Rep. Michael McCaul called the inability of House Republicans to select a speaker "one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen," before expressing at least some openness to working with Democrats if his cohorts can't get their act together before long.
After discussing the Biden administration's supplemental funding request that includes Israel and Ukraine, along with humanitarian aid, defense for Taiwan and border security, This Week host Jonathan Karl pointed out that none of this was going to get done without a Speaker of the House.
McCaul didn't hold back with his disgust over what we've been watching these last couple of weeks:
KARL: Of course, I guess you would need a speaker of the House before you can get any of this done. What --
MCCAUL: You know, a little on detail.
KARL: What the hell's going on?
MCCAUL: It’s -- I have to say, it’s my tenth term in Congress.
KARL: Yeah.
MCCAUL: This is probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen because if we don't have a speaker of the House, we can't govern. And every day that goes by, we're essentially shut down as a government.
We have very important issues right now, war and peace, and we cannot deal with an aid package, or my resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel. We can’t do that.
KARL: You can't even pass a resolution condemning Hamas.
MCCAUL: Because --(CROSSTALK)
KARL: So, are you supporting -- I mean, I’ve lost count now. I think we're pushing a dozen candidates and potential candidates for speaker. Who are you supporting?
MCCAUL: Look, I -- I haven't decided, but I want a speaker in the chair so we can move forward and cover my issues, my committee of war and peace.
It's too dangerous right now. The world's on fire. This is so dangerous what we're doing.
And most importantly, it's embarrassing because it empowers and emboldens our adversaries like Chairman Xi who says, you know, democracy doesn't work.
KARL: Is there any possibility of -- I don't want to say coalition government, but is there any possibility that you're just going to need some kind of an arrangement that has Democratic support as well?
MCCAUL: This is, you know, discussed. I mean, if you can't get to 217 within our conference --
KARL: Which is really not a strange hypothetical, it seems that way. Yeah.
MCCAUL: -- on the floor, you know, how do you get there? But I think for some, they see that as very dangerous as well.
KARL: But you wouldn't rule it out if --
MCCAUL: You know, I'd rather it be the Republicans nominating and voting on the floor for a Republican Speaker. But this can't go on forever. I don't know if we're going to have a speaker next week. I don't know how this plays out.
KARL: All right, Chairman McCaul, thank you for joining us.
We'll see if he's the next one receiving death threats for heaven forbid even suggesting he might be open to working with the other side.
