May 9, 2024 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) issued the following statement today on his vote yesterday to block a resolution to remove Rep. Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House:
“I voted to table an attempt to remove Speaker Johnson yesterday because I strongly believe the House must govern constructively. Marjorie Taylor Greene sought to punish the Speaker for preventing a government shutdown and allowing a vote to fund assistance to Ukraine, both of which were correct decisions which I support.
“I agreed with House Democratic leadership’s assessment that her resolution sought dysfunction and chaos, and would have derailed vital work to benefit the American people. Ultimately, Speaker Johnson saw just as many Republican defections on this vote as Speaker McCarthy did in October. House Democrats provided the votes that made the difference because we believe in leading responsibly.
“But my support for tabling attempts to remove Speaker Johnson is not open-ended.
“The Speaker wisely chose to marginalize extremists in his conference and govern in a bipartisan way leading up to that vote. That must continue. I viewed his press conference echoing false claims of widespread election fraud – the very claims that inspired the January 6th attack on the Capitol – with deep concern.
“Regardless of who wins the 2024 election, Congress will play its normal constitutional role in certifying the results. There must be no repeat of the political violence or the attack on our democracy that we saw in 2021, which resulted in a number of deaths including several of my constituents. False claims of massive election fraud and the big lie of a stolen election are akin to playing with a loaded gun. If Speaker Johnson uses his position to elevate election denialism he will jeopardize Democratic votes to prevent future attempts to remove him, including mine.”