House Republicans sparred over backing Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker of the House at their Tuesday conference meeting, with his supporters urging detractors to fall in line or risk hurting the party’s goals after taking the majority next month.
The meeting saw members of the anti-McCarthy brigade complain that they weren’t allotted as much time to speak on their position as members supporting McCarthy, a source in the room told the Washington Examiner. Those backing McCarthy’s bid told the five members who have either said or strongly indicated they won’t vote for him on Jan. 3 that they need to set aside intraparty squabbles in favor of the GOP’s objectives in the new Congress.
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Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), one of McCarthy’s naysayers, “made snide comments about how he doesn’t get four minutes to speak,” according to the source in the room, who added that Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) sparred with Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) over the time limits.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), another member who has indicated he likely won’t back McCarthy, said he wasn’t going to be told what to do with his vote and would take the next 28 days to decide. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and French Hill (R-AR) both made remarks in support of the California Republican, per the source.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) then took the mic and joked that he wouldn’t let any woman disrespect him other than his wife before jesting that the conference is a waste of time.
The conference debate followed a Friday letter from over 20 centrist Republicans urging their colleagues to drop their differences and back McCarthy for speaker.
“Today we urge you to unite behind Kevin and our other chosen leaders and allow our Conference to move forward united so that we may begin to deliver results for our constituencies,” they wrote. “Many of us — if not all — have newfound power in the slim majority we now find ourselves in. But governing is fundamentally a team sport. It comes down to a simple choice: do you want to make a point or a difference? If your answer is the latter, then Kevin McCarthy deserves your full support.”
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Republicans will have a 222-seat majority to the Democrats’ 213 seats, and the speaker needs the majority of the House’s support to take the gavel. To reach a majority, McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes — unless some choose to vote “present.”
In addition to Good and Norman, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT) have signaled or outright said they will vote against McCarthy on Jan. 3.
