Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) on Sunday expressed optimism that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will find the necessary votes to become Speaker next month.
“I think we will get there, and I'm not budging off my support of Speaker McCarthy,” Gallagher said on CNN’s “State of the Union” with co-anchor Jake Tapper.
“But you're right to suggest that there's no time to waste here,” Gallagher continued. “We can't spend all of January just with — mired in this internal battle. We need to populate various committees. There's all sorts of work that needs to be done in terms of basic oversight of the executive branch, as well as articulating policies and finding areas where we can pass productive bipartisan legislation. So my hope is that we get past this.”
Five GOP lawmakers — Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Matt Rosendale (Mont.) — have indicated they will not vote for McCarthy or vote “present” on the House floor during the Jan. 3 Speaker vote, creating a potential roadblock for McCarthy’s rise.
The GOP’s slim majority in the next Congress at 222 Republican lawmakers allows only a few lawmakers to deny McCarthy the role in order to get the 218 ballots needed.
Seven other hardline conservatives earlier this month laid out demands for the GOP speaker to implement rule changes and priorities in the next Congress, and McCarthy has held several meetings with members to iron out potential changes.
“Kevin McCarthy has done a great job over the last month in terms of reaching out to his detractors and saying, ok, what rules changes do you want to see?” Gallagher said on CNN. “How do we fix this institution? It's not going to be perfect, obviously, we only have control of one chamber of government. But there's a lot of things we can do. It might take multiple vote series, but I believe we are going to get there.”
Under McCarthy’s potential Speakership, Gallagher is poised to chair a new select committee on China, an effort Gallagher said he hoped would garner bipartisan support.
