House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s decision not to seat Rep. Steve King on any committees was seen by Republicans as a sign that McCarthy has taken full control of the GOP conference, and he will do what it takes to make it the majority party again in the House.
“[I]t’s very important. It’s a defining moment,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told the Washington Examiner. “It’s his first act, and it shows that he’s serious about us doing the things we need to do to get back in the majority and for us standing for things we’re all proud of. I applaud him for making what’s a very difficult decision, and I think it’s the right one.”
Lawmakers in the room Monday night said McCarthy’s decision to ban King, R-Iowa, from three committees was met with “near-universal” applause. Many House Republicans believe the time had come for action against the troublesome Iowa Republican, who had been espousing questionable beliefs for years, and were pleased that McCarthy, R-Calif., made the move in the first few days of his leadership.
[Opinion: Republicans, we need to confront every instance of racism, inside our party and out]
McCarthy’s initial plan was to strip King of his expected post on the Judiciary Committee, which included a potential ranking member post on the subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, according to a source familiar with McCarthy’s thinking. But McCarthy decided that comments in past years “warranted a more comprehensive examination” of King’s future in the conference, according to the source. The steering committee agreed.
Not only was the decision from the committee unanimous, but most of the conference agreed. According to a source in the room, the only member who stood up to back King was Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who argued that King had denounced the kind of language he discussed to the New York Times last week. King did not attend the meeting, according to multiple House GOP members.
According to Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, McCarthy received a “big applause” when the issue came up Tuesday morning.
“It proves that he’s willing to do hard things and willing to set a moral compass for our conference, and I think that’s a good thing,” Stivers said.
According to another House Republican, members had become fed up with King’s act, which had become the hot topic on Capitol Hill Monday along with the ongoing partial government shutdown. The latest comments were the straw the broke the camel’s back, to many GOP lawmakers.
The New York Times reported King said in an interview, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said the quote was taken out of context and that he was only referring to Western civilization when he asked, “how did that language become offensive?”
But many Republicans said enough was enough.
“Even people who were willing to look the other way and give him the benefit of the doubt in the past are outraged by the comments that most view as pure racist,” said one House Republican. “There’s no way this was anything but racist at this point.”
McCarthy’s move also showed a new level of willingness to discipline Republicans since former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., never took on King over his past comments. Stivers, who pulled National Republican Congressional Committee funding from King’s re-election bid in 2018 and condemned remarks on white nationalism at the time, said that King is now on everyone’s radar.
“Different people have different levels of tolerance, or it takes different levels to get their attention,” Stivers said. “I think he has everybody’s attention now.”
Atop the list of those who got the message was McCarthy, who also indicated Monday night that he would support either a resolution to censure or reprimand the Iowa Republican.
“He’s showing leadership. I think he’ll be judged by whether it was the right or wrong decision by the conference, but you have to take a stand and he did on this one. It shows he’s not looking to someone else,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.
“He’s at the tip of the spear making decisions that affect our conference,” Duffy added.
