House GOP leadership is the focus of ire on both sides of the political aisle after efforts to pass a much-sought internet privacy bill imploded "in spectacular fashion," the Washington Post reported Friday.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise earlier this week warned Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers away from pursuing her bill to rein in Silicon Valley in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
McMorris Rodgers ignored their warnings and pushed the bipartisan bill forward — but her efforts "collapsed with a bang" after Scalise and Johnson reportedly went behind her back to air their grievances with members of the committee she chairs, the Post reports.
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"House leadership took 'unprecedented steps to publicly flog one of their most prominent and powerful chairs,'" a senior aide told the Post.
"The abrupt cancellation — triggered by resistance from House GOP leadership — deals a near-fatal blow to the prospect that lawmakers might agree on the bills this year."
McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) seemed less than pleased with her party leadership for taking the unusual step of intervening before her committee had even marked up the bills, the Post reports.
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The Washington Republican told reporters on Thursday, '“This is not how the House is supposed to operate.'"
McMorris Rodgers was joined in her frustration by multiple Democrats who threw their support behind the American Privacy Rights Act and the Kids Online Safety Act.
"I’m so furious. I’m furious," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). "We had an opportunity … to pass the bill."
“It’s outrageous that Republican Leadership would interfere with the Committee’s bipartisan regular order process,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D- NJ) told the Post in a statement.
