Democrats not ready to bail out GOP: ‘This is on them’

Democratic leaders said Wednesday that Republicans are on their own amid the conservative revolt that’s prevented Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — or anyone else — from becoming the next Speaker in the new Congress. 

Heading into this week’s Speaker vote, some lawmakers had floated the notion of finding a “unity” candidate who could win bipartisan support if McCarthy failed to rally a sufficient number of Republicans behind his Speakership bid. 

But on Wednesday, a day after a group of conservatives blocked McCarthy’s bid on three separate ballots, Democratic leaders said they’re not ready to bail out the struggling Republicans — at least not yet.

“This is on them,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the incoming chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said during a press briefing in the Capitol. 

Aguilar said he hasn’t been approached by any lawmakers about a search for a potential consensus candidate, nor have Democratic leaders presented that possibility to their rank-and-file members, who are united behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the incoming minority leader who got all 212 Democratic votes on Tuesday’s three ballots.

“If there was something that was real, we would look at that,” Aguilar said. “But I haven’t seen any proof that Republicans are willing to engage.” 

With Republicans flailing in their effort to seat a new Speaker, outside centrist groups are agitating for lawmakers in both parties to unite behind a moderate figure — perhaps one outside of Congress — to fill the void. This week, former Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), a centrist who is popular on both sides of the aisle, said the idea that he might be that figure is “an intriguing suggestion that I have not rejected.”

Yet even those Democrats who have supported the idea of a consensus candidate don’t appear ready to jump on board. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has been open to that strategy, is also downplaying that idea this week amid the Republicans’ struggles to seat a new Speaker. 

“At the end of the day, this is a Republican mess,” he told CNN Tuesday night. “This is a failure of them to govern. This is their problem to fix.”

“And Democrats stand ready if they want to vote for Hakeem Jeffries,” Khanna added, suggesting a strategy that’s a non-starter among Republicans. 

The conservative revolt — and the stalemate it’s created — forced House lawmakers to vote on multiple Speaker ballots for the first time since 1923. And it’s creating a lingering uncertainty about how long the seat will remain empty — and what effect a dysfunctional House will have on the country. 

“This is a crisis of the Congress,” Aguilar said. “And it’s a crisis at the hands of the Republican dysfunction.” 

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), the incoming vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, echoed that message. 

“For one day — it was unfortunate — we can deal with that. But now it gets serious, because we effectively don’t have a House of Representatives,” Lieu said. “This can’t keep on going. You can’t have one branch of the federal government simply not function.”

Lieu said he’s hoping Republicans can find a way to unify behind a Speaker nominee, “because we need Republicans to govern — if they can.”

“If they cannot,” he added, “then they should let Democrats govern.”