Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that removing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position would be a “disaster” for the Republican Party.
“I think Kevin is the right guy at the right time. The only way he loses his job is if a handful of Republicans join up with the Democratic Party to fire him,” Mr. Graham said during an interview with NBC’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “That would be a disaster for the future [of] the Republican Party. That’s not gonna happen.”
“Kevin has the overwhelming confidence of his membership,” Mr. Graham continued. “He worked to avoid a shutdown. He will help Ukraine but he’s telling everybody in the country, including me, ‘You better send something over for the border for me to help Ukraine.’ And he’s right to make that demand.”
The comments came as Mr. McCarthy is facing pressure from members of his own party after he teamed up with Democrats to push a stopgap funding bill through the House.
This measure, which some Republican hardliners argued was the “clean” bill Democrats wanted, would keep the government funded at current levels for 45 days while including $16 billion for federal disaster assistance, as had been requested by the White House.
“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,“ Mr. Gaetz said. ”I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.”
Mr. McCarthy is unfazed.
“That’s nothing new. He’s tried to do that from the moment I ran for office,” he told CBS on Sunday in response to Mr. Gaetz’s comment. “Yes, I’ll survive. You know, this is personal with Matt.”
‘Absolute Waste of Time’
Some House Republicans and Democrats also weighed on the plan to vacate Mr. McCarthy’s speakership on Sunday.“I think what I just heard was a diatribe of delusional thinking,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
Mr. Lawler said he agreed with Mr. Gaetz’s opinion that the funding needs to be cut. “But when you’re trying to break the system, when you’re trying to reform it, it takes time,” he noted.
“I agree with Matt—we need to finish all 12 appropriations bills. The Senate has not passed one single bill,” he continued. “But by putting this motion to vacate on the floor, you know what Matt Gaetz is going to do? He’s going to delay the ability to complete that work over the next 45 days.”
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who chairs the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, said Mr. Gaetz’s plan to oust Mr. McCarthy requires the help of Democrats, which may end up empowering the opposition.
“And let me tell you, if you remove a Republican speaker, that then puts the Democrats in power,“ he said, adding that investigations House Republicans have launched will be ”done and stalled.”
“That is unacceptable of Matt Gaetz.”
She added that her advice to her fellow Democrats was to follow the lead of House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she “absolutely” would vote against Mr. McCarthy.
“My vote beginning this term for speaker of the House was for Hakeem Jeffries,” she told CNN. “And I do not intend on voting for a Republican speaker of the House, but I believe that it’s up to the Republican Conference to determine their own leadership and deal with their own problems. But it’s not up to Democrats to save Republicans, from themselves, especially.”
