Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) plans on supporting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the speakership vote on Friday, she told Breitbart News Daily.
Johnson can only afford to lose two Republican votes, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has made it abundantly clear that he will not support him following the spending bill negotiated ahead of Christmas.
If one more defects, the congresswoman said negotiations would most certainly begin.
“But I’m optimistic. I mean, we can begin to hear — we’ve already seen how this game plays out. You know, we did this over a year ago on, we went, what, 15 rounds,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the best way to start a Republican-led house, a Republican-led Senate, and a Republican in the White House.”
“We have got a lot of work on our plate,” she said, surmising that unity is the only way to go for the GOP.
“And nobody can criticize Mike Johnson on speaking with every member of this conference, and they might not like what he has to say, but the fact is, he is a unifier, and he listens,” she claimed. “He reaches out to people.”
“So I plan on supporting him. I know Trump is supporting him. I know obviously the vast majority of GOP conference is supporting him. We’re going to see some last minute negotiations,” she said, warning that if Johnson “bends into the will of certain members,” it would set a bad precedent, using former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as an example.
“I have been optimistic, because I know there have been ideas that we have had, bills that we have pushed through that could have been a lot more conservative,” she said, asserting that these bills have been essentially neutered because they were worried about passing them in the Senate. But now, that will be different.
“We are looking at conservative bills coming out of the Senate that will then be able to be signed into law by a Republican president with Donald J. Trump. So I’m optimistic going into this vote. I know that there’s a lot of chest pounding that’s happening right now,” she said. “We need to pick a speaker before we can get sworn in, and we’ve got so much work to get done that President Trump is promising to get done the first 100 days we can’t waste time amongst — fighting amongst ourselves.”
When asked about Johnson dropping the ball on the spending bill and the anger that caused, the congresswoman said she simply does not know that anyone else — such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — could get sufficient votes either.
LISTEN:
Breitbart · Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) – January 3, 2025“As you mentioned, it only takes two people. I don’t know that Jim Jordan would be able to get those two people. … But let me, let’s put this way, yes, some of us were very disappointed. As you know, I voted against both of the continuing resolutions because as far as I was concerned, it did not include spending cuts. We cannot sit here and complain that we’ve got $36 trillion in debt and then continue to put on that amount of spending, adding trillions of dollars,” she said, explaining that many of them have spoken to Johnson about this.
“He absolutely understands it. The question is, could he get a package passed that would keep the government open or get that signed by a president. That was important, that is no longer the case,” she said.
“So a lot of people have said, well, you weren’t able to get these bills passed,” the Texas lawmaker added, expressing confidence that Johnson will be able to pursue a more conservative agenda with a GOP majority in the Senate and a Republican in the White House.
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