WASHINGTON D.C., DC — As Republicans in the U.S. House continue to battle over who will be the next Speaker, all business has ground to a halt.
And there’s no telling how long the Speakership fight might last, now that the most recent nominee, Congressman Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) dropped out after he couldn’t build enough support to receive the 217 votes needed to win on the House floor.
North Texas Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (R-Irving) says they don’t have the luxury of time and she’s frustrated.
“We’ve got to get over it. There’s just too much on the table right now. I mean, you’re looking at what’s happening in Israel. You’re looking at what’s happening on our southern border. You’re looking at what’s happening in our pocketbooks. Those things have to be addressed,” Van Duyne told us on Inside Texas Politics.
Van Duyne says Republicans have spent several days trying to figure out how to get the party united with so much business in front of them.
She says their internal disagreements are reflected “across American dinner tables.”
But at the same time, she says there are three or four members of their conference who can tank any nomination, or tank any bill, at any time.
“People get frustrated with Republicans because when we come into office in a majority, we don’t, quote, hold it together. But at the same time, we also sit there, and we revere those handful of people who don’t work with the party. We gotta get over that,” she said.
Van Duyne says she was in Israel last year with her son in one of the areas recently attacked by the terrorist group Hamas. And she says sending aid to Israel and improving security there and here at home are just a few of the pressing issues that must be addressed now.
“It’s a time for serious conversations amongst adults in the room. I got elected to Congress to do a job. And it’s frustrating to be here and kind of have, like, a front row seat and not be able to move forward. Those are conversations we have to have,” said the Republican. “How are we supporting Israel? How are we preventing what’s happening on our border from continuing? That’s why I got elected.”
Keeping the federal government funded is another major issue looming on the horizon. And this has proven to be a divisive issue in Congress this year.
Van Duyne says the easy part of that discussion is saying you have to cut the budget. The hard work is deciding where.
“And that’s what we need to spend the next several weeks deciding is where are we going to make those cuts. We don’t want to normalize the spend that we saw during the pandemic,” she told us. “Now is not the time for a distraction, and I think we’ve been distracted the last seven days unnecessarily.”