Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday: “It’s a great honor to be in Congress, but I work with some really vile people.” He criticized two of his Republican colleagues, Rep. Matt Gaetz. He broke with Johnson (Florida) and Bob Good (Virginia) and voted against other bills proposed by the Republican majority.
Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Good have also supported Mr. Gonzalez’s primary challenger, but Mr. Johnson has warned members against doing so. In response to Gonzalez’s CNN comments, a third Republican colleague, Rep. Elijah Crane of Arizona, said: express his support Gonzalez’s opponent, Brandon Herrera, is a gun enthusiast with a large following on YouTube.
Most House Republicans are fed up. The number of colleagues who consistently vote against bills that should be addressed rather than seeking intraparty compromise. More pragmatic Republicans were furious at the “no” block in the meeting, after eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to expel then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). , encouraged Republican leadership to punish these members.
Hardliners argue that the majority Republican party should promote ideological purity and stand firm in negotiations to extract concessions from the Democratic-led Senate and White House. But other Republicans argue that hardliners are weakening Johnson’s hand in negotiations by voting against conservative policies because the conference is not united around a set of demands. There is.
Hardliners have long opposed considering further aid to Ukraine without legislation to secure the U.S. border. Prime Minister Johnson agreed to those demands and proposed a vote on Saturday on the border security bill, which largely mirrors the hard-line conservative version passed by House Republicans last year. But three hardline Republicans on the House Rules Committee, Reps. Chip Roy (Texas), Ralph Norman (South Carolina) and Thomas Massie (Ky.), protested Johnson’s foreign aid proposal. ) prevented the bill from being debated in accordance with the rules. Only a simple majority is required to pass.
Other Republicans urged Johnson to keep the bill up for a vote under rules that require a two-thirds vote in the House of Commons to pass. The measures were insufficient.
“Those who voted to fund the Ukrainian border on behalf of the United States knew for sure that independent border security (not affiliated with Ukraine) would be crushed in the Senate and are now in hiding. People are losing their lives. That’s why they’re holding people accountable,” Roy said later. Vote for X. “I own it.”
Congressman Andy Barr (R-Kentucky) Shoot Roy back with Xsaid “isolationist Republicans” were standing in the way of forcing Senate Democrats to make politically difficult votes, at least. About border security.
Congressman Dan Bishop (RN.C.) I came to Roy’s defense..
“After every sellout, when Republican voters get angry, the self-serving lies begin,” Bishop said in his own post to Barr.
massy said Barr.also a Kentucky Republican, urged them to “stop blaming conservatives for their votes.”
Infighting spilled over into the campaign, with Mr. Gaetz ignoring Mr. Johnson’s warnings and spearheading a campaign against his Republican colleagues. Mr. Gaetz visited San Antonio last month and held a rally with Mr. Herrera, where he denounced Mr. Gonzalez and pushed for a more aggressive Republican conference.
There is no love lost with Gonzalez.
“Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex at drug parties,” Gonzalez claimed Sunday, referring to charges against Gaetz investigated by the Justice Department. But last year he declined to press charges.
The House Ethics Committee continues to investigate Gaetz, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said on Sunday’s X show that Gonzalez is “laundering lies on CNN.”
Mr. Gonzalez also targeted Mr. Good for his support of Mr. Herrera, apparently citing an instance in which Mr. Herrera had posted a video “filled with images, music, and jokes about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust,” a Jewish group. -Seems to be referring to insider reporting.
“Bob Good supported my opponent, a known neo-Nazi,” Gonzalez said. “These people used to walk around wearing white hoods at night. Now they walk around wearing white hoods during the day.”
After Gonzalez’s CNN interview, Herrera objected to the congressman’s description of him as a “neo-Nazi.” write to x: “It’s a death spiral, folks. He has to scream at his liberal friends about me because the Republicans won’t listen anymore.”
For Mr Johnson, the infighting is looming over his fate as speaker.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had vowed to try to remove Johnson from the speakership if he moved to help Ukraine, but before she returned to Washington, her colleagues said she would try to remove her from the speakership if she moved to help Ukraine. I refrained, hoping to hear his voice.
Massey, a co-sponsor of Greene’s resolution calling for Johnson’s ouster, said he wants Johnson to resign, even though most of the Republican conference doesn’t want him to descend into chaos again. It was predicted that if he did not resign, someone might make a “motion to resign.”
In a tense Tuesday night meeting with Johnson and several Republican senators, Gaetz told the chairman that his Republican colleagues would try to oust him if he moved forward with the foreign aid plan. He also threatened others who were present, saying that far-right groups would target them on social media and run a campaign against them.
Meanwhile, some hard-liners in the Republican Party are pushing for the leadership to take tougher action against the bloc.
At a meeting last week between the chairman of the pro-governance conservative Main Street Caucus and members of Congress, the conversation centered on how to punish members based on what could improve the functioning of the House. Several lawmakers have proposed firing three hard-line members of the House Rules Committee: Roy, Massey, and Norman.
Prime Minister Johnson did not announce any further decisions. In the debate over whether to implement the proposed plan, many members of the council believe that this is easier said than done, as far-right members have been successful in raising funds without being targeted by the “establishment”. He admitted that it was difficult to do.
