(DCWatchdog.com) – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is alarmed over the Republican House Conference’s inability to elect a stable Speaker.
In a recent appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” he emphasized the need for stability, warning the House might “elect somebody, and three or four or five weeks from now, you’re going to have a group of people blow up and decide to go back into the same mess.”
Gingrich recommended that the House Republicans remain together until they have a designated Speaker with a confirmed 217 votes. He advised, “Bring food in and stay there. Again, very simple test — can you get the 217 votes? They shouldn’t bring anybody out until they have 217. And second, that 217 has to be committed not just to elect a Speaker, but to stick together for the next five or six months.”
The House faced a significant challenge about three weeks ago when, for the first time, a sitting Speaker, Kevin McCarthy from California, was removed from the position. This happened after eight Republicans sided with all the House Democrats.
Gingrich criticized the Republicans who voted against McCarthy, saying they “unleashed furies” within the GOP. He commented, “Well, right now [House members] can’t govern. And I think that the eight people who betrayed the conference and joined the Democrats to defeat 96 percent of the conference unleashed furies that I don’t think they’d ever dreamed of, because they gave every person the right to be equally destructive and equally angry.”
Previously, Gingrich had strongly criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz from Florida, who had led the move to oust McCarthy. He labeled Gaetz as an “anti-Republican” and criticized his “childish behavior.”
Of the eight Republicans who voted against McCarthy, seven expressed they would accept any repercussions if they changed their votes against Rep. Jim Jordan from Ohio. However, there was confusion when Rep. Ken Buck from Colorado claimed his name was wrongly included in a letter signifying this sentiment.
Rep. Jim Jordan failed to secure the required 217 votes to become the Speaker after three rounds of voting. The GOP subsequently decided not to support Jordan after his third unsuccessful attempt.
The search for a new Speaker continues, with nine Republicans in the running. An internal nomination election is slated for tomorrow at 9 a.m., following a candidate forum today at 6:30 p.m.
