OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Texas Republican Rep. Mark Green has been selected to chair the powerful House Committee on Homeland Security, beating Rep. Texas GOP Dan Crenshaw for the position.
“Green, a combat veteran described by his colleagues as a rising star in the party, said that strengthening the border would be a top priority as he gears up to helm the panel. Green is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, giving conservatives a win and placing them in more positions of power as Republicans assume the majority. Green has maintained a strong relationship with leadership, helping Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) get over the finish line during his heated floor battle for speaker,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“Green received a key endorsement from conservative Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), who ultimately decided not to pursue the gavel despite having top seniority. Contested steering races were expected to take place ahead of the House’s holiday recess but were ultimately pushed back amid McCarthy’s struggles to lock down the speaker’s gavel,” the outlet added.
JUST IN: @RepMarkGreen beats @RepDanCrenshaw in race to chair the House Homeland Security Committee https://t.co/DxEcgB49uL
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 9, 2023
NEWS: Rep. Mark GREEN (R-Tenn.) wins the Homeland Security gavel, I'm told.
He beat out Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). https://t.co/uFO5zNyHPY
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 9, 2023
Crenshaw is doing some backtracking after calling some of his fellow Republican Congressmembers “terrorists.”
The representative appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday and spoke to host Jake Tapper about the entire ordeal of electing Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“Things get heated and things get said,” the representative said of his comments. “Obviously, to the people who took offense by that, it’s pretty obvious that it’s meant as a turn of phrase.”
“A metaphor,” the host said.
“In the context of intransient negotiations,” the Texas representative said.
“I’ve got thick skin. I’m called awful, vile things by the very same wing of the party that I was fighting at that moment. So I was a little taken aback by the sensitivity of it. But to the extent that I have colleagues that were offended by it, I sincerely apologize to them. I don’t want them to think I actually believe they’re terrorists. It’s certainly a turn of phrase that you use in an intransient negotiation,” he said.
He said that there was frustration in not knowing what those members who were voting against Speaker McCarthy wanted.
The representative said that there was not “as much disagreement as everyone thinks” in negotiations about what those members wanted from McCarthy in the House Rules package and concessions.
“That’s what justified the animosity all week and it seems very, very pointless,” he said.
“There was no reason for us to keep voting, keep voting, keep allowing these speeches that just degraded and diminished and insulted Kevin McCarthy. We didn’t have to keep doing that. We could have just adjourned for the whole week and just kept negotiating. So that’s where the heartburn is and that’s what I want people to know. This deal was easy. That wasn’t the hard part,” he said.
"That's where the heartburn is"
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) responds to the tension surrounding Kevin McCarthy during a chaotic week of House speaker votes and whether Republicans learned something from it. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/EsRugfV7tf
— CNN (@CNN) January 8, 2023
It comes after Crenshaw took heat from several conservatives, including Republican Texas Rep. Ted Cruz.
“My view is ‘settle down.’ This will work out and it’ll be fine,” he said during his most recent episode of the “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast. “That kind of overheated rhetoric, calling people ‘terrorists,’ is not terribly conducive to anything resembling Republican unity. It’s not conducive to having strong leadership for the next two years in the House, engaging in vitriol and personal attacks.”
Last week Crenshaw was speaking to Fox News radio host Guy Benson when he made the “terrorists” remark.
“One name that gets tossed around is Steve Scalise, whose well-liked member of leadership. It’s like, oh, well, you know what? If you gave him a shot instead of McCarthy, first of all, McCarthy would have to step aside for that to happen. Second of all, if it were Scalise, would any of this dynamic change at all? I don’t know,” Benson said.
“No, no, it wouldn’t change. And we all know it wouldn’t change, which is why we can’t give in,” the representative said. “And so those of us who are standing against this, we’re standing for principle. They are standing for notoriety. They’re standing for that extra news that because nobody ever cares about them and they’re frustrated by that, and they want that extra news that we know that we can’t give in to this because then they will always run the conference and they’ll just get another scalp and another scalp, whether it’s whether it’s Boehner or Paul Ryan or them McCarthy. Scalise would just be next and we all know it. We just can’t allow that to happen. That’s why those of us are saying like, look, you pushed us into this corner. So now we’re now we’re saying we won’t vote for anyone but McCarthy. That’s why we’re saying it, because we cannot let the terrorists win. That’s basically what’s happening. And I do have to go.”
