Trump fuels an informal House GOP land-grab caucus
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A group of House Republicans are emerging as frequent co-sponsors of legislation to bring President-elect Trump's vision of an American empire to fruition.
Why it matters: This group spans the House Republican conference's ideological spectrum, from some of its most moderate members to its most right-wing.
- "People who were snickering or laughing about it when it was first brought up are starting to actually realize it's a legitimate issue," said centrist Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.).
- "This is real," said Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus. "There are going to be some serious conversations."
State of play: A trio of House GOP bills would codify each one of Trump's proposed moves to either expand the U.S.'s territory or its international influence.
- Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) has introduced legislation that would allow Trump to enter into negotiations with Panama to try to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal.
- Ogles has introduced a similar bill to authorize negotiations with Denmark about purchasing Greenland.
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has introduced a bill that would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" on official maps and documents.
By the numbers: Each bill has between 10 and 15 co-sponsors, with a considerable amount of overlap.
- Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) are each co-sponsoring two of the bills.
- Lawler and Reps. Mike Rulli (R-Ohio), Randy Weber (R-Texas), Barry Moore (R-Ala.) and Brian Babin (R-Texas) are co-sponsoring all three.
What they're saying: Several of the lawmakers who have either introduced or co-sponsored legislation told Axios that a desire to counter China's international influence is at the heart of the effort.
- "We've been talking on the China Committee about ... China's growing influence on infrastructure across the globe, and I think the Panama Canal is hugely important to America," said Dusty Johnson.
- Lawler also cited rare earth minerals and Arctic waterways as key factors in the push to acquire Greenland, saying Trump is "right in raising these as actual issues of national security and ... economic security."
Zoom in: Some of the more right-wing lawmakers involved in these bills pushed back on the notion that they run counter to a growing strain of anti-interventionism within the MAGA movement.
- "'America First' is, simply stated: When you have a foreign adversary who arguably is our greatest existential threat — meaning China — when they're making moves towards Greenland, we can't just sit idly by," said Ogles.
- "This is literally in our backyard, front yard, however you want to look at it," Ogles said.
- Babin noted that the U.S. controlled the Panama Canal until the 1970s: "This is not intervention. This is not adventurism. This is a U.S.-built canal. There wasn't even a Panama. That was part of Colombia."
