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Vermont’s Democratic delegate to the U.S. House joined a bipartisan coalition on Wednesday to block the ouster of the chamber’s Republican speaker.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., voted to table a measure that would have declared the speaker’s office vacant. Had it passed, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would have been removed, and the body would have been without a leader for the second time in a year.
The measure was advanced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and other hard-right House members who criticized Johnson for working with Democrats to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel and to fund the government, but it was opposed by most Republicans. The vote to table it was 359-43.
The last time such a measure was considered, in October 2023, Balint and fellow Democrats joined hard-right Republicans in voting to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. This time, 163 Democrats voted to table it, 32 opposed tabling it and seven voted present. Many of the more progressive members of the House with whom Balint typically votes opposed tabling the measure or voted present.
“Vermonters have had enough of the chaos from the Republicans in the House and need government to truly work for them,” Balint said in a written statement Thursday. “Conflict entrepreneurs like Marjorie Taylor Greene have no policy agenda and no leadership, only a desire for media attention. I refuse to feed into it.”
She added, “It’s time to end the distractions from the real work so we can meet the urgent needs of the American people.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Becca Balint votes to block ouster of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
