Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blessed Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) move to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), saying that House Republicans need someone with “courage” and “intestinal fortitude.”
The Kentucky senator said:
I think Thomas Massie is doing the right thing, and I think that Republicans need real leadership. We need to use our power; our people are frustrated. Why don’t we use the power of the purse? Why does the debt keep getting bigger even when Republicans are in charge of the House? So, I think we need somebody that has some courage and some intestinal fortitude.
Paul’s comments follow after Massie became a cosponsor of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate to remove Johnson as the leader of the House.
“Every negotiation he’s [Johnson] gone into with Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, he’s received nothing in exchange. He’s either not good at negotiating, or he’s negotiating for their side,” Massie said on Breitbart News Daily.
“He’s done an omnibus that broke Nancy Pelosi’s spending records. He reauthorized FISA without warrants. Now he’s going for the trifecta to pass the Ukraine spending without doing anything to enforce our border,” he continued. “That will be three strikes in addition to just the poor management of the House.”
“Thank you @RandPaul for…supporting our efforts to restore fiscal sanity and constitutionally limited government here in the House. Our leadership is failing us,” Massie wrote in response to Paul’s comments.
Massie and Greene have become increasingly frustrated with Johnson’s leadership, which includes his spending plans, his lack of reforms to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and his moves to grant more foreign aid without border policies.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the former Freedom Caucus chairman, and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), the former Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman, scoffed at Johnson’s foreign aid framework, which includes a substantial amount of aid for Ukraine and neglects the migrant crisis at the southern border.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.