Lawler says Reps Massie and Roy should be removed from Rules committee over House speaker drama

New York Rep. Mike Lawler encouraged Republican leadership in the House on Thursday to remove his fellow Republican lawmakers Chip Roy and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie from their committee positions.

Massie and Roy both supported Georgia firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from power on Wednesday, but the effort failed when the House voted to table the resolution. Massie was Greene's biggest supporter in the attempt.

Lawler said the attempt to remove Johnson was a distraction for House Republicans, and slows down the work of the House as it heads into a crucial election cycle.

"Obviously it is destructive to the majority, and undermines our ability to govern," Lawler told CNN. "By doing stunts like this, all it does is slow down our ability to do the work we were elected to do. I think Chip Roy and Thomas Massie both serve on the Rules committee, they should be immediately removed from that committee. You are not entitled to that committee. You are not there to represent yourself. You're there to do the work of the majority, and I think there should be consequences here."

Other House conservatives have also supported efforts to punish those who tried to cause chaos in the lower chamber. Some have also supported punishing GOP lawmakers who block Republican bills from even getting to the House floor, per Politico.

The possible punishments that are being considered include equipping the Republican conference with the ability to force a vote on removing them from committees or even kicking them from the conference altogether.

“There is an extremely high level of interest, by a high number of members, to change the rules right now,” South Dakota GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson, the chair of the Main Street Caucus, said.

Greene and Massie did not appear fazed by the notion of kicking them from their committees, and Massie even predicted that his opponents would be in trouble with their constituents for not backing the removal effort.

“They probably want to kick me off committees. They probably want a primary. I say, go ahead. … That is absolutely their problem,” Greene said after the vote on Wednesday.

The threats come after Greene failed to say whether she would try another attempt to remove Johnson before November's election. But continuing the speaker drama could cause issues for Republicans who are trying to keep control of the House next year, as the internal tensions appear to hamper the party's ability to govern.