Big House remodeling underway for Clay, Wagner and their colleagues
Rep.
But he's also warned other
And although he thinks that the Democratic House could eventually be confronted with the impeachment of President
Next door, Rep.
She will also renew efforts to try to recruit Republican women to run for office after the
Meanwhile, the number of Democratic women in the House will increase from 64 to 89.
"It is absolutely devastating," Wagner said of her party's loss of women House members and its poor showing among female voters.
Being in the majority again, Clay said in a wide-ranging interview, "gives us the ability to control the flow of critical legislation to address the progressive priorities that matter to working families in
"And it gives us the power to actually pass legislation that matters to real people now. What that means when it goes to the
Will
"I think you will get a mixture of both just because of the shape of our new members coming in," Clay said. "And here is what we need to understand about the new members: What gave us the majority in the House were those members who turned those red seats blue. Those were Trump districts and Republican-held districts that we better be sure we hold onto in two years, or else our majority will be short-lived."
That reality, in part, was the genesis of his olive branch to Cortez-Ocasio, Clay said. He said his wife, Pat, urged him to reach out.
Clay said he and Cortez-Ocasio talked about her possible committee assignments, and that he advised her that coming in and immediately making changes on issues she ran on will run up against the reality that
"She acknowledged that," Clay said.
The 10-term congressman said he's also talked to Republican colleagues who are adjusting to a new reality that they will need his help and that of the only other Democrat in the
"They are trying to figure out their way forward," Clay said of
Added Clay: "I do predict that (
Wagner didn't entirely disagree with that point.
She said that while many of Trump's economic policies have helped her constituents and were among the reasons she survived a narrow re-election against Democrat
"I have always said there are many of the president's policies that my constituents in the
Wagner had initially considered vying to chair the
She backed out, she said, when McCarthy told her that he would be essentially running the NRCC, which recruits
"I believe that we all have to work together as a team if we are going to accomplish anything," Wagner said. "But I am nobody's proxy or rubber stamp -- let's just put it that way."
So the NRCC position went to
Wagner, who has raised money for the NRCC, will rejoin House Republican leadership as a senior whip to her close ally, Minority
Wagner also said she will devote a lot of time to the suburban caucus.
"If we are going to be a majority party again we have got to have a party that looks more like America, that looks not just like our rural areas that are so wonderful across our country, but also that looks more like urban and suburban (America)," she said. "So I am going to be really pushing that suburban agenda and reformulating the suburban caucus."
So she says she will try to steer
She said that many members of her caucus personally told her they wanted her running the NRCC because, in part, she survived in a tough suburban district while many of her suburban colleagues, including women she recruited, were defeated.
Does the Republican congressional leadership and rank-and-file generally get how badly her party did among suburban voters, particularly women voters?
"They should get it," Wagner responded. "We will not be a majority party unless we are reflective of America and welcoming and open and supportive of women, and people of color, also.
"We have got to have a (
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