Mark Meadows on Thursday blasted 13 House Republicans for helping to pass President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure plan and said they should face consequences.
"If you're going to be the speaker of the House, you've got to be able to control those members and those members with particular positions of authority," Meadows said during an appearance on Rep. Matt Gaetz's "Firebrand" podcast in a likely reference to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Besides stripping them of any ranking member roles on committees, Meadows said McCarthy should cut off the lawmakers from National Republican Congressional Committee campaign funds.
"There shouldn't be a dime's worth of [NRCC] money going to those individuals," Meadows said. "If they're going to vote like Democrats, let the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] support them."
Asked how he would grade Republican leadership in combating the Biden administration, Meadows used a hockey analogy.
"They’re not skating to where the puck is, and so I give them a grade of a D," Meadows told Gaetz, R-Fla.
"You need to make Democrats take tough votes. You need to make sure that when you've got them on the ropes that you don't throw in the white towel and surrender. And that's what's happened."
McCarthy during a closed-door meeting earlier this week urged House Republicans to remain unified despite some party members being livid at colleagues for backing the infrastructure package.
A Quinnipiac University poll out Thursday found that 46% of registered voters said they wanted Republicans to capture the House majority in 2022, with 41% preferring Democrats.
Meadows on Friday defied a subpoena and did not appear for a deposition before Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan House select committee investigating events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
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