A growing number of House Republicans are accusing their conservative colleagues of enabling Democratic wins, especially after this weekend’s foreign aid votes. Multiple members believe they could have gotten concessions from Democrats on border policy in exchange for Ukraine funding, only to be blown up by backlash from conservatives.GOP leadership brought up border security provisions alongside their foreign aid package — but the package was blocked by Republicans from reaching the House floor under normal rules.
It ultimately failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass the House under suspension of the rules. “If you were a true conservative, you would actually advance border security, but what they want to do is they want to blow up border security,” Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) told Axios.
“[T]he members who scream the loudest about border security were actively and knowingly preventing us from getting it done,” another member said.
“They’re making us the most bipartisan Congress ever,” a third member told Axios. “Because they are unwilling to compromise just a little bit in a divided government, they force us to make bigger concessions and deals with the Dems.”
Conservatives who advocate for blocking procedural motions argue it’s necessary to light a fire under GOP leadership to demand more.
Multiple conservatives said they expected more out of Speaker Mike Johnson than former Speaker Kevin McCarthy due to his record as a rank-and-file member. “Republicans have control of the House and we should be leveraging it to secure our border, unfortunately the Uniparty is working to secure the borders of Ukraine instead of our own border,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) tweeted.
“[T]he problem is [Johnson’s] gotten nothing on anything. Right? They roll him every time,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — who is pushing the motion to vacate — told reporters on Saturday.
Republicans left town yesterday without Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pulling the trigger on her motion to vacate.
Johnson “needs to do the right thing, to resign and allow us to move forward in a controlled process. If he doesn’t do so, he will be vacated,” Greene said on Fox News.
Johnson has faced some of the most tumultuous weeks of his speakership, with his longevity in the role remaining in question.
But the Louisiana Republican has asserted that he won’t cave to threats to his speakership and feels rules changes should be made in the next Congress to tamp down on the unprecedented level of chaos.
This is the problem when you put purists and low information conspiracy theorists into elective politics. They should have stayed Facebook activists not become legislators. They’re clueless about how this works and are obviously incapable of learning.
Marge says she wants Johnson to resign and is all over the internet saying that Republicans are so angry about all this that they will hold their breath until they turn blue and refuse to vote in November. Actually, these antics may very well be turning off normie Republicans who want the chaos to stop. Either way, I’m sure Marge will be there blaming her leadership because that’s what the right has been doing for the last 15 years. It’s their brand. And even if they lose everything this fall I doubt they’ve learned their lesson.