House Republican leaders are preparing for members to try to strip committee assignments from the 13 Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week, Punchbowl News reports.
GOP leadership is “bracing” for rank-and-file members to push for a vote to strip the Republicans of their committee seats, including several that serve as the top minority members on the panels.
The bill was negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators that included 10 Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of 19 Republicans to back the bill.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, pushed for members not to vote for the bill until it was clear that Democrats had enough votes to pass it on their own.
When six progressive members defected and voted against the bill, the Republican supporters ended up saving Democrats from having the vote go down in defeat.
Anger at Katko:
Republicans are particularly angry at New York Rep. John Katko because he was one of the members who voted for the bill before it was clear whether Democrats had enough votes.
Katko told several lawmakers that he “had seen Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on television talking about the infrastructure bill, and he was voting early.”
Trump allies in the House have had it out for Katko for months.
Earlier this year, he negotiated the terms of a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot before Republicans pulled out entirely.
And Katko previously voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot and voted in favor of a criminal contempt referral against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
GOP defectors face threats:
Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, one of the Republican defectors, said he faced a barrage of threats after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the 13 Republicans “traitors” and tweeted their phone numbers.
"I hope you die. I hope everybody in your fucking family dies," one caller, who labeled the congressman a “fucking piece of shit traitor,” said in a message Upton shared with CNN.
"I'll tell you it's a terrible way -- we have seen civility really downslide here. I'm concerned about my staff. They are taking these calls,” Upton said. "These are very disturbing, adult language. To say the least, that truly is frightening."
