Capito weighs in on House Republican chaos
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CHARLESTON -- As the U.S. House of Representatives sits without a leader after the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Republicans in the U.S. Senate are watching the chaos as a countdown is on to the next government shutdown.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., addressed the House drama Wednesday morning in a virtual briefing with West Virginia reporters from her offices on Capitol Hill.
"I'm very concerned about what can be accomplished when I see what's happened over on the House side," Capito said.
The House Tuesday voted 216-210 to vacate the chair, removing McCarthy as speaker in an unprecedented move. McCarthy had served as House speaker since Jan. 7, securing a majority of votes after multiple days of votes beginning Jan. 3. His tenure as House speaker lasted 269 days. Reps. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., and Carol Miller, R-W.Va., voted against the motion to vacate.
McCarthy's ouster came days after Congress passed a 45-day stop-gap measure to keep the government funded through mid-November. The motion to vacate was made by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who accused McCarthy of siding with the Democrats with support of the short-term continuing resolution.
Gaetz and seven other Republicans voted for the motion, supported by 208 Democrats.
Capito, the vice chair of the Senate Republican Caucus and fifth ranking Republican in the Senate, is a former member of the House from 2001 to 2014 where she served with McCarthy. She was critical of McCarthy's removal and the lack of a plan by the eight Republicans to succeed him.
"Kevin McCarthy is a very good friend of mine and was, I think, dealt a difficult hand and really served well as speaker," Capito said. "Only eight people was enough to combine with all the Democrats to throw him out. And so it is chaotic over there. And I don't know how they have no plan B. It's very disheartening to me because I think it's difficult when you're handed the gavel and you're supposed to lead, and you can't lead."
The House is out until next week, so a new speaker cannot be selected until then. McCarthy has said he has no plans to seek the gavel again.
Names being floated include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.
"I'm hoping that when they come back, saner heads will prevail and that they will come to a consensus candidate to be the speaker, because they can do no business under these circumstances until they have an elected leader, which means they can't pass anything," Capito said.
The next deadline for a government shutdown is Nov. 17. Capito said the Senate will continue to work on 12 federal spending bills to hopefully avoid the need for another short-term continuing resolution.
"What we're going to do over here on the Senate side is what we can do, which is to put our heads down and pass these appropriations bills and consider them on the floor," Capito said. "We can only influence what we can do. And I think because we're watching what's going on over in the House, I think that will propel us into some quicker action. I am concerned, very concerned, about the signals that are coming out of the entire Capitol. I'm hoping that things will calm down and that we can move forward, but I have some trepidation."