Freedom Caucus ‘FART’ group rallied to track efforts by rank-and-file Republicans to save Mike Johnson’s speakership and weaken their power

Conservative hardliners have formed a ‘FART’ group to respond when they smell trouble in the House of Representatives.

Members of the Freedom Caucus and their allies have signed up to stand guard on the House floor in shifts in case more moderate members try to take action to weaken their power.

The Floor Action Response Team, also known as FART, will look for surprise resolutions that House leadership could pass with unanimous consent if they are not present to object.

As the mob tries to oust Mike Johnson from the speakership, more pragmatic conservatives have grown tired of their antics and have proposed consequences.

It comes after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., launched a motion to vacate

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., launched a motion to evict last month to eliminate Johnson, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., co-sponsored the bill this week.

Other members, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have suggested they are preparing for the idea of ​​throwing the House into chaos again to find a new leader.

The ultra-conservatives are already planning to oppose a rule to start a debate and put forward a foreign aid package, in an attempt to paralyze the House.

The FART group is watching for two things: fellow Republicans who may try to raise the threshold for filing a motion to dismiss just one member, or those who might try to dilute their power through a unanimous consent resolution.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to allow just one member to vote to impeach the speaker in an effort to get the votes for the gavel in January. Under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, only a member of the leadership could make a motion to vacate.

Johnson ripped the one-member rule but threw cold water on the idea of ​​changing it Thursday.

Johnson accepted one member’s motion to leave, but threw cold water on the idea of ​​changing it on Thursday

“The House rule that allows a single member to authorize a motion to dismiss has harmed this office and our majority in the House. Recently, many members encouraged me to endorse a new rule to raise this threshold,” he said in a statement.

“While I understand the importance of that idea, any change to the rules requires a majority of the full House, which we don’t have. We will continue to govern according to the existing rules,” the speaker wrote on X.

On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., suggested that the hardline members of the House Rules Committee would be removed.

“The three members who refuse to support the Chairman’s agenda should immediately resign from the Rules Committee. If they refuse, they must be removed immediately. They are there on behalf of the conference, not themselves,” he wrote on X.

He appeared to be referring to Massie, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. The trio was appointed to the powerful committee under former chairman Kevin McCarthy in an attempt to appease the right flank and gain the gavel.

They regularly thwart Johnson’s agenda by undermining the rule, forcing him to rely on Democrats to introduce bills under suspension when he needs a two-thirds majority but no rule to pass.

The majority party is usually responsible for passing a rule to advance bills. Typically, members of the majority party vote in favor of the rule, even if they do not support the legislation itself.

The FART group has been around for a while, but is not always in action.

“There is substantial legislation that is being passed by the House of Representatives without a single member ever voting on it … it’s unanimous consent and they’re trying to pass it very quickly,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., explained 2021 out.

‘We make it really smelly for them.’