While House Republicans are mostly unified when it comes to hot-button topics such as immigration and border security, the GOP conference has been plagued by infighting that caused a chaotic speaker’s race and delays in passing important legislation that could be detrimental heading into a 2024 election.
From the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year to historic blocks on rule votes, Republicans have faced major obstacles as they seek to maintain their narrow majority next November. But their biggest challenge has repeatedly proven to be themselves.
“I’ve been frank about this across the board. There are people in my conference that are not here for the right reasons,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI). “They’re not here to govern. They don’t understand how to govern. They really don’t understand there’s a difference between compromise and capitulation.”
Much of the conference has divided since the speakership races, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to inherit several committees packed with McCarthy allies and contend with hard-line conservatives as the House moves through appropriations.
The chamber passed six appropriations bills on Wednesday with a government shutdown deadline looming on March 22. The splitting of appropriations into legislative packages, referred to as “minibuses,” has pushed some Republicans to say the conference is kicking the can down the road.
However, even some Freedom Caucus members are resigning to the fact Johnson is doing the best he can with the cards he’s been dealt by their own hand.
“We need to agree on what unites us as a party. I mean, frankly, that is the problem,” said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH). “You essentially have a bunch of free-range Republicans right now, and we have to be brought together to unite.”
One way to do that? Unite behind a 2024 nominee.
Following former President Donald Trump’s sweeping victories on Super Tuesday and Nikki Haley dropping out of the 2024 election, many holdout House Republicans have since fallen in line to support his reelection campaign.
“We need a Republican in the White House; we need a Republican administration,” Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), who endorsed Trump on Wednesday, told the Washington Examiner. “We’ve got to get better leadership back in place, so it’s time to unify the team.”
“Unify” appears to be House GOP members calling card, with members rallying behind Trump as he seeks to secure the party nomination as the only Republican left in the race.
Rep. Jeff Bergman (R-MI) told the Washington Examiner that having Trump at the top of the ticket “is a unifying message” for the Republican Party and “all the conservative voters who know they are being represented by a man who cares.”
However, other members have called on their party to do more, urging leadership to leverage their slim majority to bend the knee of both the Senate and White House.
“We haven’t had the political and moral courage in the House to be able to say, if you don’t shut down our borders, we will shut down our government,” said Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), referring to hard-line conservative demands to prioritize border security legislation over funding the government. “I think that we have to start taking a stand. We understand that we are one leg in a four-legged stool. … But we as House Republicans were elected to the majority to be exactly what the American people want, which is a stiff spine who’s willing to stand for the American people.”
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Democrats have repeatedly pointed to Republicans’ struggles to pass legislation through the House, often using it as campaign fodder as they seek to win the majority next year. However, House Republicans have rejected that notion, arguing their intraparty disagreements are proof of democracy at work.
“Just because we have disagreements — that’s what you’re supposed to do,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). “The other party doesn’t allow any disagreement, any real diversity of thought. The Republican Party is where that happens.”
