Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not rule out helping Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy from House leadership when asked about it during an interview on Sunday.
Ocasio-Cortez was asked about possibly helping Gaetz vote McCarthy out of leadership by CBS News’s Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan.
“We would have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Speaker McCarthy has been very weak,” the New York Democratic-Socialist replied. “I think that he has also engaged in just absolutely terrible decision making for the American people from continuing to try to cement denying the right to an abortion among women, to the denial of to a policy that denies the reality of climate change, to basic fiscal irresponsibility and recklessness.”
There are “absolutely” grounds for an effort to oust Speaker McCarthy with a motion to vacate, as some Republicans like Rep. Matt Gaetz have threatened, Rep. @AOC says. When asked if she’d vote in line with Gaetz, she says: “We would have to cross that bridge when we get to it.” pic.twitter.com/eQ9MP1HrOY
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 24, 2023
The congresswoman continued, “We are at the brink of a shutdown right now. And so absolutely, I think there is grounds. However, we are also in the midst of an extremely chaotic Republican Party, and we do not want chaos to reign in Washington either. I think that is a bridge that we’d cross if we get to it.”
Rep. Maxine Waters has already said that she would not try to save McCarthy if it came to a vote.
During McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker, Gaetz led a band of America First Republicans in forcing him into certain concessions. Last week, he declared that the Speaker is “out of compliance” by pushing for a stopgap spending measure.
Gaetz vowed that he would begin every day in Congress with “the prayer, the pledge, and the motion to vacate” if McCarthy did not back down.
“Mr. Speaker, dust off our written January agreement. You have a copy,” Gaetz said in a statement earlier this month. “Begin to comply. No continuing resolutions, individual spending bills or bust votes on balanced budgets and term limits, subpoenas for Hunter Biden and the members of the Biden family who’ve been grifting off of this country, and the impeachment for Joe Biden that he so richly deserves.”
“Do these things or face a motion to vacate the chair,” he added.