A heated confrontation unfolded on the House floor between Speaker Paul Ryan and a top conservative leader over immigration legislation.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen Mark Meadows as livid as he is right now.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 20, 2018
During a Wednesday afternoon vote on a proposed immigration bill, Rep. Mark Meadows got in Ryan’s face in an animated exchange in front of other lawmakers and onlookers.
??
Mark Meadows and Paul Ryan are in a very heated discussion in the middle of the house floor.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 20, 2018
Freedom Caucus Chair Meadows gets up in the grill of Ryan on the Hse flor in the middle of the vote series. Rare to have a mbr take on another mbr, let alone a Spkr like that.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 20, 2018
Meadows is furious. Just walked over to his members — the freedom caucus — and signaled that he was done.
I’m not sure what they’re pissed about — ask @MEPFuller — but I would expect fireworks tomorrow.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 20, 2018
WATCH: (Clip 1/2) Exchange between @SpeakerRyan and Rep. Mark Meadows on the House Floor. (Look at NV column area of screen).
Note: C-SPAN doesn’t control cameras/audio in House chamber. (h/t @Jakesherman) pic.twitter.com/WrtoLEfg4u
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) June 20, 2018
The chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus confronted the Speaker for under a minute, with Meadows being heard saying, “I’m done! I’m done!” before turning and walking away.
Meadows now having his hand toward Paul Ryan, angrily talking to his chief of staff Jonathan burka
“I don’t care anymore,” Meadows tells Ryan.
Curbelo standing by.
Meadows tells curbelo: “I’ll sign the dang discharge petition. I don’t care anymore.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 20, 2018
Meadows and Ryan in each other’s faces. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Meadows tells Ryan.
Wow.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 20, 2018
WATCH: (Clip 2/2) Exchange between @SpeakerRyan and Rep. Mark Meadows on the House Floor. (Look at NV column area of screen).
Note: C-SPAN doesn’t control cameras/audio in House chamber. (h/t @Jakesherman) pic.twitter.com/leOsUZUcTn
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) June 20, 2018
The unusual argument centered around the immigration votes scheduled for Thursday as Meadows was seen repeating “it doesn’t matter” before he walked away, only to return again.
Mark Meadows and Paul Ryan are having quite the disagreement right now.
Both are pointing at each other.
We could hear Meadows say “I’ll sign the damn discharge petition I don’t care anymore” from the gallery.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 20, 2018
The last thing Mark Meadows said to Paul Ryan as he walked away was “doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter anymore.”
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 20, 2018
The North Carolina Republican confirmed to reporters that the confrontation was over a compromise bill that was different from the final text.
“There were things that were supposed to be in the compromise bill that everybody agreed to,” Meadows said, according to The Washington Post. “The talking points do not match the legislative text.”
Meadows says he had it out with the Spkr on the flr because no one is completely sure what immigration bills they are voting on tomorrow. “There are multiple things in the text which do not match the talking pts.” Meadows says he was “passionately advocating” for his position
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 20, 2018
According to Fox News:
The more conservative legislation has been dubbed “Goodlatte,” after the bill’s author, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. But a second bill, commonly called the “compromise” bill, has also been referred to as “Goodlatte,” since he’s a sponsor of that package as well. Notably, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., rebranded the compromise bill “the president’s bill” instead of the “leadership” bill.
Adding to the confusion, the House has also been toying with a third piece of legislation, a modified version of the conservative Goodlatte bill.
To try to clear up the confusion, the GOP leadership handled lawmakers some talking points about the compromise bill. However, Meadows claimed the “talking points don’t match the text” and “are not really for prime time.”
“This was a communication issue where the leadership compromise bill omitted key provisions that had been agreed upon beforehand,” Meadows spokesman Ben Williamson said in a statement. “We are working to resolve it.”
There was significant confusion about precisely WHAT bills the House will consider on immigration tomorrow. That’s part of what sparked a nasty rhubarb on the House floor between House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC).
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 20, 2018
Based on what I just saw, I don’t believe the house will pass the immigration bills tomorrow.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 20, 2018
Republican House members told Fox News they were disturbed by confrontation.
Multiple GOPers mbrs tell Fox they were disturbed by the rhubarb on the House flr where Meadows got in the face of Ryan over the immigration bills. One source said the were a few “hard yes’s” who were now “squirming” after they saw the confrontation between Ryan/Meadows
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 20, 2018
Some members who were a “hard yes” on the immigration legislation were left “squirming” after what happened between Meadows and Ryan.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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