Following the historic ouster of former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday afternoon, Texas Democrats in Washington wasted little time before calling out Republicans for wrecking their own house and now having to live with the consequences.
Meanwhile, some of Texas’ Republican congressional delegation rebuked the small-but-powerful group within their own ranks who voted with Democrats to remove McCarthy, labeling them as a selfish lot more concerned with themselves than with their constituents’ needs.
After the vote – the first in the history of the U.S. Congress that successfully removed a speaker – Democrats said that the mess created in the U.S. House was of the Republicans’ own doing.
“Confounding to hear House Republicans asking to ‘preserve’ this institution. These are the same folks who tried to overturn an election, defend insurrectionists, and show porn at hearings,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, posted on social media, referring to speeches made by McCarthy supporters just before the vote. “You can’t claim to want to preserve the same institution you’ve tried to burn down.”
Congressman Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, said the far-right members’ collusion with Democrats shows their loyalty is to themselves and not the people they represent.
“If you’re voting with every single Democrat in the House to oust a Republican Speaker, it’s not about winning for your constituents. It’s not about winning for conservatives. Based on all the fundraising emails we are seeing, it’s only about personal attention,” he said. “There are people who fight for you, and people who fight for your attention. Big difference.”