(DCNF)—Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas blasted a set of newly proposed internal rules for the House on Wednesday that penalize members who go against the wider GOP party position.
New York Republican Rep. Nick LaLota proposed an amendment that would strip GOP members of committee assignments if they vote against the party position on procedural floor votes. Republican Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden pushed another punitive measure that would remove members who vote to vacate a House speaker without a party majority, according to a list of proposed rule amendments obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The proposals have revealed a rift in the GOP, receiving fierce backlash from Roy, who is policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus.
“I represent 750,000 Texans… not my colleagues,” Roy told the DCNF. “We should be focused on developing and delivering on President Trump’s agenda — not wasting time with counterproductive efforts demanding we hand over our voting cards to ‘the party.’ That will never happen.”
‘Proud To Serve’: These Are The Frontrunners To Succeed Elise Stefanik In GOP Leadership @RepKatCammack, @RepHouchin, and @RepLisaMcClain have all launched bids for House GOP conference chair. pic.twitter.com/nnZ5RMQDQn
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 12, 2024
The proposals, which House Republicans are voting on Wednesday, come after Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from his role in May. Johnson has said he does not support the “punitive” measures.
“I have made clear to members, as I’ve been having discussion with them, that I am not in favor of punitive measures and rules,” Johnson told Politico Tuesday. “I don’t think we will have a need for party discipline and I expect everybody to be working on singing from the same sheet of music.”
Roy has proposed two rules amendments of his own, according to the list of amendment proposals. One aims to limit the amount of time GOP leadership can spend updating its members, while the other posits a “majority of the majority”-rule that would allow, “any member to offer a privileged motion to hold a roll call vote in a Republican Conference meeting on any pending bill…to determine whether it has the support” of the GOP majority.