She used to be known mostly for her vice presidential family lineage. But Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-most senior House Republican, is cutting a new path as the first GOP leader to call Rep. Steve King's remarks "racist" and call explicitly for his resignation.
"I'd like to see him find another line of work," Cheney, 52, told reporters on Tuesday.
It was the latest example of Republicans, toppled from the House majority in November's elections, taking a tougher and more uniform approach to racist remarks — at least by those in their own ranks. King had for years rankled the GOP with remarks about race as they watched blacks and Hispanics vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. All along, Republicans issued muted, if any, disapproval. And they're still reticent about how to respond to the leader of their party, President Donald Trump, and his remarks on race.
House Republican Conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., center, accompanied by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left, and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of La., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 in Washington. (AP PhotoAlex Brandon)
But House and Senate Republicans said the final straw came last week with King's quote in The New York Times.
"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King mused in the paper.
Within hours, Cheney denounced his remarks on Twitter, in terms rarely if ever used by GOP leaders.
"These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse," she tweeted Jan. 10, reposting a news story that named the Iowa congressman. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and House GOP Whip Steve Scalise likewise condemned King's remarks and barred him from committee seats. The House on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to formally rebuke King. But Cheney is the only one of the three to call for King's resignation.
The only lawmaker to vote no was Illinois Democrat Bobby Rush, who wanted a stronger censure against King. But even he has noticed Cheney, in a good way.
"Liz Cheney, I commend her," Rush said in a brief interview.
"She was very clear," about what how she wanted to handle the King issue, McCarthy said of Cheney in a brief interview.
Clear, sometimes with a sharp edge, is the word on the two-term Wyoming congresswoman — an attorney, mother of four and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Like her father, Cheney was elected by her peers to chair the Republican Conference.
Cheney's ascent puts her in prime position to influence the party's branding strategy with GOP voters who fondly recall the George W. Bush presidency, especially those who favor a strong national defense. But as a woman in leadership, she'll also have a role in deciding how to bridge, or at least not exacerbate, the gender and diversity gaps between Republicans and Democrats. After the midterm elections, the ranks of House Republican women declined to only 13.
The arc of Cheney's political career reflects her reputation for doggedness. Five years ago she launched an ill-fated campaign to oust Wyoming's popular Republican senior senator, Mike Enzi. Labeled a carpetbagger for having moved to Wyoming from Virginia barely a year earlier, Cheney made things worse by feuding publicly with her openly gay sister about gay marriage.
She left the race eight months before the primary but didn't give up on politics. She continued touring Wyoming, in some cases mending the relationships she needed to dominate a crowded GOP House primary two years later.
Even before she was elected to the leadership post for this Congress, Cheney was clear about what she saw as the party's need for a quicker, more forceful communications strategy under Democratic rule.
"We've got to change the way that we operate, and really in some ways be more aggressive, have more of a rapid response," Cheney told The Associated Press in November.
Cheney's father won the conference chair more than 30 years ago after four terms as Wyoming's congressman. By landing the position after just one term, Cheney left little doubt that she's a rising political star in her own right.
"He told me not to screw it up," Cheney told reporters after she was elected to the leadership post, with her father looking on.
Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)
Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
