WASHINGTON, D.C. — After three separate elections last week left the House of Representatives again without a speaker, 6th District Rep. Seth Moulton (D) voiced his frustrations with House Republicans and a situation Moulton called a “perfect storm of dysfunction.”
Earlier this month, the House voted 216-210 to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Eight Republicans voted with 208 Democrats to remove McCarthy, marking the first time in history that the House removed its leader.
House Republicans dropped Ohio Republican Jim Jordan — whose embrace of hard-line spending cuts and shutting down the government has branded him as an extremist among a portion of his GOP peers on Capitol Hill — as their nominee Friday. On Tuesday, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the #3 House Republican emerged as the party’s latest nominee for the gavel. It is unclear exactly how much support Emmer would be able to garner.
In an email to The Daily Item, Moulton said republican’s refusal to reach across the political aisle to elect a new speaker has hindered the House of Representatives’ ability to serve, leading to an inability to make domestic funding and international aid decisions.
“Democrats have been working for weeks to try to get Republicans to come to the table with a bipartisan compromise to elect a Speaker, keep the government funded, provide aid to Israel and Ukraine, and to do what we’re here to do: to legislate. The problem is that the Republican party is in the midst of a civil war, a perfect storm of dysfunction,” Moulton said.
Moulton has also exhibited an increased social media presence this week. On Thursday, the Congressman quote-tweeted New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stfanik’s post vowing her support for Jordan and refusal to “create a Democrat-backed coalition government.”
“Getting a lot of questions these days about why Democrats can’t ‘help’ with this mess,” Moulton responded on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is why. Republicans are saying out loud that they would rather not govern at all than govern alongside Democrats.”
In a written statement sent to The Item on Friday, Moulton called on his moderate Republican colleagues to work with Democrats and compromise on a nominee that both sides can agree on.
“We need someone we can work with, who can lead the entire House of Representatives — that’s the job of the Speaker. Extremists … who cannot even get their own bills passed will not lead, they will divide,” Moulton said. “Sadly, just yesterday, multiple Republicans said they strongly oppose any attempt to work with Democrats. I hope that my moderate Republican colleagues … – many of whom I often work with – can find the courage to work with us on a solution that serves the House and the American people.”
