Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Tuesday that he remained undecided about how to vote on the leadership challenge to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a McCarthy critic, filed a motion to vacate the chair, and a Tuesday afternoon vote was planned in the House.
"Well, to be determined," Ogles said when "Newsline" host Bianca de la Garza asked how he would vote. "I'm going to meet with some of my colleagues, but at the end of the day, the rules, the package that we agreed upon, have been breached. And so, whether you like Matt Gaetz or not, he's correct.
"Now if they [Gaetz and McCarthy] have something personal, that's between the two of them. But myself, and some of the other congressmen that are undecided, we've been meeting, we've been talking.
"We've been debating back and forth and, look, I'm committed to the 12 appropriations bills, and anything that gets into the way of that, quite frankly, is frustrating. We made that promise to the American people."
Ogles was asked what would determine which way he voted.
"Right now, it's about how do we move forward with the appropriations," he told de la Garza. "We've passed 4 of those 12. We have eight to go at this point. It's uncertain that they could even pass, or, quite frankly, whether or not leadership would actually bring them up.
"So that's really can we keep that promise to the American people because that is of utmost importance. And all of this stuff with the speaker's fight, quite frankly, is a bit frustrating. The timing, in my opinion, is a little bit off, but we should focus on the appropriations."
Ogles joined Gaetz and other conservative hardliners who made McCarthy wait 15 rounds of voting before ultimately securing the gavel in January.
"One thing I'll say, it's not a matter of being a hardliner, it's a matter of we fought for a rules package that would change the way that Congress operates," Ogles said.
"And part of that package is that by Sept. 30, we would pass 12 single-topic, appropriations bills. And at the end of July, we were sent home, and at that moment, in that very moment in time, CR [a continuing resolution] was an inevitable."
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