(WASHINGTON) — South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace warned Sunday that “everything’s on the table” as rank-and-file House Republicans like her spar with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over high-profile issues including the federal government spending battle.
Asked about other members of her conference threatening to bring a so-called motion to vacate, Mace said on ABC’s “This Week” that she would not “comment on conjecture,” but she suggested that she could be swayed to support the effort to oust McCarthy from his speakership which, if successful, would grind the House to a halt until a replacement is elected.
Mace cited similar complaints as from some other GOP lawmakers over alleged broken promises from McCarthy, though she said she anticipated he will ultimately retain his gavel.
“I will tell you I’m one of those members who was made certain promises. I’ve worked on women’s issues. I’ve worked on issues related to gun violence I feel are very important. And it’s fallen on deaf ears. And if I give a handshake to someone, I expect them to follow through,” she told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “Everything’s on the table at this point for me because I want to do the right thing for the American people.”
“I do think he will continue to be speaker,” she added of McCarthy, “but I do think it’s going to be a long rest of the year.”
Some more hard-line House Republicans have complained that McCarthy caved earlier this year when working with Democrats on raising the debt ceiling and have said they could move to remove him from the speakership if he does not agree to significant spending cuts when government funding expires at the end of this month.
Mace has occasionally criticized McCarthy, suggesting that he has not followed through on commitments he made to her, though she has voted to support party-line legislation and his speakership.
However, others like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have repeatedly said they could push a motion to vacate over what they view as an inadequate appetite from McCarthy to cut spending levels — a threat that boiled over at a conference meeting last week.
“Move the f—— motion,” McCarthy dared his detractors, ABC News reported.
Mace told Karl on “This Week,” in light of Gaetz’s threat, “Either he’s going to file it or he’s not. If he’s going to do it, put his money where his mouth is. I do hear that some votes might be up for grabs because people were made promises that have not been kept.”
She criticized McCarthy for not having individual votes on spending bills and predicted he would have to instead rely on temporary solutions like continuing resolutions.
“That doesn’t give a budget for the country, and that doesn’t give consistency for the economy, for businesses that are trying to grow,” she said. “And both sides, quite frankly, have put us in this position and he ought to take ownership of it and so, too, should Republicans.”
“We want the American people to trust us, to trust Congress to do the right thing, and to be responsible with their tax dollars,” Mace went on to say.
She said that she does not see the impasse being resolved before the government funding deadline, with McCarthy supporting a short-term funding patch while his more conservative flank vows to vote against that.
“I’m expecting a shutdown,” Mace told Karl.
While acknowledging her differences with McCarthy, Mace also pushed back on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who, in his own appearance on “This Week,” called out a Republican “civil war.”
“I find it a little bit hypocritical that that is the divisive language that he used in his interview, and talking about people over politics,” she said. Referring to the debt limit deal this year, she said, “If Democrats and, quite frankly, Republicans wanted to put people over politics, they would not have joined hands earlier this year to add $18.8 trillion to the debt.”
Karl also pressed Mace on McCarthy launching an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, as Republicans continue to allege he had inappropriate ties to his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The White House has dismissed the claims as baseless.
Republicans have not directly tied the president to any wrongdoing, but Mace insisted there was enough “smoke” to warrant an investigation.
“You can’t say, ‘Hey, there’s a little bit of smoke, we’re not going to follow the fire.’ And the inquiry, my understanding is … gives us expanded subpoena powers,” Mace said. “I want the bank records of Joe Biden.”
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