Ousting Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker earlier this month "will go down as the single stupidest idea and decision that has ever been made in politics," Rep. Mike Lawler told Newsmax Saturday.
"We blew up the majority for no reason," the New York Republican told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda." There was no reason to do this. The idea that somehow Kevin was lying or misled, [he] built this majority and helped us get this majority. We were governing. It's unfortunate that we're in this situation.
"We have to dig our way out of it. I'm hopeful this week that we will be able to get there."
Lawler said he did not support Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has dropped out of contention for the speakership after failing to win after a third round of voting, because he did not think the Republican conference could reach a consensus on him.
"The biggest problem is a function of the conference operating as 221 members," said Lawler. "Ultimately, if there was consensus behind Jim, I would have been there because we have to unify and we have to move forward."
There is no consensus "because of how eight Republicans led by Matt Gaetz teamed up with 208 Democrats, including AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Adam Schiff to remove a Republican speaker," said Lawler.
Meanwhile, some of the same people blocked House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., from moving forward with his campaign for the speakership, said Lawler.
"You had a bunch of members that were really frustrated by the inability of some members of the conference to work as a team and to come to consensus, whether we get our way or not," Lawler added.
"The reality is that governing as a majority, you have to make compromises within the conference, and that was the biggest impediment for Jim," said Lawler. "It's unfortunate because we have strong leaders in Kevin, Steve, and Jim and ultimately, we're going to have to settle on a speaker and get back to governing because that is what's most important.
"That's why the American people elected a House Republican majority to govern, not to bicker amongst ourselves."
Some good members have put their names forward for House speaker, including Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the House majority whip, along with Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said Lawler.
"I'm looking forward to the discussion on Monday," he added. "It's because again it's ultimately not about who the speaker is. It's about the ability of all of us, 221, to operate as a majority. If we can't, we're not going to be able to move legislation on the floor and advance our conservative Republican agenda.
"That's what we need to focus our efforts on and we need a speaker to do that. We need to unify and choose somebody by Tuesday."
Lawler also discussed President Joe Biden's proposed aid packages for Israel and Ukraine must be considered separately so Israel can quickly get the assistance it needs to defend itself against Hamas and ultimately, Iran.
"Israel is one of our greatest allies in the world, and we need to stay shoulder-to-shoulder with them and support them as they defend themselves and their very right to exist," Lawler told Newsmax.
Hamas, he added, is a "terrorist organization backed and funded by Iran," and this means the United States must "do everything we can to make sure that they have both the military equipment and the financial resources necessary to survive."
But with Biden trying to tie the aid to Israel to that for Ukraine, Israel risks being delayed while the discussion and debate continue over the Ukrainian money, said Lawler.
"I don't want to see aid to Israel delayed by, any debate and discussion over Ukraine, so we're going to need to deal with this as soon as we can get back on the House floor," the congressman added. "I think there's still a lot of discussion happening within the House Republican conference about Ukraine, but that should not slow down aid to Israel."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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