Who becomes the speaker of the House will not matter if Republicans cannot "find consensus within the conference," Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Newsmax Wednesday.
"Kevin McCarthy never should have been removed as speaker to begin with," Lawler told "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," adding that, as a result of eight Republicans and 208 Democrats joining to remove him, "we are now in day 16 of this chaos and paralysis within the House; and, obviously, we need to get back to work."
Lawler, who this week voted for McCarthy for the speakership, said the conference needs to "find consensus." Last week, he said, he told Rep. Jim Jordan, the current front-runner for the speakership, that "unless we address the challenge within the conference of getting 218 to work together, to compromise within the conference ... it's not going to matter who the speaker is.
"We're not going to be able to govern. And that is the fundamental issue here."
"Jim Jordan, unfortunately, is not coalescing the conference the way he needs to to get to 217," Lawler said.
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Jeremy Frankel ✉
Jeremy Frankel is a Newsmax writer reporting on news and politics.
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