Despite House Republicans failing again to elect a speaker yesterday, Republican Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District refuses to condemn the chaos caucus.
With Republicans abandoning our allies under attack and pushing us closer to a government shutdown, here is a recap of the dysfunction Barrett continues to ignore:
- Matt Gaetz introduced a motion to vacate and forced a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy, his own party’s speaker.
- Republicans turned against McCarthy in an unprecedented vote, throwing the House into chaos by removing its incumbent speaker amidst an active legislative session.
- GOP Speaker candidates brawled it out amongst themselves behind closed doors to assume control of their fragmented caucus — employing both threats and quid-pro-quos.
- Mere hours after his nomination, Majority Leader Steve Scalise withdrew from the race citing an inability to gain the required 217 votes.
- Jim Jordan — who introduced a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions, advocated for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and denied the results of the 2020 election — was nominated by the House Republican Conference.
- Holdouts against Jordan received death threats directed at themselves and their families. Others were personally threatened by Jordan and his allies as part of an arm-twisting campaign.
- Over the course of three speaker votes, Jordan repeatedly failed to get 217 votes.
- Yesterday, Tom Emmer was nominated by the House Republican Conference and 4 hours later dropped out of contention.
- Now, Mike Johnson, who wants to ban abortions with no exceptions, is the latest dangerous extremist Republicans are uplifting whose priorities would hurt Michiganders.
- No matter the result today, the Republican caucus is unable to escape the chaos of its own creation.
DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
“It’s been 22 days since Republicans torpedoed their own caucus and Tom Barrett refuses to condemn the chaos within the GOP. Cowards shouldn’t run for Congress.”
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