GOP Congressman Hits Colleagues Who Are Going After Speaker Johnson: They ‘Just Have to Put the Media in Front of the Country’

A Republican congressman is speaking out in support of Mike Johnson (R-LA) — as some colleagues continue to question the House Speaker’s handling of the recent government spending fight.

Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown before Christmas, finally voting to approve a spending bill on the third try that rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s debt limit demands.

Republicans like senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have questioned Johnson’s motives in passing the bill they claim contains too much pork, in order to appease Democrats.

Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) told Cheryl Casone of Fox Business on Thursday that the controversy over the speakership is a hindrance to getting any actual work done.

“We are going to have a speaker battle coming up, which is a distraction,” Zinke said, continuing:

ZINKE: And it breaks down pretty simple. And this is not my first rodeo. You know, I came in, I watched the Boehner fight and watched the McCarthy fight. I watched the Ryan fight. But this is a distraction because, we wouldn’t have the majority if it weren’t for Donald J. Trump — any of the members, because his endorsement, was a gold standard. Many of the members would not be in the House had it not been for Donald J. Trump. So to have a speaker’s battle, all that does is a distraction and delays getting the American First policy through. The promise made is that it should be the promise kept, and the House has to do their part. They cannot do the part without a speaker.

CASONE: And you obviously support Mike Johnson?

ZINKE: I do. He is he’s the most conservative speaker right now. He has Trump’s blessing per se, if that’s the right term. But, you know, also you’re dealing with a few members that just have to put the media in front of the country. Again, the reason why we have the majority is because Donald J. Trump was at the top of the ticket. You cannot execute a Donald Trump agenda, which these members said they would, unless they have a speaker. So I think the speaker itself is a distraction. The policy is what’s important. And you cannot effect the policy, you cannot put the policy in place without a House that is that is led in this case by the speaker. No one else has as many votes as Johnson. Can Johnson do things better? Well, we all can. We all can do things better. But right now, what is better for this country is a focus on making sure the policies which we promised are executed.

Watch the clip above via Fox Business Network.