House Republicans ‘Hostile’ & Shout Profanities At Each Other During Speaker Vote

Tensions were high among Republicans on Tuesday morning as Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) delivered a speech directed at hardline conservatives bent on voting against him ahead of the vote to name the next House speaker, according to Rep. Bob Good (R–Virginia).

Good described the meeting as “hostile.”

“I don’t think it did anything to persuade those who are inclined to vote against Kevin McCarthy,” Good, who did not vote for the California Republican, told Fox News.

Controversial Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colorado) was heard muttering, “This is bulls—” at the meeting.

McCarthy, who has served as House minority leader since 2019, has since failed to get the 218 votes he needed in both the first and second ballots. Tuesday marks the first time a second ballot has been needed in around 100 years.

Nineteen House members voted for alternate candidates. These members include Boebert, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Rep. Scott Perry (Pennsylvania), who sits as chair of the House Freedom Caucus, released a statement on Sunday explaining the caucus’ stance.

“The times call for radical departure from the status quo – not a continuation of the past, and ongoing, Republican failures,” the statement read. “For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”

Nothing changes when nothing changes, and that must start from the top. Time to make the change or get out of the way. pic.twitter.com/xtTrQKlsxZ

— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) January 2, 2023

Perry stood by the statement on Tuesday.

“I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes,” he wrote on Twitter. “If @gopleader McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the @POTUS Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now.”

I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes. If @gopleader McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the @POTUS Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now.

— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) January 3, 2023