Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she'll call a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson. The Georgia Republican is forcing her colleagues to choose sides after Democratic leaders announced they'd provide the votes to save the Republican speaker’s job. Speaking outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Greene railed against Republican Party leaders and pushed back against public entreaties from Donald Trump and others to avoid another messy political fight so close to the November election. With Greene was Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the few lawmakers to join her effort. They said Johnson isn't up to the job. Johnson responded that the attempt to oust him is “wrong for the country.”

United Methodist delegates have repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate. They removed a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests. But many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.