Daily US Times: On Wednesday, House Republicans decided to stand by two GOP lawmakers who have polarized the party, voting to retain Rep. Liz Cheney as their No. 3 leader and saying they would fight a Democratic push to kick Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off her committees.
In a 145-61 secret-ballot vote, Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress overwhelmingly rebuffed a rebellion by hard-right conservatives to toss Cheney, R-Wyo., from leadership after she voted last month to impeach Donald Trump, the then president.
Hours earlier, after Democrats slated a House vote for Thursday that would remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ridiculed them for it.
McCarthy’s comments signaled he was dismissing bipartisan demands that the hard-right Georgia Republican be punished for her online embrace of violent and racist views and bizarre conspiracy theories.
The decisions over Cheney and Greene have subjected the GOP to a politically agonizing test of its direction as it moves beyond the Trump presidency. Since Donald Trump grudgingly vacated the White House last month, the party has been ideologically adrift as it’s struggled over whether to embrace his norm-busting divisiveness or the party’s more traditional, policy-oriented conservative values.
But as Wednesday’s internal showdowns concluded, McCarthy and the House Republicans decided against punishing two of their most high-profile women, whose views enrage opposite ends of the GOP’s spectrum. The moves were typical of McCarthy’s preference to avoid ruffling feathers as he charts his path to someday becoming House speaker.
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