Eight House Republicans in total voted with Democrats to remove the speaker.
Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) explained on Oct. 4 why they voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker of the House.
Mr. Good, Mr. Burchett, and Mr. Rosendale joined five other Republicans in partnering with Democrats to strip Mr. McCarthy of the gavel on Oct. 3: Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who put forth the motion to vacate on Oct. 2.
Mr. Good and Mr. Rosendale exclusively told Steve Lance, the anchor of “Capitol Report” on NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet, why they voted in favor of the motion to vacate.
Mr. Rosendale said Mr. McCarthy had a “lack of trustworthiness.”
During his tenure, the House approved legislation dealing with U.S. energy and border security, and a conservative National Defense Authorization Act that included a 5.5 percent increase in military pay.
However, “the only place that we had failures was when Kevin McCarthy was left to his own means to negotiate large spending legislation,” Mr. Rosendale said, which included the debt ceiling bill and the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for another 45 days.
“So while I do believe that we must compromise and collaborate, especially when we have divided government, what I will not stand for is a speaker to mislead us, to tell us false information, and to allow the Democrats to actually dictate the legislation that is coming out of this body when we hold the majority,” he said.
Mr. Good echoed Mr. Rosendale’s reasons for ousting Mr. McCarthy as speaker. He cited the debt ceiling deal, which Mr. McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden months ago, and the CR, which passed on Sept. 30. The latter, Mr. Good said, was the “last straw” for him.
Mr. Burchett, like Mr. Good, noted that the United States is $33 trillion in debt. He also cited the CR as a reason behind his vote to oust Mr. McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. He told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek that passing the CR to have enough time to enact a long-term appropriations bill does nothing to solve the problem.
By Jackson Richman, Steve Lance and Jan Jekielek
