A late-night meeting in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office went off the rails Tuesday, with multiple sources describing the session as one of the most contentious this year.
“Everyone was fired up,” one source said.
Johnson called a 9:15 p.m. meeting with other members of House Republican leadership. Among those summoned were the top leaders of the five ideological caucuses, known as the “five families,” and some committee chairs.
The speaker wanted to discuss a bill to suspend the gas tax through the election, an effort spearheaded by House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Maryland). Harris agreed to vote with leaders on a procedural measure in exchange for a commitment. Leaders promised him they would convene a meeting to discuss the possibility of suspending the gas tax.
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But the meeting quickly devolved into chaos, according to five sources in the room and another briefed on the meeting.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, brought in a printed post on X from 2022 in which Harris criticized then-President Joe Biden’s efforts to suspend the gas tax.
“Suspending the federal gas tax is just another Biden Administration stunt to distract from their self-inflicted crisis,” Harris said in the post.
Graves, who sits on a committee of jurisdiction for the gas tax, was opposed to the bill being moved to the floor — outside of regular order — and cited Harris’ previous comments.
Harris got livid and began banging the desk, yelling, “This is fucking war! This is war!” according to sources in the room.
He was starting to storm out of the room when the speaker attempted to stop him by telling him to stay and “talk this out.”
But Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), an ally of Harris’, started to berate Graves.
“Why do you have to come at him personally?” Higgins said. “You disrespectful fool!”
He stormed out of the room along with Harris.
The meeting was described by sources as one of the craziest they had ever been part of.
“The room was really tense,” one of the sources said.
The following day, Higgins took to X and fired another shot at Graves, saying in a post that Graves is an “Establishment elitist” who had a “lifetime Heritage score of 69.”
“[Graves] just killed the Freedom Caucus bill that would have canceled the federal fuel tax for 3 months. Our intention was to bring the bill to the House floor tomorrow night. Man wants his taxes,” Higgins said. “And he was rude about it. Unbelievable. The swamp is fighting hard to come back.”
Spokespeople for Higgins and Graves did not respond to a request for comment.
A day after this article was published, a spokesperson for Harris told The Washington Sun that the Freedom Caucus chair “was not saying he was at war with Chairman Graves or any of his Republican colleagues.”
Rather, when Graves brought up the old post of him opposing the gas tax suspension under the Biden administration, “Congressman Harris’s point was that the circumstances today are different.”
“The country is currently at war with Iran. Gas prices have risen significantly. Americans are paying more at the pump, and his point was that because we are at war, Congress should provide immediate relief by temporarily suspending the federal gas tax through the end of the year,” the spokesperson said.
The “dustup,” as one source put it, is just another episode in the chaotic session, with Johnson attempting to govern with a razor-thin margin. Members who view themselves as team players are losing their patience with the same group of colleagues whom they view as too willing to blow everything up to get what they want.
Back in July, Johnson lost his cool when in an argument with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) and snapped “I’m sick of this shit,” at her. At other times, members such as Reps. Ann Wagner (R-Missouri) and Stephanie Bice (R-Oklahoma) have berated Johnson on the House floor for caving to the demands of the far right at the expense of other members.
All this tension has led to the House routinely canceling votes and sending members home early due to the constant infighting. Less than a day after the contentious meeting, the speaker announced the House was finishing up work early and sending members home until after the midterms.
This story was updated with a response from Rep. Harris’ spokesperson.
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