GOP splits open over Jan 6 commission vote thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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It’s the first time Biden has met with the four top congressional leaders as a group since being inaugurated in January. It will also be his first meeting with McConnell and McCarthy.
While it appears Biden doesn’t have much of a relationship with McCarthy, who came to power under Trump, he’s spoken with McConnell on the phone and the two have known each other for decades, first as Senate colleagues and then cutting deals during the Obama administration.
The meeting is expected to largely focus on Biden’s $4 trillion spending plan, which is divided up between a $2.3 trillion jobs proposal and a second $1.8 trillion bill focused on education and child care.
The House GOP has a massive opportunity to upgrade this week from warmonger Liz Cheney to gifted communicator Elise Stefanik, Trump said in a statement. Elise has intelligence, an endorsement from American Patriot Brandon Judd and the National Border Patrol Council, she has an A+ from the NRA, and she loves our Veterans.
The battle to be House GOP conference chair has emerged as the latest proxy fight in the protracted GOP debate over the role Trump should play in the future of the Republican Party.
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Cheney, since Trump s election defeat, has emerged as the face of the internal opposition to the former president. She was one of just 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump for his part in inciting the Jan. 6 rampage at the Capitol, and she s continued to attack his false claims that the election was stolen.
The widely anticipated vote, which will take place behind closed doors and by secret ballot, comes as McCarthy and his pro-Trump allies have been plotting Cheney’s ouster over the past two weeks as she has continued to condemn former President Trump
McCarthy and other Republicans have argued that Cheney’s comments at news conferences, in media interviews and in op-eds have knocked the GOP off message at a moment when the party is trying to unify and win back the House in next year’s midterms.
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Cheney, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, has called this moment a turning point for the GOP and said refusing to stand up to Trump s lies could lead to more violence like what the country saw during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
They argue that the No. 3 Republican has repeatedly contradicted McCarthy and his team, undermining the party’s message and its efforts to take back the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.
“There is no way that Liz will be conference chair by month’s end,” one key McCarthy ally told The Hill on Monday. “When there is a vote, it won’t be a long conference; it will be fast. Everyone knows the outcome.”
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The developments suggest it is not just members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who are pushing to get rid of Cheney; senior lawmakers in the 154-member Republican Study Committee, the largest GOP caucus on Capitol Hill, have been openly critical of Cheney and are now trying to orchestrate her removal.