Congressional Republicans face internal backlash in duels on the floor

Chaos has been a common theme in the 118th Congress.

But this week, lawmakers faced drama as House and Senate Republicans sank two of the party’s top priorities: impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and securing the southern border, doubly crippling the nation’s capital. took it to new heights.

“A lot of people have texted me and said, ‘What are you guys doing there?’ I think our constituency is a little frustrated.” Texas Republican Congressman Troy Neals told CNN. “We may have the gavel, but we’re not acting like we’re in the majority.”

In the House, the embarrassing defeat of the effort to impeach Mayorkas on Tuesday — quickly followed by a failure in another chamber over an independent Israel aid package — means the House will try to govern within a rambunctious and anemic majority. It merely crystallized a year-long struggle for Republicans. The uproar has led Republican lawmakers to publicly vent their frustrations and point fingers, with some questioning the decision-making of their own leadership.

“It was embarrassing for us as a conference and as a party, because we could have done more than we did last night,” said Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas.

And the chaos extended beyond the House, as Senate Republicans on Wednesday scrapped a bipartisan border security agreement crafted by some members, sparking bitter internal divisions in the Republican conference.

“If we oppose it, it’s hard to see again what kind of negotiating team anyone else would want to be on in the future,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Only four Republicans voted Wednesday to advance the border security deal that ultimately failed.

She added: “I went through multiple stages of grief. Today I’m just angry.”

In the House, the two stunning floor defeats were so painful that many Republicans offered rare praise for the vote-counting skills of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats, and for the expelled and disgraced former president. Some were even bitter about Republican Rep. George Santos. , but at least appeased the majority of them.

“Ms. Pelosi was a bad person, but she knew her vote before it was cast,” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. Ta.

This meltdown is just the latest in a long series of chaotic moments under this Republican majority, but it remains to be seen how Republicans navigate the fast-approaching government funding deadline and beyond. It raises new concerns about the House’s ability to maintain a majority.

“It was a bad day. Two bad plays were called in a row, both active options to schedule. That was a big mistake,” said North Carolina State ally Kevin McCarthy. said Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry. “He’s a very nice guy,” he said of Speaker Mike Johnson, but added: “He has to learn from his mistakes.”

Republican Rep. Jen Quiggans, who represents a powerful seat in Virginia, added, “It’s frustrating for people like me who ran for Congress as veterans, as Navy spouses, as Navy mothers.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. But he argued that this only comes with the responsibility of governing. Mr. Johnson defended his rookie speakership and vowed to take up his articles of impeachment again once his side is less absent.

“Well, look, what happened here was a mess, but we’re cleaning it up,” Johnson said. “I don’t see this as a reflection on our leaders. It’s a reflection on the body itself and where we came to this country.”

On the other side of the Capitol, the ink was barely dry on a bipartisan agreement that helped negotiate the southern border, the most conservative legislative measure on immigration that Senate Republicans have crafted in decades, but former President Donald Trump His Republican colleagues flatly rejected the order. Donald Trump. The swift rebuke leaves Republicans in turmoil over border messaging and raises new questions about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s future.

All of this is a spectacular display of legislative failures across both chambers, even by the already low standards of this Congress, one of the most unproductive in recent history.

“I understand we have our differences, but we have to sit down together and figure out a way to solve the problem,” said Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the top Republican negotiator. We must, because that’s what the American people sent us here to do.” Regarding border agreements.

Holding up the black pen he received when he became a U.S. senator, he added, “There’s no reason to carry this pen if you’re just giving press conferences.” Press conferences can be held from anywhere. ”

Mr. Johnson, who is taking a high-stakes vote to impeach Mr. Mayorkas, was aware that there would be three defections from the Republican Party, but was counting on the absence of Democrats to push the bill through. Ta.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Johnson was well aware that any stand-alone Israel aid plan was doomed to failure, but the defeat highlights the divisions in the Democratic Party, which is the party’s biggest issue. I decided to put the proposal on hold anyway.

However, his gamble did not pay off.

While Johnson was presiding over the chamber, the impeachment effort came under fire when House Democrats unexpectedly showed up to vote at the last minute, changing the vote and sinking the resolution. And this stunning defeat caused chaos on the House floor and completely obscured Democratic opposition to the Israel bill.

Many Republicans were troubled by the failure of Congress to impeach Mayorkas, a long-time Republican priority.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., one of the three Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas, said Wednesday that he had been making his position public for some time and that House Republican leadership was not willing to vote on the resulting vote. He criticized the fact that the bill was pushed to the floor without knowing whether it would pass or not. It will pass.

“I wasn’t on the fence. I kept saying no for over a month. So no one was surprised by my vote,” Ms Gallagher told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “It is unclear why they pushed through the vote knowing that there were no votes.”

Tuesday’s twin failures have created new avenues for party members to go after their own party leaders, but no one is seriously talking about trying to oust Mr Johnson from office.

“(Johnson) has to make the right decision,” said North Carolina Representative Dan Bishop. “He’s very committed to the task. He’d better start acting like that.”

Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican and longtime lawmaker, warned that leadership needs to do a better job of counting votes.

“We need to know exactly where we are and be careful not to get out ahead of the skis and put something on the floor that we’re not sure about,” Womack said.

Another Republican lawmaker, who spoke anonymously and was free to speak, called Tuesday a “disaster” and said, “The majority leader sets the date and the whip is important, but at the end of the day, the speaker is the one who calls the shots. ” he said.

Party members are pursuing Mr Johnson, who has been in power for just over 100 days, but say he still needs a grace period and that the party cannot afford another tumultuous race for chairman. Admitted.

Defenders of the current Republican leadership say Republicans will bring up another impeachment resolution once Majority Leader Steve Scalise recovers from cancer treatment, making the failed impeachment resolution a temporary one. It is said that Additionally, Tuesday’s vote put critics on the record.

“They wanted to nail everyone down, and that’s what happened,” said veteran Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole, a member of the Republican leadership team. “There’s frustration built into the system here… Look, I think this is a setback, but it’s not a defeat.”

Other Republican lawmakers criticized Democrats, accusing them of deliberately keeping attendance numbers secret. Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, who was in the hospital recovering from major surgery, was wheeled away in a wheelchair at the 11th hour to cast the deciding vote against impeachment.

“Democrats played hide and seek with us,” Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez told CNN. “It doesn’t matter when Mr. Scalise comes back, but by then we’ll have a clear majority. We’ll get it back.”

Democrats, meanwhile, won with a painful vote and a maneuver that embarrassed House Republicans.

“You can never bring a bill to the floor unless you have the votes,” Pelosi, known for her astute vote-counting skills, said in a statement to CNN. “And in order to know you have a vote, you have to know how to count it.”

CNN’s Haley Talbot, Lauren Fox and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.