House Republicans are continuing to blast former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and dismiss criticisms about the reasoning and methods for ousting the House speaker.
“That’s just silly,” Virginia GOP Congressman Bob Good told Fox News Digital about the criticism from those who say the eight House Republicans who voted against McCarthy had to team up with Democrats to secure his ouster.
“Over the last few months we’ve had moderate members of our party threaten to work with Democrats, to form a coalition government, or do a discharge petition to force a continuing resolution, those kind of silly things, joining with Democrats on policy. When conservatives said ‘hey the speaker doesn’t have 218 votes anymore and we’re going to demonstrate that,’ we knew Democrats wouldn’t support the speaker of course and the speaker didn’t have 218 votes.”
Good continued, “Vacate the chair has been in place for 200 years except when [former House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi took it out. A confident and secure leader recognizes that he or she serves at the pleasure of, the support of the 218 members and we’re now going to get together and elect someone that reflects the entire conference.”
Then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-California, speaks to reporters outside the Speakers Balcony at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25. On Tuesday, McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Good also addressed the Republicans who say that McCarthy had done a good job as speaker and has passed several important bills.
“Most of what you mentioned never got through the Senate,” Good said. “We got the crime bill through. The president said he would veto it but didn’t because of public pressure. “We got 3 or 4 bills through the Senate, nothing major quite frankly. Nothing major… those were messaging bills largely because we need a speaker that’s going to actually fight the Senate and say no and not just surrender like we did on the continuing resolution.”
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Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen after a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A second Republican who voted to oust McCarthy, Rep. Ken Buck, told Fox News Digital he got a “laugh” when McCarthy accused the eight members of voting against him of not being conservatives.
“A guy from California who doesn’t even know how to spell the word conservative is saying that I’m not conservative,” Buck said. “That’s humorous. I’m sorry. I voted against Kevin McCarthy for speaker for one set of reasons, the Democrats voted against him for another set of reasons. That doesn’t mean we agreed on the reasons.”
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Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters on Thursday (C-Span)
When asked who is at the top of his list of choices to replace McCarthy, Buck named House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Fox News Digital spoke to a third House Republican, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who voted to keep McCarthy. He said that it’s “unfortunate” that eight Republicans are fighting against 212 and “terrorizing” the rest of the conference.
“He was a really good speaker,” Gimenez said of McCarthy. “We got this Congress running much better, normal order, regular order, amendments, much more freedom and much more power given to the individual member. But I guess it wasn’t good enough for these eight.”
Gimenez also said that he found it “hypocritical” that the eight House Republicans voted with Democrats.
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“I find it hypocritical that he [Matt Gaetz] says somehow McCarthy made some kind of deal with the Democrats to save his speakership, when he in fact did not obviously, but then Gaetz needed those same Democrats in order to oust McCarthy,” Gimenez said.
“That shows the hypocrisy of Matt Gaetz and that’s why he’s not really well liked within our conference. Matt Gaetz is about Matt Gaetz. Not about the American people. Not about the Republican Party. He’s certainly not about America. It’s all about Matt Gaetz.”