Republican Rep. Don Bacon attacked the eight House Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, noting that it had put them in a tough position during a global crisis unfolding in the Middle East.
“First of all, I condemn the 8 people who did this to our party. We are vacant in a time where there is a need,” he said Wednesday morning as he left a classified briefing. “We have to get a speaker in position, we need to support Israel right away, and we have a continuing resolution that is going to stop in mid-November. We got to fix this.”
Bacon said that he supports a rule change that would require the House GOP nominee for speaker to get 217 votes – the number required for a majority, with current vacancies – in order to proceed to the floor vote.
“I think so, because we should have 217 votes before going to the floor. Doing 15 votes like we did in January was not wise. So I think we should fix that ahead of time,” he told reporters.
He would not say who he was supporting yet, noting that he and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise have long been close, but that he was impressed by Rep. Jim Jordan’s promise to work with members across the conference.
“I’ve always leaned towards Steve because he’s been to our district multiple times, I’ve known him a long time, I do not know Jim as well,” said Bacon. “I would say this – Jim has done a very good job yesterday, during the forum, I was very impressed. He was not the Freedom Caucus guy, he was the guy who wants to represent everybody in our conference. I saw an American willing to take risks to solve problems. So my takeaway is whoever comes out with the majority today we should get behind and get a speaker.”