On CNN Wednesday morning Republican Congressman Walter Jones (NC) calls out House Speaker John Boehner for intimidating members of his own caucus for voting their conscience.



"We are sent here to represent the people of our districts," Jones said on CNN. "Our first allegiance should be to the people we represent, not to the Speaker of the House."



"Too many times he has used that position to intimidate and coerce," Jones added.



"We're not here to be puppets of the Speaker of the House, we're here to represent the people of our districts," Jones said.



"I don't think anyone should be intimidated because they vote their conscience," Jones said. "If you can't vote your conscience, then you don't need to be here for the people back home. You really don't. If you're supposed to be here to vote the will of the Speaker and not the will of the people then you don't need to be here. And this Speaker in my opinion has used too much force to intimidate, and this's wrong."





REP. WALTER JONES (R-NC): We are sent here to represent the people of our districts. Our first allegiance should be to the people that we represent, not to the Speaker of the House. And too many times he has used that position to intimidate and coerce. A recent vote on the trade promotion authority, TPA, and we had members including myself that voted against the rule to bring the TPA to the floor for a debate and he removed three of those who voted for the rule from positions that they had in the whip organization. We're not here to be puppets of the Speaker of the House, we're here to represent the people of our districts...



I don't think anyone should be intimidated because they vote their conscience. If you can't vote your conscience, then you don't need to be here for the people back home. You really don't. If you're supposed to be here to vote the will of the Speaker and not the will of the people then you don't need to be here. And this Speaker in my opinion has used too much force to intimidate, and this's wrong.