Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to oust Mike Johnson as House passes $1.2trn spending package

Marjorie Taylor Greene initiated the process to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson as the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill to avoid a government shutdown despite the objections of conservatives like the Georgia Republican who support former president Donald Trump.

Ms Greene filed a motion to vacate the speaker as the House was still voting on the spending agreement.

A two-thirds majority was reached to pass the spending package – 286 voted in favour and 134 voted against.

The spending agreement will now head to the US Senate, where it is expected to easily pass with bipartisan support either before or shortly after the government shuts down at 12.01am on Saturday.

President Joe Biden has said he would sign the legislation immediately once it reaches his desk. The bill will keep the government open until the end of Fiscal Year 2024, which ends on 30 September.

As the House voted on Friday, Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett told The Independent that it was “about damn time” that the funding agreement was passed.

Asked about the months of struggles to fund the government, Republican Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher said, “divided government is hard, and we still got a lot of work left to do. So we'll see what happens”.

He added that he wasn’t concerned about the motion to vacate the speaker.

Michigan Republican Rep Lisa McClain told The Independent that it was “about time” that the spending agreement was passed, adding that she was concerned about the motion to vacate the speaker.

“To what end? We've got to move forward. Let's rip the ban-aid off and let's go proactively forward. I don't know what this accomplishes,” she said.

The spending bill is part of an agreement by House