House Republicans met Wednesday night to determine the future roles of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Marjorie Talyor Greene (R-GA) within the party.
In a 145 to 61 vote, House Republicans allowed Cheney to maintain her position as GOP Conference Chair, the third-ranking GOP leadership position.
Cheney faced the potential loss of her leadership position following her and nine other party members' vote in favor of former President Trump's impeachment. The congresswoman drew heavy criticism from her colleagues and constituents because they believed she was not representing the Republican Party’s majority opinion. Despite the vote of confidence from her fellow party members Wednesday, Cheney still faces an uphill battle as a recent poll found that 73% of Republican voters in Wyoming view her unfavorably.
A freshman lawmaker who requested anonymity told Newsmax that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) “"whipped hard for a big vote for Cheney."
"Leader McCarthy really made the case for unity and said people keep asking why Republicans have been attacking other Republicans. So we essentially decided we are getting back to work and going to win the House in '22."
Following the vote on whether Cheney would maintain her leadership position, House Republicans agreed not to punish freshman congresswoman Rep. Greene for her controversial behavior in recent months. The proposed punishment was Greene’s removal from her House committee positions.
Greene has been a prominent topic of controversy lately for retweeting conspiracy theories as well as other questionable behavior. The congresswoman has also shown support for some of the views of QAnon, a conspiracy theory that the world is run by satan-worshipping pedophiles.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called Greene’s behavior a “cancer” to the Republican party. On Wednesday, despite Republicans choosing not to punish Greene, House GOP Leader McCarthy said, "past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and antisemitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference,”
Sources told Newsmax that Greene apologized for retweeting the conspiracy theories and expressed that she did not support QAnon but was trying to learn more about it.
One House Republican told Newsmax “Basically, she did what she had to do to survive” but “this was not a vote of confidence in Marjorie.“
The GOP’s decisions to not remove either congresswomen from their positions reflects an attempt to unify the party as House Democrats will vote Thursday to approve a rules change that would permit Democrats to vote to remove Greene from her committee positions. The change would allow the entire House to vote on committee positions rather than just the individual parties. Rep. McCarthy has warned democrats "We'll have no problem deciding what committees his (Democrat Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)) members sit on when we take the House."
Rep. Greene currently serves on the House Budget Committee and House Education and Labor Committee.
In response to the democrat’s potential rule change, Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) has written a proposal to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her committee positions for alleged anti-semetic comments.