Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) signaled on Monday that he was open to returning as Speaker of the House after a small group of Republicans voted with House Democrats to oust him last week.
“The only thing I would ask my conference, you have 96 percent of the conference in one place and you’re allowing 4 percent, with the Democrats playing politics, that now have putting the doubt inside this body,” McCarthy said during a press conference. “That is wrong.”
McCarthy made additional remarks on the matter earlier in the day during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked about what Congress could do support Israel right now given that the House does not have a speaker.
“I don’t think we’re going to get to a Speaker other than Kevin McCarthy this week, and we can’t not have a Speaker right now,” Hewitt said. “Would you be willing to go back if those eight retreated?”
The eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy included Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL), Andy Biggs (AZ), Ken Buck (CO), Eli Crane (AZ), Bob Good (VA), Matt Rosendale (MT), Tim Burchett (TN), and Nancy Mace (SC) .
“Look, whatever the conference wants, I will do,” McCarthy said. “I think we need to be strong. I think we need to be united. The eight, in my view … it was a personal thing. It wasn’t about where we were going.”
“Think for one moment,” he continued. “If you take some of their comments of why they did this, because I kept the government open? Could you imagine? They’re the ones that stopped appropriations bills from going forward. They’re the ones who voted against a continuing resolution that secured our border and cut spending. They’re the ones who wanted a government shutdown. We wouldn’t be paying our troops while we’re putting out a carrier strike force there, a 30,000 American men and women in our armed services in the Middle East.”
“If we had shut down the government, we would be blamed for the intelligence failure that led to this massacre,” he added. “We did not shut down the government. We still had an intelligence failure. But if we had, you would be blamed for the intelligence failure.”
