On CNN Tuesday, anchor Jake Tapper and his panel reacted to the new threat from House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that if any Senate Republicans back the bipartisan omnibus spending package, on track to pass the Senate shortly, he will scuttle any legislation those Republicans introduce that reaches the House when he is Speaker.
"Kevin McCarthy desperately trying to get the number of votes he needs to become the next leader in the House," said Tapper. "He is threatening senators, if they vote for this $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package, that any future legislation they offer will be 'dead on arrival' when it comes to the House. Take a listen to the one Republican senator reacting to that."
He cut to a clip of CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju speaking to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who appeared unmoved by the ultimatum.
"Well, I don't know if I buy the threat, but I find it — Kevin's in a tough spot," said Cramer. "Statements like that, and statements coming from House Republicans is the very reason that some Senate Republicans feel they probably should spare them from the burden of having to govern."
"I mean, this is the exact irony," said Tapper to the panel. "The reason that Senate Republicans are coming into this deal with the devil, in their view, is because they look at Kevin McCarthy and his gang of flying monkeys. They're not going to be able to legislate."
Boston Globe Washington Correspondent Jackie Kucinich concurred.
"They were saying it's going to be dead on arrival anyway because of the composition of your current conference," said Kucinich. "This is the second time Kevin McCarthy has tried to flex on Mitch McConnell when he doesn't have the votes to be Speaker. He is having to whip his Speaker vote in a way I've never seen. I think there is an expectation that there is going to be multiple rounds of voting."
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Jake Tapper says Senate Republicans would rather deal with Democrats than Kevin McCarthywww.youtube.com
