After six failed attempts to install Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as Speaker of the House, a majority of Republicans continue to stand by his nomination despite more than a dozen members of their own party nominating Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., instead.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., a McCarthy supporter, said now is the time to have a decades-long debate within the Republican Party “out in the open” as frustrations boil over with fellow members of his party he says are delaying the start to the legislative agenda.
“A lot of those guys have never served in a legislative body before,” Comer, who would likely chair the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress, said Wednesday in an interview on Meet the Press NOW. “They’ve never been in the majority. So they don’t understand that no one’s ever going to get 100 percent of what you want. You just have to make your best case and fight for the best deal you can get.”
Comer called on the 21 Republicans who did not support McCarthy to hold a public forum outlining their hesitations, saying their demand to lower the threshold needed to bring up a “motion to vacate”, or oust the Speaker, is a “political gimmick.”
“We’ve seen today that people are willing to do whatever they can to stall the inevitable. … We can’t let a minority portion of our conference win all the battles because this is just one of many battles we’re going to have,” Comer said.
Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., the Republican Main Street Caucus' vice chair, said she’d support McCarthy “no matter how long it takes.” She said she was open to further negotiating concessions with the lawmakers who oppose McCarthy, but a compromise is needed.
“Compromise isn’t always a bad word,” Bice said on Meet the Press NOW. “We’re trying to make those concessions so we can get to a landing place. …This is a small faction of the conference. The majority of us support Kevin and will continue to support Kevin. Do we need to make some concessions to get there? Yes.”
