WASHINGTON — Washington’s Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal had hoped to be working in the 118th Congress -- but the inability to elect a Speaker of the House in the new Republican-controlled Congress has put a hold on all of that.
“Any party that can’t even elect their own Speaker has a lot of things to worry about in terms of the rest of the agenda that we have. And the fact that Kevin McCarthy has now had 11 votes (at the time of the interview) where Republicans have been in complete chaos … it is embarrassing but it is actually dangerous,” she said Friday morning.
Jayapal stressed that without a functioning Congress, national security issues may not get tackled in the time needed.
She also said that the members are just members-elect, so staff does not get paid, and congresspeople won’t get paid either.
She does not favor Democrats helping elect a Republican, and it’s highly probable that other Democrats agree with her.
“We’re ready to work with whomever the Republicans elect, but this is their responsibility to elect a Speaker. Because if Democrats cross over and we put in place someone who cuts Social Security, who cuts Medicare — we would not want to be responsible for that,” she said.
Jayapal says she’s heard from several Republicans who have told her that they will never vote for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. She does believe whoever is elected probably will have to make concessions to get the votes.
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