Louie Gohmert told Hannity tonight that he’s already hearing rumors that Boehner has had two of his dissenters from today kicked off the rules committee, Rich Nugent and Daniel Webster. Gohmert says if that’s true then there’s going to be a fight and it’s going to get nasty really quick.
He made those comments at 3:30 in the interview below:
Well I did some research and it turns out it’s true, that Nugent and Webster have been kicked off the rules committee:
ROLL CALL – After Daniel Webster and Rich Nugent bucked leadership and voted for a speaker whose last name was not “Boehner,” House leaders stripped the two Florida congressmen of their positions on the Rules Committee.
The roster for the Rules Committee, which is often referred to as “the speaker’s committee,” was approved Tuesday evening by unanimous consent after GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers made a motion on the floor. Missing from that roster were Webster and Nugent, both members of the panel in the 113th Congress.
“My philosophy is don’t burn any bridges, don’t make it personal,” Webster told reporters Tuesday night after learning of the news. “But that’s not everybody’s philosophy.”
Webster said he was going to make the pitch to leadership to put Nugent back on the committee, as he felt Nugent voted for him out of some sort of Florida Republican loyalty. But, he did respect leadership’s decision.
“It’s not like it’s punishment being taken off the Rules Committee,” Webster said. “A lot of people would say it’s actually a relief.”
The Rules Committee was originally slated to have nine Republicans and four Democrats in the 114th Congress. However, after some last-minute changes, Webster and Nugent were left off, bringing the overall committee breakdown to seven Republicans and four Democrats.
Webster reported that he confronted Rules Chairman Pete Sessions during votes Tuesday night, and asked about the decision. It was actually during the time that McMorris Rodgers made the unanimous consent motion on the resolution functionally kicking Webster and Nugent off the committee that Sessions and Webster were talking.
Sessions, R-Texas, explained to reporters Tuesday evening that the Rules Committee was a place where “you really have to be in good shape to keep yourself free and clear so you make decisions for everybody.”
“The committee works at the behest of the speaker,” Sessions said, “and the speaker — I believe any speaker — would want and need a person focused on that agenda.”
Sessions continued that the Rules Committee was “not a self-serving committee.”
“We do things for the team,” he said.
There you have it. Thuggery at its best. Boehner is no different than Pelosi in this regard.