A ‘Dangerous Woman?’: Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, Abandoning Her Caucus, Has, on the Way Out, Harsh Words for the Current Republican Leadership

A Republican from Indiana, Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, tells The New York Sun she will no longer caucus with her party or sit on committees because congressional leadership is not serious about governing, and she wants to focus on writing legislation to implement President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency’s agenda.“It’s now or never,” Ms. Spartz tells the Sun. “I’m going to work to deliver for the people, but I don’t need to be a puppet and do a clown show so I can be on some committees that can get me a PAC check or five-minute presentation on X.”Ms. Spartz announced her decision to go rogue Monday on X, writing that she will remain a registered Republican but “would rather spend more of my time helping @DOGE and @RepThomasMassie save our Republic.” She plans to use her freed-up time to write legislation and work in reconciliation to bring DOGE-related bills to President Trump’s desk. She says reforming healthcare is her top priority.“That’s my point. Just don’t waste my time,” she says of her decision. She calls Congress and the committee system, “Just drama. Circus. It’s presentation. Money.”“Our country is on a fiscal collision course and it will take some courage and structural changes in Congress to challenge the status quo, which is not happening,” Ms. Spartz says. “If we don’t deliver next year, that’s it. We’re done. We probably lose the midterms.”Ms. Spartz says she will be an ally to Republicans who work to enact Trump’s agenda. She sees DOGE’s mission to cut the federal bureaucracy and spending as existential. She says Republican majorities in both chambers means they have a narrow time frame to make any cuts proposed by DOGE into law. She says Congress failed Trump on many legislative items during his first term, which meant he had to use executive power — powers that President Biden immediately reversed when he took office.“My oath is the United States Constitution and all the people I represent, not to the party. And if I have to go to war with my own party, I’ll go do that because if we don’t deliver for the people on the promises of President Trump, our party is going to fail the republic,” Ms. Spartz says.A Republican from Kentucky, Mr. Massie, approves of Ms. Spartz’s plan. “Hitch the DOGE train to the reconciliation process immediately,” Mr. Massie posted to X. “Myself and a few other patriots with spines (like @RepSpartz) will insist that your DOGE objectives are written into the reconciliation bills, in exchange for our votes in this narrow majority.”Some Republicans, though, say Ms. Spartz made this decision only after the House GOP Steering Committee did not give her a coveted spot on the House Ways and Means Committee, according to Politico. The outlet also reported that some Republicans are happy about Ms. Spartz’s decision not to attend party conference meetings because she speaks too much.Ms. Spartz laughs that off, though she says she was miffed by the Steering Committee’s decision. “People like me should be on the Ways and Means Committee. I’m the most — I have over a decade of experience,” she says, referencing her prior career as a financial executive.Ms. Spartz says Congressional Republicans have a real problem with outspoken women. “Let’s just be honest, the establishment in my party is a good old boys club, and women who can walk and chew gum at the same time are very dangerous to them,” she says. “If you’re not a rubber stamp then you’re a dangerous woman.”Indiana’s governor-elect, Mike Braun, praised Ms. Spartz decision not to participate in committees. “When I heard Victoria was just focusing on all the waste, all the inefficiency, that would be a lot more rewarding than being a system now where most of the legislation is actually crafted behind closed doors by leaders, not involving regular order,” he told NewsNation. “She’ll be better serving Hoosiers and Americans doing that.”Is Ms. Spartz just trying to make a name for herself and gain more power in an incoming Congress with a slim Republican majority? Is she trying to be the next Senator Manchin or Senator Sinema but on the Republican side?“A tight majority allows each of us members to have an impact,” she says. “If we grow courage and grow a backbone, I think we have a chance to make great things. But I haven’t seen it yet, including the leadership of my party. Some of them are good human beings, but courage is not a trait everyone possesses.”

A ‘Dangerous Woman?’: Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, Abandoning Her Caucus, Has, on the Way Out, Harsh Words for the Current Republican Leadership

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