Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., still has not heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., regarding last week's ordeal to pass the stopgap funding bill, telling Newsmax on Friday that "building consensus" through better communication within the GOP has to come before reaching across the aisle for votes.
Malliotakis joined "Wake up America" to discuss Johnson's fate as speaker next week, which is inextricably linked to the success of House Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump this year.
"Look, I think we need to resolve our differences. I think the speaker should be reaching out to the membership, answering their concerns and questions. I have concerns and questions, too, about what happened last week and that it can't happen again," Malliotakis said.
It took the House three tries to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government through March 14 and the final version still fell flat with House conservatives who raged against the spending levels. Johnson's handling of the CR has left his future as speaker in peril; at least one Republican has vowed to vote against him and many are noncommittal about their Jan. 3 vote.
"We should be working out our differences within our conference, not going to the Democrats to secure their votes before building consensus within our own party," Malliotakis said. "What I would say is the speaker should be reaching out to the members. I have not heard from him just yet, but we all have ideas on how we can improve cooperation, improve communication and come out of this more united.
"If we're going to pass and be successful in pushing through President Trump's agenda, we need to be united, or else we're going to have the same problem 100 days from now. So let's work out our differences. Let's hear everybody's concerns, answer those questions, and how are we going to do things differently next year so what happened last week does not happen again," she added.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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