As the chaos and dysfunction within the House Republican caucus brings the country closer and closer to a now almost inevitable government shutdown, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) praised former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her leadership and ability to keep her caucus together when she held the gavel.
When asked in an interview with CNN Thursday whether he still supports Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) amid the looming shutdown crisis, Burchett said he has “questions” and “doubts” about it.
“We need leadership,” he said, later citing Pelosi as an example.
“I don’t agree with her ever, hardly on anything,” Burchett said. “But she was pretty successful. The way she did it was: she put an issue out … she met with them, she figured out what they wanted, and then they put it on the floor. And they passed it and they rallied around it. A lot of work goes into that.”
“But we’re not seeing that. I’m not seeing that work right now,” Burchett added, pointing the finger at McCarthy. “And it’s very disappointing to me.”
Burchett also said that despite being on the opposite end of the aisle politically, the two are friends. He explained they have family members with similar names, and that Pelosi often asks about his daughter who was injured last year in a horse riding incident.
The remarks come after a week of chaos within McCarthy’s caucus, as he failed to get a handful of far-right members to cooperate and pass basic spending bills supported by the rest of Republicans. McCarthy’s speakership is increasingly coming into question. Unable to get his party in line, the House speaker may decide to work with Democrats to avoid a shutdown, a move that would almost certainly result in hardliners filing a motion to oust him as speaker.
I guess he doesn’t want to be in Congress any more. But good on him for speaking with some truth and civility.
Leadership means nothing to nihilists intent on burning the government to the ground.
Eventually, Kevin will cut a deal with Dems to pass the previously-agreed spending in exchange for enough votes to shoot down Gaetz’s motion to vacate.
I hope he brought a coat, 'cause it’s gonna be cold on that iceberg as it drifts out to its doom.
In other news … Joe Manchin is OUTRAGED over the new Senate dress code. Children starving in his state, meh, fine.
https://www.salon.com/2023/09/22/joe-manchin-ramps-up-the-led-outrage-pushes-petition-to-reverse-dress-code-change/?in_brief=true
But before he goes, might he please participate in a backroom conspiracy to dump McCarthy with Democratic support? I don’t know why we seem to be looking at helping McCarthy at this point. Why not help get rid of McCarthy? If one R is willing to risk throwing his career away, maybe we can find four more? Let one of them be Speaker.