Representatives who voted against re-electing House Speaker John Boehner say the Ohio Republican and his supporters are denying them key appointments and chairmanships to retaliate against them for their decision.
"I tweeted out [that I
wouldn't vote for Boehner] and an hour later they called me and said, 'you worked real hard but the leadership team wouldn’t let it happen,' " Kansas Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who said he had expected to be named to head up a subcommittee, told the media Tuesday,
reports The Hill.
Huelskamp did not say what chairmanship he'd expected or who made the phone call. However, an aide told The Hill that Veterans Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Calif., was the one who called Huelskamp.
An aide from the Boehner camp denied Huelskamp's claims. The Kansas lawmaker claimed he's also heard from other Republicans that the party's leadership planned to punish even more of those who voted against Boehner on Tuesday.
Texas Rep. Randy Weber, who also voted against Boehner, claimed on Tuesday that Boehner's camp had retaliated against him. A representative from Weber's office said the Texas lawmaker was to have been the sponsor of a Science, Space, and Technology Committee bill, but instead, the sponsorship went to Illinois GOP Rep. Randy Hultgren, who had voted for Boehner.The bill, if passed, will establish a Department of Energy research program concerning low-dose radiation.
In addition, Florida Republican Reps. Dan Webster and Richard Nugent, two more of the 25 who voted against Boehner, are now off the House Rules Committee. Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, did not oppose forcing them off the committee,
reports The Hill, and said the conference "needs to find a way to get together, talk and heal itself, and it's going to take us some time."
Members of the Rules Committee, which controls how legislation on the floor is considered, are appointed directly by the Speaker of the House.
Webster not only voted against Boehner on Tuesday, but ran as an alternative candidate, drawing 12 votes, more than any of the others who ran, and Nugent voted for Webster.
Nugent said he lost his committee assignment after the vote, telling The Hill he would not comment further before speaking with Boehner.
But Iowa
Rep. Steve King, who also voted for Webster, accused Boehner on Twitter of using "intimidation tactics" against people who opposed him.
Even before Tuesday's vote, at least one of Boehner's supporters was referring to people
who opposed him as being "bad actors."
The opponents, who wanted to oust Boehner in favor of a more conservative caucus leader already passed on their chance "months ago" to attempt a change in speaker or in legislative direction, North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner on Newsmax TV on Monday.
"Those who are acting out right now, that are getting some media attention, that's all it is. It's media attention," Ellmers said. "These are folks that thrive on it…[they are] acting as if they're going against the party, and there's really not substance to it whatsoever."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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