Conservative lawmakers serving as subcommittee chairmen are finding themselves on the receiving end of retribution from House leadership for defying party leaders.
Last week, 34 Republicans broke from their party in voting against a routine procedural rule that would have advanced Trade Promotion Authority. Since then, GOP leadership has come down hard on those members, removing some from the leadership team and threatening others with losing subcommittee chairmanships.
This show of force from leadership has angered conservative lawmakers and members of the House Freedom Caucus, who are speaking out against the “culture of punishment and fear†that’s emerged during John Boehner’s tenure as speaker.
“Conservatives are frustrated that they are being punished for voting their conscience after countless efforts to work openly with leadership were stonewalled,†a conservative staffer in the House told The Daily Signal.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., was removed from his role as chairman of the Government Operations subcommittee. As The Daily Signal previously reported, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, approached Meadows last week and presented him with two options: resign as chairman or be booted from the role.
Meadows, though, isn’t the only subcommittee chairman to be approached by committee heads following their vote against the procedural vote.
A second Republican staffer told The Daily Signal at least one other conservative member has met with the chairman of the member’s full committee, where the topic of the procedural vote came up. The meeting, though, did not result in the loss of the chairmanship.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/06/23/gop-leadership-threatens-other-conservative-subcommittee-chairman-as-punishment-for-trade-vote/
