Some in GOP move to kick out Cheney and Kinzinger and make shunning official

The decision from Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to sit on the select committee formed to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack at the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ostracized them from their fellow House Republicans, and some in the conference want to make that formal.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs brought up a resolution during a House Republican conference meeting on Tuesday to expel immediately from the conference any person who sits on a committee that they were not appointed to by the Republican leader or the House Republican steering committee.

“The reality is, they're now basically working with and for the Democrats, and so it'd be awkward for them to be sitting in our committee while we talk about policy, put, you know, strategy and how to stop bad policy from the Democrats and advance good policy from us. It'd be really awkward,” Biggs told the Washington Examiner.

While some fellow Freedom Caucus firebrands such as Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert expressed support for Biggs’s move, it did not get traction.

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE COULD BE FINAL HURRAH FOR CHENEY AND KINZINGER

“It didn’t go anywhere today. Hopefully, it will be reconsidered,” Biggs said.

There was not much discussion, if any, on the proposal in Tuesday’s meeting.

“The microphones at conference always seem to work when our leadership is asking people to pledge money. And when that portion of the meeting concludes, there's just a real series of technical difficulties that seem to always arise,” Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was walking with Biggs from votes on Tuesday, said to reporters.

Normal House Republican conference rules require support from two-thirds of the conference to expel a member.

Other Republicans are frustrated with the pair for continuing on with the committee despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refusing to seat two of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's picks and McCarthy’s subsequent boycott but don’t necessarily see a pressing need to reprimand Cheney and Kinzinger.

“What should be done to Liz now? I don’t know. I think they're kind of doing it to themselves,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy told the Washington Examiner on Monday, before Biggs brought up his proposal in front of the conference. “They’re on an island over here, and they're choosing teams at this point, and they're saying, ‘Oh, so I'm totally fine saddling up with the speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives, who, by the way, is killing our country at the border, killing our country on spending.' … They're isolating themselves.”

McCarthy called Cheney and Kinzinger "Pelosi Republicans" on Monday, clearly distancing himself from them.

Formal or not, Cheney and Kinzinger are being pushed away.

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Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois, one of the Republicans that McCarthy has appointed to the committee, described the select committee on Fox & Friends Tuesday as having “eight Democrats and two others.”

Asked why he called them “others,” Davis said: "They did what I wouldn't do. They accepted appointments from Speaker Pelosi.”

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Tags: News, Congress, January 6, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans

Original Author: Emily Brooks

Original Location: Some in GOP move to kick out Cheney and Kinzinger and make shunning official