EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are heading into the next Congress ready to brawl.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who is set to go from the No. 3 most powerful House Republican to No. 2 next year, told Fox News Digital that the GOP will hold the new Democrat majority “accountable” for their far-left faction’s ideas over the next two years, even if they cannot control what bills get a vote.
Emmer, who has served as House majority whip for the past four years, was elected Tuesday to serve as minority whip alongside incoming House Minority Leader Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. The Speaker of the House position turns over to Democrats, and will likely be won by current minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
And despite Jeffries poised to take control of what legislation gets to the House floor, Emmer signaled House Republicans would find ways to push their agenda as well.
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“What’s their answer to dealing with costs and wages? We’re going to investigate Trump,” Emmer said in reference to Democrats. “That’s not going to solve the problems that they created. So that’s going to be the job of the whip, is to make sure that we have a coordinated process â committee hearings, floor votes â to expose and define exactly who these people really are.”
Emmer, in his first print interview since winning the House minority whip job, would not go into detail about how Republicans would utilize floor votes, however.
“There’s a toolbox with a bunch of different tools, and you’re going to have to build that strategy as you go from week to week,” he said.
The Minnesota Republican also signaled there would be little appetite for bipartisanship over the next two years, a sentiment he suggested would come from the other side of the aisle.
“Well look, they’re not going to work with us, that’s pretty clear, and I don’t even know if they’re going to be able to work with each other,” Emmer said.
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He repeated a short time later, “I see nowhere where they’re going to work with Republicans. And Republicans who think they are should think again, because they will tell you nice things, and then they will just go do what they do.”
Meanwhile other House Republicans are already coming up with ideas on how to put Democrats on the spot on the House floor in the new Congress.
“We’ll file amendments,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla. “And I think that’ll be where having good debaters and communicators would be important.”
Holding amendment votes is commonplace before large pieces of legislation like the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress has enacted annually for decades to update and reauthorize critical national security policies.
Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., suggested an emphasis on a parliamentary procedure called the “motion to recommit,” which allows the minority party to get a vote on altering or even killing a bill in its tracks.</p
