Former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee thinks House members need to compromise in order to elect a speaker and end the standstill that has gone on for over two weeks since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted.
“You cannot have people in the Congress, every one of them thinking they’re gonna get it exactly their way. This isn’t Burger King. You don’t get it your way,” Huckabee told Hannity. “This is McDonald’s. They’ve got a simple menu; order from what you’ve got up there, get Jim Jordan.”
SENATE WORKING ON MULTIPLE FRONTS WHILE HOUSE REMAINS SPEAKERLESS
The Fox News program had Huckabee and former presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway on to discuss the status of the House of Representatives, as Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to secure enough votes to win the gavel Wednesday, actually losing ground from the previous day’s vote.
Jordan secured two additional Republican votes on Wednesday compared with Tuesday, but he lost four others who previously voted for him, giving him a net loss of two. The momentum appears to be against the Ohio Republican, frustrating Huckabee and a whole slew of other conservatives who want the GOP-controlled lower chamber to get its act together.
“Get the speakership over with, and if you don’t like him after a few months, well, you can always pull the stunt they pulled a couple of weeks ago and toss him out the door,” the former Arkansas governor said. “But Republicans need to come together, they need to show some unity, and they need to put the focus on the country, not on themselves.”
Conway and Huckabee were in agreement, with the former White House counselor telling Sean Hannity, “You have to put your personal grievances, your past pettiness aside to elect a speaker. Your job in the House is not to elect a speaker; it’s to work with the speaker and the rest of the conference to actually do the business of the people who pay their salaries.”
She stressed how a number of priorities are being halted because of the lack of House leadership, including an aid package to Israel and keeping the government funded ahead of a possible government shutdown, with Hannity adding that there is a need to secure the southern border.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Jordan has said he won’t drop his bid, noting he would bring the matter back to the floor for a third round of voting. Other Republicans have floated the idea of granting Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) more power to move the House along in its duties until a permanent speaker is agreed upon.
However, passing such a resolution would likely require some Democratic support, as many Republicans, including McHenry himself, have pushed back on the idea of empowering the interim speaker position. It’s also not clear whether Democrats would be on board.
