House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy may be facing a tough path to becoming the next House Speaker, but when it comes time to vote in January, he will get the 218 votes from House Republicans needed to win the seat, Rep. Dan Meuser predicted on Newsmax on Wednesday.
"We're well aware of the work that Kevin McCarthy has put in," the Pennsylvania Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I've been in Congress now, for four years. He's worked tirelessly for this majority. I think he's very talented and we believe in him."
McCarthy, R-Calif., on Tuesday was elected as speaker-designate during the GOP leadership conference, taking the win by a 188-31 margin, falling short of the 218 votes he'll need to claim the gavel. He is facing a challenge by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
There has been some talk after the midterm elections that the Republican Party is not unified, and Meuser agreed that the party "must come together" if it wants to fix the numerous issues the nation is facing, including the border, the increased fentanyl that is coming into the nation, and the energy crisis that "the Biden administration and the Democrat leadership in the House put us in."
"There may be a few naysayers out there, but it looks like we'll have 222 [Republicans] I hope in a majority, and that should be enough to deliver for the American people," Meuser said.
Meanwhile, he rejected reports from CNN stating that current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could keep the gavel if Republican lawmakers can't reach 218 votes for McCarthy to win.
"The idea that Nancy Pelosi would retain the gavel with us in the majority is never gonna stand," said Meuser, congratulating Newsmax for projecting Tuesday that the GOP would take control of the House.
He also said that while there was some talk that there have been negotiations with Biggs over the speaker's seat, including investigations into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, COVID, and Hunter Biden, McCarthy already had many of the demands Biggs is making in the GOP's "Commitment to America."
"The American people want accountability, and we're going to provide accountability," Meuser said, noting that the first thing to be done is to defund money for hiring 87,000 IRS agents called for in a recent Democrat spending plan.
But he also agreed that it must be determined what is happening with the border, calling Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas "delinquent in his duties."
"We're looking into some other issues related to China, and certainly the Hunter Biden issue continues to be on everybody's mind," said Meuser. "Who's the 'big guy'? What was going on? Who's compromised?"
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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