represent them. You might not like it but you know I'm right."

Newsweek reached out to Greene and Johnson's offices via email and phone for comment.

Johnson has presented himself as a devout Christian and has even been criticized for having ties to Christian nationalism.

In an opinion piece for MSNBC, columnist Sarah Posner described Johnson as the "most unabashedly Christian, nationalist Speaker" in history, while noting the Republican previously worked as an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly Alliance Defense Fund or ADF, a Christian advocacy group Posner described as having ambitions to "eviscerate the separation of church and state."

Johnson has also been an advocate for anti-abortion legislation. In November 2023, EMILYs List, a political action committee aimed at electing women who support abortion rights, announced that it was putting Johnson "'On Notice' for 2024, along with the 23 of his extremist Republican supporters." This is a list of incumbent representatives who support anti-abortion policies.

While it is not immediately clear what Greene meant by the bill funding full-term abortion clinics, Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, tried and failed to amend the $1.2-trillion spending bill to omit the funding of two hospitals that provide abortion care up to 22 weeks.

The two hospitals were the Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island, which received $1,808,000 in the approved bill, and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua in New Hampshire, which received $650,000.

"Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Nashua will be using the $650,000 Congressional funding to improve access to endocrinology services, including adding diabetes educators and constructing new clinical space," the medical center said in an emailed statement to Newsweek on Wednesday.

"Approximately 113,110 people in New Hampshire, or 10.1 percent of the adult population, have diagnosed diabetes. An additional 29,000 people in New Hampshire have diabetes, but don't know it, greatly increasing their health risk. Dartmouth Health appreciates Sen. [Jeanne] Shaheen's support to ensure access to necessary care."

Shannon Sullivan, president and chief operating officer of Women and Infants Hospital, told Newsweek in an emailed statement on Wednesday, "We are thankful for the crucial funds President Biden and US Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse fought for and secured on behalf of Rhode Islanders, which will help Women and Infants Hospital support midwives who are essential healthcare providers who care for birthing people throughout their healthcare journey, as well as the hospital's Alongside Unit.

"The unit will provide a proven safe, satisfying, and equitable model that employs central components of support for physiologic perinatal care: comfort, intermittent auscultation, and hydrotherapy, which are essential to our patient population.

"These currently underutilized care modalities are associated with low cesarean rates and high breastfeeding success—core perinatal measures of health. These funds will be used to support this type of care for Rhode Island birthing families who choose a midwife-led setting for low-risk birth."

The House passed the financial bill brokered by Johnson on Friday by a vote of 286 to 134. The House speaker from Louisiana relied on the Democrats to help pass the bill as 112 Republicans, including Greene, voted against it. Only 22 House Democrats opposed the spending package. The bill was subsequently passed by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday.

Following the House vote, Greene has pushed to oust Johnson from the speaker's seat. If Greene were to succeed, Johnson would face the same fate as former Congressman Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who was voted out of the speaker's chair in October 2023 after being voted into the position in January 2023. McCarthy later retired from Congress in December 2023.

Greene introduced a motion to vacate Johnson on Friday, the same day that the spending bill was passed. If privilege is recognized, then after introduction, a lawmaker must request a vote on the resolution, which would force Johnson to call a vote within two legislative days.

A simple majority is required for it to pass, in which case the speaker is removed immediately. However, Greene did not file the resolution as privileged, meaning it cannot be considered until after Congress' 2-week recess, which started last Saturday.

Update 3/27/2024, 1:31 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua.

Update 3/27/2024, 4:07 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the Women and Infants Hospital.