U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is blaming some of his fellow Republicans for creating the current impasse in trying to select a Speaker of the House.
?? Rep. Mike Rogers leaves the meeting unhappy, says eight Republican “traitors” (he used the word four times) have “paralyzed” the House by removing McCarthy. He tells me Scalise has the same problems and GOP may NEVER get 217 votes for a Speaker. He says Dems must help.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 12, 2023
According to NBC News, Rogers (R-Saks) left an hours-long meeting upset, called the eight Republicans who voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy “traitors,” and said they “put us in this situation.”
Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, believes this disunity among Republicans will only hurt the party in the future.
“The bottom line is we have a very fractured conference,” Rogers said, “and to limit ourselves to just getting 217 out of our conference, I think, is not a wise path.”
The congressman also told NBC News that he thinks they might “absolutely” need help from some of the Democrats to get a new leader selected, but also admitted that they “haven’t offered jack” when it comes to making a deal.
More from @RepMikeRogersAL on Republican "traitors" who put the House in this position and his belief that they may "absolutely" need some Democratic votes to elect a speaker. Dems "haven’t offered jack," he says.https://t.co/7JIMMmL5pM pic.twitter.com/MNnPY5HwJ7
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 12, 2023
Just a few hours after the meeting, Rep. Steve Scalise, who was nominated to replace McCarthy by the majority of the GOP conference, announced he was dropping out of the race because he didn’t think he would be able to secure the 217 votes needed to win.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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