The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
GOP grapples with scrutiny
WASHINGTON » House Democrats planned a showdown vote for Thursday over stripping Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments for her endorsement of racist and conspiratorial views, as the chamber’s top Republican signaled he would not bow to bipartisan demands to punish her.
The decision by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., came Wednesday as Republicans also grappled over what to do about Rep. Liz Cheney, their No. 3 leader, after she backed Donald Trump’s impeachment. The decisions over how to handle the two Republican lawmakers subjected the GOP to a politically agonizing test of its direction as it moves beyond Donald Trump’s presidency.
Democrats increased the pressure by planning a House vote on removing Greene from her committees for her embrace of calls to violence against Democrats and bizarre fictions about faked school shootings.
But shortly after the Democratic-led House Rules Committee cleared the way for Thursday’s vote, McCarthy released a statement saying Democrats were “choosing to raise the temperature” by attempting a “partisan power grab.”
He condemned Greene’s past endorsements of conspiracy theories — after weeks of saying little critical of her — and said the firstterm Georgia congresswoman had recognized in a private conversation that she must meet “a higher standard” as a lawmaker.
“I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward,” McCarthy said.
Separately, House Republicans were meeting privately Wednesday about an effort by Trump loyalists to push Cheney out of her leadership post. That move was sparked after Cheney, a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and a fixture of the party establishment, became one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump last month.
“I won’t apologize for the vote,” Cheney told her colleagues, according to a person familiar with the session who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
During a break in that closeddoor session, McCarthy said he’d defended Cheney inside.
“People can have differences of opinion. That’s what you can have a discussion about. Liz has a right to vote her conscience,” said McCarthy, who’d previously given no clear signal about whether he’d support his lieutenant.
The closed-door GOP meeting was likely to discuss the political fates of both Cheney and Greene, and touch on McCarthy’s performance. He is having to guide the House GOP through one of its most contentious periods, but his favored approach of avoiding ruffling feathers has been criticized by some Republicans who think he needs to be more decisive.
That meeting was also expected to become an emotional debate over whether the GOP should follow Trump’s normbusting divisiveness or embrace the party’s more traditional, policy-oriented conservative values.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other GOP senators have lambasted Greene, reflecting worries that her wing of the party cannot win statewide Senate races.
Penalizing Cheney for what she called her “vote of conscience” would be awkward without also punishing Greene. Action against either risked angering the GOP’s numerous Trump supporters or its more traditional conservative backers.