The 13 House Republicans who voted in favor of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill last week face calls to be removed from their committee assignments as part of angry backlash toward their votes.
Several of the 13, though, are not concerned.
“This is a small group of members who are making loud noises, and it’s falling deaf ears. I’m not concerned about it,” Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “I voted for what is best for our district — a district that went for Joe Biden by almost 8%. Most GOP members understand that.”
“Our office is confident that this will never happen,” Natalie Baldassarre, communications director for New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, told the Washington Examiner about being removed from committees over the vote.
The 13 members who voted for the infrastructure bill did so in defiance of House Republican leadership, which whipped votes against the bill. Six Democrats voted against it, and the bill would not have passed in the closely divided chamber without at least three Republican votes.
Those angry with the members have called for them to be defeated in primaries next year. As immediate punishment, some have floated removal from committee posts.
Asked by Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, whether the 13 should be stripped from their committee assignments, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said, “Absolutely.”
“These people voted for Joe Biden, for an infrastructure bill that will clear the way for more socialist spending that quite frankly, gives Joe Biden a win,” Meadows said. “I don’t know how you can send a clearer message than saying, ‘Listen, obviously you’re not on our team, we’re going to give that leadership position to somebody else.’”
Firebrand Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz joined in that call on Bannon’s show, but with more of a focus on those who are ranking members on committees or subcommittees.
“The Republicans who hold positions of leadership on committees or subcommittees must lose those positions for advancing the Biden agenda,” Gaetz said.
Nearly all of the 13 Republicans are ranking members on at least a subcommittee. New York Rep. John Katko has the highest leadership position among all of them as ranking member on the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Republican leadership in the House is prepared for moves against the members, Punchbowl News reported Tuesday.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have said for weeks that any Republicans who vote in favor of the infrastructure bill should face repercussions. He kept what that could look like open-ended, but removal as ranking members could be on the table.
“Leadership is a privilege and duty. Accountability is necessary for those GOP members who pushed the Democrats’ so-called ‘infrastructure’ bill across the finish line,” Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
One key earlier effort by Biggs to hold members of the Republican caucus “accountable” for perceived disloyalty may indicate that it is unlikely the 13 GOP representatives will face repercussions in the form of committee removal.
Biggs earlier this year moved to oust Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from the House Republican conference over their sitting on the Jan. 6 select committee, appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rather than House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. His conference rule-change resolution did not go anywhere, though he hopes it will be reconsidered.
The 13 Republicans who voted “yes” expect a similar result if any similar move comes up in a Republican conference meeting.
”Sure, a few vocal members have used social media to draw attention to the 13 Republican yes votes, but their tweets and cable news attention doesn’t represent a real effort to retaliate. The Punchbowl report is probably accurate to the degree that a handful of rabble-rousers are frustrated, but this isn’t serious, nor is leadership even involved,” said Zack Brown, a spokesman for Rep. Don Young’s office.
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Committee assignments at stake or not, the 13 members face the wrath of angry activists and constituents. Firebrand Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called them “traitors” and posted the office phone numbers of the members on Twitter.
Michigan Rep. Fred Upton played a threatening voicemail that his office received on CNN Tuesday: “I hope you f—ing die. Hope your f—ing family dies. Hope everybody in your f—ing staff dies, you piece of s— traitor.”
