The White House is adamant the Republican delay in picking the next speaker of the House does not present a national security risk to the country.
“We’d prefer to see all of this resolved as soon as possible,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday. “We’re confident that we can continue to defend the United States of America while House Republicans are working through this process.”
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Kirby, for instance, insisted the White House has “vehicles to continue to communicate with both chambers of Congress” and, as such, “there’s no particular worry or concern that national security will be put at significant risk here.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had previously demurred when asked about contingency planning amid the speaker impasse. But on Friday, she said the administration is doing “everything that we can from here” to facilitate federal agencies helping “House offices with constituent services to the extent possible consistent with the law, and House rules and practices.”
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“For more specifics on the individual casework or programs, I would refer you to those agencies,” Jean-Pierre added. “We hope that the House resolves this soon. It has been a couple of days now, and we have important work to do for the American people and so we have to get back to work here.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has struggled to attract majority support for his House speakership after three days of deliberations. During the 12th ballot, he earned 14 more votes, with seven holdouts.
