Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has lost patience with conservative rebels in his caucus after losing a procedural vote to begin debate on a defense funding bill on Thursday.
Surrounded by reporters in the Capitol Building, McCarthy called the situation “frustrating in the sense that I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate.”
“And then you got all the amendments if you don’t like the bill. This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. It doesn’t work,” he continued.
On CNN, Manu Raju explained the source of McCarthy’s frustration in layman’s terms:
So viewers may have a hard time sorting out all the budget and spending issues they have to deal with here on the Hill. The issue that they had collapsed right now was a yearlong bill to fund the Pentagon. Typically, Republicans all vote in lockstep for that bill. Typically, they also vote for the rule. That is the first procedural vote that has to happen. Typically, the majority party votes for it. This time in what has been now been a common practice among these hardliners, they are voting against moving forward on the rule, the process, as leverage to try to extract concessions, leaving McCarthy in a bit of a jam. Quite a jam.
McCarthy has been in a war of words with the holdouts in his caucus in recent days, reportedly urging them to make good on their threats to remove him as speaker in a heated closed-door meeting last week.
“If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the fucking motion,” McCarthy told them.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the face of those demanding more spending cuts, characterized McCarthy as “reckless and unhinged and rattled” earlier this week.
Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman reported on the frustration in the GOP caucus after the vote early Thursday afternoon, noting that after it failed, he received multiple texts from Republican leadership blaming the rebels for being responsible for “fucking chaos” and “a total shit show.”
“Fucking chaos” … “a total shit show”
Two texts I’ve gotten from inside the House Republican leadership in the last few minutes.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) September 21, 2023
Watch above via CNN.
The post McCarthy Fumes at House Republicans Who Tanked Spending Vote: They ‘Just Want to Burn the Place Down’ first appeared on Mediaite.