WASHINGTON, D.C. — Repeated calls for an investigation by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) into the firing (and subsequent re-hiring) of the U.S. House of Representatives chaplain elevated a few members’ passions on Capitol Hill this Tuesday, and a New Jersey member was reportedly right in the thick of it.
Here’s what reportedly went down:
WOW … Joe Crowley is in a massive screaming match with New Jersey Republican # Tom MacArthur. They’re in each other’s faces. Crowley was screaming “I’m offended,” as if MacArthur told him he was offended. Crowley walked to the back of the chamber. Wow.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 8, 2018
This dust up presumably was about Crowley forcing another vote on the chaplain issue.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 8, 2018
"In Jersey, we don't back down," said Tom MacArthur after the squabble. "He's 6-foot-four, I'm five-foot-six, if he wants to take a punch at me, let him have at it."
MacArthur said Crowley was "politicizing" the chaplain's resignation and he told him to stop. https://t.co/lGFmWRdpMA— Natalie Andrews (@nataliewsj) May 8, 2018
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Rev. Patrick Conroy had been sworn back into his role earlier in the day.
An executive by profession before joining Congress in 2014, MacArthur is a frequent critic of Washington’s tendency to dwell on non-issues and politicize other issues at the expense of getting things accomplished.
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