Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Monday that a planned motion by other GOP members to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is "ridiculous."
"I'm on my way back to [Washington, D.C.,] this morning. We're heading back and we will get these appropriations [done] behind closed doors, that's where these things need to be fought," Meuser said on "Wake Up America."
"We need to be constructive critics, not destructive critics as, unfortunately, some colleagues on my side of the aisle have been. Particularly those who were talking about this ridiculous vacate the chair [motion]. You get involved in this sort of nonsense, then we do put our appropriations bill in jeopardy."
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a Freedom Caucus member, threatened during a televised interview on CNN Sunday that he would move this week to enter a motion to remove Rep. McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker of the House, The Associated Press reported.
"I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid," Gaetz said on CNN. "I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy."
Gaetz and other House GOP members are upset that McCarthy relied on getting Democrats to vote for the continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-November, averting a shutdown.
Meuser said Monday that there are more than 200 House Republicans opposed to ousting McCarthy and, even if they did, "there is no alternative" Republican to take the helm.
"This isn't a solution plan. This is a create-havoc plan," Meuser said. "I really don't like speaking ill of any member, particularly a Republican, but Matt Gaetz is a rebel without a cause. That might be cute in high school and for a movie title, but this is this is grown-up stuff. He's got no real plan other than fundraising and getting himself on Fox News a lot."
Meuser said that McCarthy has done a good job as speaker and is "unbelievably patient" working with the members of the Republican conference in moving the agenda forward.
"Gaetz and perhaps a few of his sycophants, they're hypocrites to say that, Oh, how dare he think about working with Democrats to keep the government open," Meuser said. "That's exactly what they're going to do if there's three, four, five, or six of [Republicans] that that vote that way.
"I don't even think it's going to be that many. They need all the Democrats to help them, and they've been courting them. So, it's so hypocritical and nonsensical."
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Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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