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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is telling Republicans who’re going after sitting GOP lawmakers in contentious primaries to “knock it off,” in order to tamp down on divisions throughout the social gathering, in accordance to a report.
Johnson, R-La., attended the House Republicans’ annual member retreat on the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, final week to unify the often-fractious convention as at the least 4 sitting Republicans in South Carolina, Illinois, Texas and Virginia are going to battle against Republican challengers.
“I’ve asked them all to cool it,” Johnson advised CNN throughout the retreat. “I am vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries because it’s not productive. And it causes division for obvious reasons, and we should not be engaging in that.”
Johnson is attempting to determine how to information his razor-thin majority via a sequence of legislative hurdles that divide Republicans, together with how to present army help for Ukraine, end authorities funding and reauthorize a federal surveillance program – all whereas attempting to make a case that voters ought to re-elect a GOP House majority.
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“So I’m telling everyone who’s doing that to knock it off,” Johnson advised the outlet, referring to difficult incumbents throughout the GOP. “And both sides, they’ll say, ‘Well, we didn’t start it, they started it.’”
Johnson took the speaker’s gavel late final yr after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from workplace in a historic transfer that left Republicans deeply divided and mired in dysfunction.
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Johnson advised Fox News Digital final week that he’s aiming to keep on the helm of the House GOP subsequent yr no matter whether or not they hold the House majority.
“I have not given a lot of thought about the next Congress, because I’m so busy with my responsibility right now,” Johnson stated. “My intention is to stay as speaker, stay in leadership, because we’re laying a lot of important groundwork right now for the big work that we’ll be doing.”
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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