On MSNBC Tuesday, Brendan Buck, a former aide to Republican House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, criticized his party for their failure to come together on the Speaker vote.
This comes as the House continues to fight through multiple Speaker ballots after a group of hardline far-right lawmakers blocked GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy from being elected — the first time this has happened since 1923.
"The time frame negotiations have been happening," said anchor Hallie Jackson. "We've seen that since November at this point with McCarthy long desiring to be in the position that he is now running for, and now, for at least one ballot, losing, poised to lose for a second. We'll see what happens with the third. Looking like lie that not much will change, at least not that we know of or can report out just yet."
"This is incredibly frustrating to watch as a Republican," said Buck. "This is a new majority that you should be celebrating. There's a time and a place to sort this out and they had that time and place to sort it out. It's a closed-door conference meeting where people put up different candidates and vote for who their Speaker should be and they did that. And Kevin McCarthy won overwhelmingly, but instead of going along with the views of their conference, they're making a mockery of the House of Representatives."
"A party that just suffered a really bad election," added Buck. "Almost didn't win back the House in what should have been a landslide, and it's because people don't think it's a serious party that can get things done. And what is it doing on the first day? Proving it to be true. When this isn't a debate about issues. It's about petty grievances and silly rules changes. It's about weakening the Speaker so they can be stronger and get on TV more. It's ridiculous."
"I'm frustrated watching this on the House floor," said Buck. "We're probably going to be doing it for a long time. It's an important institution. An important position. I care deeply about the Speakership and I think it should be taken more seriously."
Watch video below or at this link.
