Senate Republican Accuses GOP Colleague of ‘Self-Aggrandizement’ in Fiery Feud
L: Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images; R: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) reportedly had some sharp words for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) Monday, accusing the Utah Republican’s push for a vote on the pending August recess of “demoralizing” the GOP base and being motivated out of “self-aggrandizement.”
Cornyn has seemed less willing to bite his tongue amidst internecine party squabbles after losing a viciously contentious primary battle to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
He might be headed out the exit door next January, but due to his long tenure in the Senate and seat on several key committees, he still wields substantial power. In recent weeks, Cornyn has declared he is “undecided” on Trump’s troubled Attorney General nominee, Todd Blanche, and poured ice-cold water over the chances of the SAVE America Act passing.
But Trump and his allies are loudly pushing for the SAVE America Act, with the president frequently mentioning the legislation during press conferences and rally speeches.
On Monday, Lee tweeted that the Senate should move forward with the SAVE America Act next month, repeating previous calls he has made to skip the August recess.
“There’s time in August,” he wrote. “Let’s use it.”
The Senate is currently scheduled to go on recess starting August 6 through mid-September; Trump has openly called for the Senate to forgo that recess to pass this legislation.
Cornyn, however, remains unpersuaded. According to Punchbowl News’ senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio, Cornyn “went off” on Lee “for his vow to force a vote on recessing for August.”
Lee was “demoralizing our base” with this tactic, Cornyn said, according to Desiderio. “I mean, what possible rationale could there be for that other than self-aggrandizement?”
Cornyn also pointed out several Republican incumbents up for re-election would want to be in their home states campaigning and “they’ll have to vote to stay in” town instead for this to pass. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Jon Husted (R-OH), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) are among those facing tough re-election battles and the GOP’s narrow majority is on the line.
Punchbowl News’ report by Desiderio and Jake Sherman on the topic called Lee’s plan to force Senators to go on the record with a vote on the August recess doomed to “fail overwhelmingly” but still “a nightmare for GOP senators because it’s meant to shame Republicans for recessing instead of staying in Washington to pass the controversial voter ID and proof-of-citizenship legislation.”
“Such a vote would expose Republicans to unrelenting criticism from the MAGA base and social media influencers — not to mention Trump,” the report added. “GOP leaders see the move as unproductive. Even if it succeeded, it wouldn’t change the math on the SAVE America Act, and it would deny vulnerable GOP incumbents the chance to go home and campaign.”
Lee fired back, sharing Desiderio’s post with the comment, “Wait, who exactly is ‘demoralizing our base’?”
Pithy tweets aside, Cornyn’s view seems poised to prevail as of Monday evening. Besides the electoral motivations of his colleagues on November’s ballots, Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was openly skeptical skipping the August recess would change anything.
Several reporters shared Thune’s comments expressing serious doubts Lee’s plan could work.
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram summarized Thune’s comments thusly: “We’re going to have some conversations over the course of the next couple of days. My assumption again is that if somebody can show me how we get an outcome, how we get a result, how we get an answer to this, I’m all for it. But if we are gonna be sitting here in endless quorum calls I don’t know if that’s in everybody’s best interest.”
Politico senior congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett quoted Thune as saying “we could stay here until Christmas” and it would not change the outcome of the vote on the bill.
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