As the deadline to round up votes for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid looms, Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote opposing opinion pieces published Wednesday by The Daily Caller.
One of the handful of anti-McCarthy GOP lawmakers, Gaetz said McCarthy, a California Republican, would "end up failing Republicans and caving to liberals."
"Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything," Gaetz wrote. "He has no ideology."
Greene, part of the Republican contingent backing McCarthy, said the "Never Kevin" opposition is "deceiving conservatives" while having "no plan" to accomplish anything.
For McCarthy to ascend to the position of House speaker, he needs to garner a 218 majority of votes by the Jan. 3 floor vote.
With a smaller-than-expected GOP majority in the new Congress, McCarthy has little room for error and can only afford a few Republican "no" votes.
Gaetz compared McCarthy to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and said "Cavin' McCarthy" would "promise anything to anyone."
"In sports, when the team loses games it is supposed to win, the coach gets fired," Gaetz wrote. "In business, when earnings vastly miss projections, the CEO is replaced. In Republican politics, a promotion shouldn't be failure's chaser."
Though McCarthy's campaign marks a rare point of disagreement between Gaetz and Greene, they found words of praise for each other while discussing McCarthy.
"Lying to the base is a red line for me, and that's what five of my closest colleagues are doing when they claim a consensus House Speaker candidate will emerge as they oppose Kevin McCarthy," Greene wrote.
"Matt Gaetz is one of my favorite members of Congress. America needs his talent and intelligence to work alongside Jim Jordan on investigations for the Judiciary Committee, not blow things up before we begin."
McCarthy's increasingly imperiled path to the speakership has led to speculation about who might run if his bid falters, ranging from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., to even a Democrat.
"No, Jim Jordan is not running," Greene wrote. "He has endorsed Kevin McCarthy. Jim is preparing to lead the Judiciary Committee as chairman, exactly where we all need him to be. Jim Jordan will lead the charge to rip apart the corrupt Department of Justice and FBI."
Quashing further speculation, Greene continued: "No, Steve Scalise is not running. He was unanimously elected Majority Leader and publicly supports Kevin McCarthy."
Failing to elect McCarthy would stymie the party's priorities, Greene said, as no suitable alternative exists.
"Kevin McCarthy has been preparing for months and has everything in place to not only be Speaker, but to manage the Capitol," Greene wrote. "Magically installing someone who is not prepared would stall every single thing we could do in the House, leaving Republicans ineffective and looking like failures from the start.
"The fight shouldn't be over Speaker, it should be over what bills 218 Republicans will vote for and what subpoenas and investigations we wage on our committees."
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