Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) fired back after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) claimed he would personally stop the bills of GOP senators who vote for the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill if elected House speaker next month.
“[Kevin] can do that if he wants, but it doesn’t get him anywhere. I mean, I think it even sounds naive,” Cramer told the Washington Examiner. Cramer, who served in the House for six years, is planning to vote against the proposed spending bill later this week. “But I have no doubt Kevin is trying to get one or two votes for speaker. I hope he does become speaker. He’s earned it.”
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He continued, “I think he’d be good at it. I think he can do the job. However, I think these kinds of errors raise questions about the fortitude it will take to lead a narrowly divided House of Representatives. Because unlike Democrats, Republicans really will go against leaders.”
McCarthy’s statement that he would stop bills of Republican senators who vote for the omnibus came after 13 House Republicans sent a letter to Senate Republicans claiming they would reject any future requests from senators who passed the new 2023 budget. The Senate is expected to vote on the spending bill sometime this week.
Other top Senate conservatives, such as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), called the letter an “idle threat.” Capito became the fifth member of GOP leadership last month after being elected vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference.
“I think respect for people’s votes is what [these] whole institutions are built on, and that we all have different reasons for making different votes, whether it’s who we represent, what lens we’re looking through,” Capito told the Hill. “I think they need to settle their speakership quickly, and I hope Kevin’s the speaker.”
The trillion-dollar budget includes the Electoral Count Reform Act, a bipartisan measure designed to avoid another Jan. 6-style attack on the Capitol, and $45 billion in Ukraine aid.
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If no omnibus is passed by Friday’s deadline, it will be picked up after the new year and force the government into a shutdown.
David Sivak contributed to this report.
