Republican Women Challenge Speaker Johnson Amidst Healthcare and Gender Tensions

Key Quotes

"you're seeing republican women lash out directly at the speaker because he sidelines us and and doesn't take us seriously mtg is reportedly plotting a long shot effort to remove johnson from the speakership she accuses him of among other things not having a plan to deal with the coming healthcare crisis millions of americans are going to see their insurance premiums rise in the next few weeks as a result of the big beautiful bill johnson says he does have a plan she's just not privy"

Melanie Zanona, a congressional correspondent, highlights that Republican women, particularly Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG), are expressing frustration with Speaker Mike Johnson. Zanona explains that their complaints stem from feeling sidelined and not taken seriously, with MTG reportedly considering an effort to remove Johnson, partly due to his perceived lack of a plan for an impending healthcare crisis that will increase insurance premiums.

"elise stefanik she really raised some eyebrows when she went on the record with some of her criticisms in a wall street journal interview and her criticisms were johnson's were about his political acumen and she says he's not a good strategist uh she said that if a vote were held today she doesn't think he would be elected speaker again which is a pretty bold statement coming from someone on johnson's own leadership team"

Melanie Zanona points out that Elise Stefanik, a member of Johnson's leadership team, publicly criticized his political acumen and strategic abilities. Zanona notes that Stefanik's statement suggesting Johnson might not be re-elected speaker if a vote were held today is a significant and bold criticism coming from within his own leadership.

"i can tell you that i got a lot of pushback from leadership and not just leadership in itself but i actually received calls from other members of congress saying that you know uh what we were doing was going to hurt people i was also told that i was putting the republic in jeopardy because i was going to cost us the midterms if i brought this to the floor"

Anna Paulina Luna describes the significant opposition she faced from leadership and other members of Congress regarding her efforts to bring a stock trading ban bill to the floor. Luna explains that she was told her actions would harm people and jeopardize the Republican party's chances in the midterms, illustrating the internal resistance to her legislative agenda.

"well traditionally the republican party did not put an emphasis on trying to elect women and they always said listen we don't want to play identity politics we just want the best candidate to win but at some point republicans realized hey sometimes the best candidate is the woman i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us oh whole binders full of women and they're not getting the same opportunities as the men particularly in primaries"

Melanie Zanona discusses the historical approach of the Republican party regarding the election of women. Zanona explains that while the party previously avoided emphasizing identity politics, there has been a recent realization that women can be strong candidates, yet they still face challenges, particularly in securing opportunities during primaries.

"i'm doing everything i can every day to empower all members of the conference there's no gender division here at all it's a meritocracy and you've got great women with great things i'm the biggest champion and that's what but we have not seen him take any actual steps to try to alleviate some of their concerns"

Melanie Zanona reports on Speaker Mike Johnson's defense against accusations of marginalizing women. Zanona states that Johnson claims to empower all members and that the conference is a meritocracy, but she observes that he has not taken concrete actions to address the concerns raised by some Republican women.

"the big difference is they've changed the threshold to nine members and so there was some reporting last week from msnbc um about potentially forcing another vote on this uh from marjorie taylor greene as she leaves i don't know you need you need nine people to go there and that would also be enough people to i am the speakership potentially i i think it's a long shot but it is always a possibility and it is always something that's sitting um over his head"

Melanie Zanona explains the mechanism for challenging Speaker Mike Johnson's leadership. Zanona notes that the threshold for initiating a motion to vacate has been lowered to nine members, and she mentions reporting about Marjorie Taylor Greene potentially forcing another vote upon her departure from Congress. Zanona considers this a long shot but a persistent possibility that hangs over Johnson's speakership.