(TheRedWire.com) – Most Republicans consider Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) the leader of the House GOP. In the last Congress, he served as the Minority Leader. Now, he’s vying to take the gavel by serving as Speaker. Still, a minority of conservative Republicans stand in his way. With 222 Republicans making the small majority, he needed 218 votes to ascend to the Speakership. If McCarthy didn’t cross the threshold, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) threatened to help Democrats.
The Nebraska Republican emphasized he supported McCarthy for Speaker and said a handful of people were holding the House hostage. He stated the majority shouldn’t cave when demands are unreasonable. Bacon noted there was a lot of noise around his comment to work with moderate Democrats to elect a moderate leader for the lower chamber. Yet, he stressed that wasn’t exactly what he said.
Moderate Republican Doubles Down on Threat to Work With Democrats to Elect a House Speaker if GOP Rebels Tank McCarthy https://t.co/8IjN4bpFVT
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) January 2, 2023
Bacon emphasized what he actually stated was he was willing to work with Democrats to find an agreeable Republican to serve as the House Speaker if the five conservative holdouts didn’t unite with the majority. He noted the small number of those who opposed McCarthy could cause the delay in committee appointments and getting to work fulfilling promises made to voters in the November 2022 midterm elections. Bacon said if the five holdouts don’t give the GOP what it needs to govern, they’ll find another way to get to the necessary 218 votes to secure a Speaker.
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