'They p***ed him off': Conservative Republicans lose committee assignments in retaliation for voting against Speaker John Boehner in contentious leadership election

• 25 Republicans broke with their leadership and voted against Boehner on Tuesday when he was re-elected speaker of the House
• Some of them saw swift retaliation, including two who lost seats on the influential House Rules Committee – which the speaker runs
• One likened the payback to 'something I would assume Vladimir Putin would do'
• Boehner chairs the Rules Committee, known as the 'speaker's committee' because it's his principal tool for maintaining order day-to-day
• He had pledged months ago that there would be no retaliation against dissenting GOP members
• One congressman said of Boehner that tea partiers 'p***ed him off' and should expect consequences: 'You mess with the bull, you get the horns'

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 23:51 EST, 6 January 2015 | Updated: 23:54 EST, 6 January 2015

Iron-fisted U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is moving quickly to punish conservative Republicans who tried to oust him Tuesday during the biennial leadership election.

Hours after the contentious vote, Florida Rep. Daniel Webster – who actively campaigned against Boehner and persuaded 12 GOP members to support him – found himself left off the membership list of the powerful House Rules Committee, where he served for the last two years.

Rep. Rich Nugent, a fellow Floridian who voted for him, suffered the same fate.

'My philosophy,' Webster told reporters after he heard the news that he had been bumped from the committee in a vindictive move, 'is don’t burn any bridges, don’t make it personal.'

'But that's not everybody’s philosophy.'

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CONSEQUENCES: House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio punished at least two renegade Republicans on Tuesday, just hours after they voted for someone else in the speaker election

SPANKED: Florida Reps. Daniel Webster (left) and RIch Nugent (right) were left off a powerful committee that serves at Boehner's discretion after they joined a conservative cabal and tried to oust him

The speaker of the House chooses members from his or her own party to serve on the Rules Committee, which moves the procedural levers of power as decisions are made about which bills to move to the House floor 0 and how they'll be considered.

Boehner attracted high-fives among his supporters in the House for flexing his muscles, even as conservatives' flak bursts all around him.

'It's about time,' a Republican congressman told DailyMail.com on Tuesday evening. 'This is a new ball game, and the speaker doesn't have to put up with childish antics anymore. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.'

The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity.

The changing landscape he referred to reflects a new and enlarged Republican majority that will give Boehner and his allies new breathing room and spare them the strategic problem of how to attract the support of tea party members and others on the party's right wing.

With 246 out of 435 House seats in Republican hands – Democrats control just 188 – centrist Republican leaders can now afford to alienate conservatives without risking the embarrassing failure of key pieces of legislation.

Members on Boehner's right flank, 25 of whom refused to support him on Tuesday, have complained that he gave away the store in December with a so-called 'CRomnibus' budget that funded the Obamacare law's implementation for the rest of the government's fiscal year.

The trade-off was putting the Department of Homeland Security on a shorter leash – its funding is only guaranteed through the end of February – in the hope of forcing President Barack Obama to back off from his promised amnesty of millions of illegal immigrants.

America's immigration authorities are part of the Homeland Security apparatus.

But tea party-minded Republicans who fear Boehner will give away that bargaining chip next month, rather than risk the backlash that would come with shutting down critical terror-fighting agencies, are now in a much weaker position. They could be seen as mere annoyances when the time comes to fight with their speaker again.

'They p***ed him off,' the GOP lawmaker told DailyMail.com. 'That's not a good thing to do on the first day of a new Congress. It's going to be a long two years for some of those guys.'

A House leadership aide added that the demotions of Webster and Nugent from a committee run by Boehner were a natural consequence of their votes against him.

REBELLION: Boehner won his gavel for a third term despite the best efforts of 25 right-wing opponents who had hoped to oust him

Other congressmen groused on Tuesday about the tight discipline and strict loyalty Boehner has demanded in the past.

Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who voted for Webster in the speaker election, told Politico that his decision had cost him a chance to regain a seat on the Agriculture Committee that he lost in 2012.

'I am already hearing from my colleagues, and myself, about retaliation against those who voted their conscience, their constituents, their principles, to change the status quo,' he said. 'My colleagues fully expect that. That’s what they expect out of this leadership team.'

Huelskamp and Michigan Rep. Justin Amash also lost their slots on the House Budget Committee in 2013 after they were among 12 Republicans who opposed Boehner the last time around.

North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones and Arizona Rep. David Schweikert found themselves dropped from the House Financial Services Committee for the same reason.

But Boehner and his aides had promised in the run-up to Tuesday's mini-drama that there would be no recriminations.

'Boehner has said publicly that there will be no retribution for "no" votes,' his spokesman Michael Steel told The Daily Caller last week.

The speaker also told USA Today in September that no Republicans would lose their committee assignments if they opposed him.

'I just don't think it's necessary,' he said then.

But he also predicted that 'very few' would defect. The 25 who bolted on Tuesday – the largest such group in a century – appear to have changed his mind.

Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, who chairs the Rules Committee, told reporters that the panel 'works at the behest of the speaker, and the speaker – I believe any speaker – would want and need a person focused on that agenda.'

He added that the Rules Committee is a place where 'we do things for the team,' throwing a rhetorical elbow at 'self-serving' members.

'WELCOME TO THE NEW USSR': Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas (left) and Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida (right) were among Boehner's challengers on Tuesday, and Yoho later said Boehner's reprisals were 'something I would assume Vladimir Putin would do'

Conservative Rep. Steve King of Iowa joined the cabal and vented his anger after news surfaced that payback was in the air

Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, who ran for speaker against Boehner and cast his vote for himself, reacted with frustration on Tuesday when he learned that revenge was in the air.

It was 'a sad day for American politics,' he told Roll Call, and 'something I would assume Vladimir Putin would do.'

As he stepped on an elevator, he shared the news about Webster's and Nugent's demotions with fellow members – well within reporters' earshot – saying, 'Hey, welcome to the new USSR.'

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who was one of the loudest voices calling for Boehner's ouster, vented on Tuesday that the speaker's retributions risked turning him into 'a sore winner.'

Boehner won his gavel for a third consecutive term easily on Tuesday despite the coordinated effort to oust him, securing 11 votes more than he needed.

With 408 lawmakers present, it took 205 votes to win; Boehner got 216.

Eighteen Democrats were absent, mostly due to the funeral of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy was waylaid by a flight cancellation caused by snow.

New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm officially resigned his seat Tuesday following his guilty plea to a charge of tax evasion.