Things got heated on the House floor on Thursday amid a far-right revolt over House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to pass funding bills for Ukraine and Israel.
According to reports, a group of far Republican lawmakers were trying to pressure Johnson to hold off on passing aid to Ukraine until the Senate passes HR 2 the far-right anti-immigration bill passed by House Republicans last May.
But Johnson said he could not do it.
Things escalated when Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) joined the group to defend Johnson and dared his far-right Republican colleagues to bring the motion to oust the speaker to the floor for a vote.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) reportedly called Van Orden “squish” and he fired back, calling the Florida lawmaker “Tubby.”
“That [tubby insult] was directed directly at Matt Gaetz. He felt like he should call me a squish and I wanted to remind anybody who has not been in combat and held his friend’s hand as they died bring shot by the enemy really doesn’t have any business calling someone else a squish. And so, in fact, I did call him tubby and I stand by that,” Van Orden told Axios reporter Juliegrace Brufke.
CNN confirmed:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to vacate the speaker last month. The move to oust Johnson has been gaining steam after he announced that the chamber will vote this weekend on three separate bills providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
At least one other Republican, Kentucky Rep Thomas Massie has publicly joined Greene’s efforts to oust the speaker.
