Republican Representative for North Carolina Mark Meadows stated in an interview published Thursday that the House should take the lead in proposing an immigration reform bill which has sparked talks that the representative is implying a Speaker coup.
Meadows later denied that the issue could lead to a change in GOP leadership.
“Any suggestion of a coup on the speakership is not only not what I said but was not in the context of what I said,” Meadows said to Politico.
“I think it’s incredibly important that the House go ahead with a conservative immigration bill,” he continued. “And to suggest that the Senate could beat us to a vote on that particular initiative would indicate that we are being derelict in our duty to represent the people in the people’s house.”
Meadows had previously commented that the looming immigration vote is a “defining moment” for Speaker Paul Ryan, sparking confusion.
“If he gets it wrong, it will have consequences for him but it will also have consequences for the rest of the Republican Party,” Meadows told Politico.
Ryan has yet to bring an immigration bill to the floor, despite urging from conservative Republicans who support legislation from Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte.
The Senate floor has until now seen a number of separate proposals be presented. However, lawmakers are still working to find a bipartisan solution that is going to have enough votes and support in order to pass.
According to The Hill, Meadows, who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, previously criticized Ryan for his handling of a budget deal passed last week that drastically increases spending caps, saying Republican leadership “caved.”
“The swamp won and the American taxpayer lost,” Meadows said last Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
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