House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) is openly venting at Senate Republicans, saying out loud what many in his conference have been muttering for months. It's a tone Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) have steered clear of.
Emmer spoke to donors at a private fundraiser for Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) last week, reported Axios, which had access to the room. His message for senators who keep saying they can't round up the votes was blunt.
"You suck," Emmer said.
He described Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) as acting in line with his own view of the role, and said senators seem to see themselves as members of one club first and partisans second. He also said he's changed his mind on the filibuster. He once figured House members should keep out of that debate, but now thinks the Senate should get rid of it.
In an interview afterward, Emmer said House Republicans feel they've held up their end while their bills stall once they cross the Capitol. In his telling, House members take the tough votes where everyone can see them, while senators duck theirs. He said Senate Republicans rarely spell out what it would take to win their support, and often won't commit to a position when they plan to vote no.
A Senate GOP aide fired back that the real problem would be losing the majority, and that Republicans should save their fire for Democrats.
Emmer's comments go further than anything yet from a House GOP leader, but they reflect a widely shared frustration. This summer, more than a dozen House Republicans shut down floor action to push the Senate on the SAVE America Act, the party's flagship election bill. The two chambers have also been talking past each other on a third reconciliation package. In July, Johnson publicly predicted the Senate would pass the House's framework before its August break.
"That'd be news to me," Thune said at the time. The Senate left town without acting.
Scalise piled on in July, telling Axios that senators who keep stressing how tough things are should figure out how to get it done.
"Everything's hard," Scalise said.
Johnson has pointed to the backlog as well. When he defended sending the House home early last month, he noted that hundreds of House-passed bills were sitting in the Senate. He blames Democrats for the logjam, but the argument keeps drawing attention to Senate Republican leadership.
Emmer didn't go so far as to call Senate Republicans a bigger obstacle than Democrats. His demand was simple: say where you stand.
