WASHINGTON ― For a person who gained nearly all of his occasion’s votes on Wednesday to turn out to be the brand new Home speaker, Majority Chief Steve Scalise (R-La.) certain has detractors amongst his fellow Home Republicans.
Whereas he got here out on high of a 113 to 99 vote within the Home GOP convention, Scalise’s prospects for getting sufficient Republicans to again him to make sure his victory on the chamber flooring rapidly shriveled. The explanations given for not backing him vary from the petty to the esoteric, and level to the difficulties Scalise could have in uniting 217 Republicans to vote for him on the ground.
Earlier Republican rebellions, such because the battles between then-Speaker John Boehner and the Home Freedom Caucus, usually concerned management dealing with down a united bloc of conservatives searching for to maneuver the caucus rightward. However Scalise’s skeptics are extra scattershot ideologically, starting from right-wing diehards like Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to relative moderates like Mike Lawler of New York
The varied opposition could show far harder to choose off, since strikes to appease one group of critics could solely serve to irritate one other. And there are a handful of members with notably private issues with Scalise, or points he merely can’t resolve.
Anna Moneymaker through Getty Pictures
One Republican consultant stated Wednesday evening he was miffed just because Scalise had not picked up a cellphone and dialed his quantity to ask for his help.
Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who can vote for speaker though he’s barred from serving on Home committees as a result of he was indicted, posted on social media Wednesday evening that he assumed Scalise didn’t need his help as a result of he had not known as him.
“I’ve made my choice and after 10 months and having had 0 contact or outreach from him, I’ve come to the conclusion that my VOTE doesn’t matter to him,” Santos stated.
On Thursday morning, Santos advised JS that Scalise nonetheless had not known as, regardless of his public plea.
“If the chief isn’t in a position to name each member of the convention, it doesn’t matter what circumstances, that’s not a frontrunner, so he’s by no means gonna get my vote,” Santos stated.
(One purpose Scalise won’t have reached out is that Santos has repeatedly lied about his background and has been criminally indicted for varied frauds for which one in every of his alleged co-conspirators has already pleaded responsible.)
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), an outspoken opponent of his colleagues’ efforts to thwart their very own management, ridiculed the cellphone name gripe on Thursday.
“What would you like, a fucking therapeutic massage?” Crenshaw advised JS. “That is simply infantile.”
“I imply, give me a break. Develop up if you happen to’re going to be on this enterprise,” stated Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), one other Scalise backer.
“What would you like, a fucking therapeutic massage?”
– Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)
However a scarcity of communication wasn’t the one purpose Republicans gave for not backing Scalise.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) stated Wednesday evening he would again Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for speaker as a result of Scalise is an excessive amount of a creature of the Washington swamp, that means he’s insufficiently conservative and overly prepared to compromise with Democrats.
Though he’s a long-serving member of Home Republican management, Republicans usually think about Scalise extra conservative than Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was ousted final week after avoiding a authorities shutdown with assist from Democrats. Scalise could also be much less of a right-winger than Jordan, whom he defeated within the vote to turn out to be the convention’s nominee for speaker, however Jordan himself stated he plans to make a nominating speech on Scalise’s behalf.
“Inform me Steve Scalise isn’t conservative,” stated Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who’s supporting Scalise for speaker.
Roy stated he was additionally upset that his proposal to alter how Home Republicans choose their speaker nominee ― he aimed to require a a lot greater vote threshold than a mere majority ― was scuttled with out a lot debate.
“It was form of, let’s simply say, dismissed by a sure bloc,” Roy stated.
One more reason supplied by Scalise opponents: They’re opposing him for his personal good.
Greene, for instance, stated she’ll vote for Jordan not as a result of Scalise is a swamp creature or as a result of he’s insufficiently conservative, however as a result of he’s not wholesome sufficient. Scalise introduced earlier this yr that he’s present process remedy for a number of myeloma, a blood most cancers. He stated final month that checks confirmed the most cancers had dropped dramatically, however apparently not sufficient for Greene.
“I like Steve Scalise, and I like him a lot that I need to see him defeat most cancers greater than sacrifice his well being in essentially the most tough place in Congress,” Greene wrote on social media.
Former President Donald Trump seemingly echoed Greene Thursday, saying in a Fox News interview the remedy is like “a draining of power.” Trump had backed Jordan for speaker forward of the Home Republican vote.
JS requested lawmakers if the individuals holding out is perhaps doing it for consideration and self-aggrandizement.
“You may make a really cheap argument for that, couldn’t you?” Van Orden stated.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who voted to oust McCarthy regardless of his monetary help for her in a tricky main, stated she couldn’t vote for Scalise due to his now-infamous boast that he was “David Duke with out the bags.” Duke is a infamous white supremacist and former Louisiana political determine.
“I, personally, can’t in good conscience vote for somebody who attended a white supremacist convention and in contrast himself to David Duke. I might be doing an infinite disservice to the voters that I signify in South Carolina if I had been to try this,” she stated.
Scalise’s attendance was in 2002 and he has said he was not aware the group believed in white supremacy and he wouldn’t have gone if he had identified. The comparability to Duke has been broadly reported since at the very least 2014.
However Mace posted a photo with Scalise on Instagram in 2020, saying “Republican management like Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise are all uniting behind my marketing campaign as a result of they know nobody will work tougher than I’ll.”
On Thursday, in a uncommon transfer, Mace declined to be interviewed about her stance on Scalise.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) stated he was not voting for Scalise as a result of he needed to ensure spending cuts that might have an effect on most authorities applications throughout the board would happen subsequent spring, as scheduled below the debt restrict deal Republicans and the White Home reached in Might. He stated he feared Scalise would attain an settlement to make smaller cuts as an alternative.
The automated spending cuts had been included within the deal on a bipartisan foundation to truly encourage a deal on spending payments.
“I’m involved he doesn’t need to leverage that 1% minimize that’s already been signed into legislation by Joe Biden,” Massie stated.
Massie stated his reasoning was his alone and never half of a bigger anti-Scalise effort.
“That is what I feel is the correct factor and that’s why I’m doing it,” he stated.
