Despite criticism over multiple failed speaker votes to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — and even Democrats mocking Republicans for seeking debate on the House floor — Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., defended the process on Newsmax.
"I've seen more debate on the floor of the House in the last three days than I have the entire last four years under Speaker Pelosi's reign of terror," Burchett told Thursday's "Spicer & Co."
"So I don't buy all the negativity. This is what the founders envisioned and it's going on right now. It's democracy.
"There's not tanks in the streets. We're not tearing the building down, but this is the way it's designed to be, and that's the way we're doing it — and I salute Kevin McCarthy and salute my friends in the Freedom Caucus as well."
Burchett remains a steady vote for McCarthy as the next House speaker, but he supports the push for conservative concessions and calls them reasonable in the quest for fiscal conservatism from the House GOP.
"I think those are things that we should all be for, and that, you know, it took this group to bring it to the to the table, and I'm glad for it," Burchett told co-host Lyndsay Keith. "A lot of people are critical of what's going on, but this is democracy."
Burchett ripped Democrats for all voting in "lockstep."
"Where else do you see that in the world?" Burchett continued. "I'll tell you where: Communist China, the Politburo in Russia, and Cuba.
"And so they're lockstep every step of the way."
Returning to the pre-Pelosi standard of allowing one House member to move to vacate the speaker's chair is not a big deal, according to Burchett.
"The vacated chair is something that's been in place for over 100 years, and actually Speaker Pelosi is the one who did away with that, so I really don't have any problem with that," he said. "It would be political suicide for a Republican to side with the Democrats in any shape, form, or fashion to overthrow Kevin McCarthy."
The fight going on behind closed doors is not a game changer for Americans, he said.
"The average citizen doesn't know, doesn't care, because it doesn't affect their daily life, and it really shouldn't," Burchett said. "I think we need to put aside our differences, though, and get to work.
"It's very apparent to me that they're very close to working something out, and I hope that they do that very shortly."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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