House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday repeatedly referred to House Republicans as being engaged in “a civil war.”
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” the New York Democrat said, “Let’s be clear, House Republicans are in middle of a civil war.”
Jeffries told host Jonathan Karl: “Civil war has the following attributes: Chaos, dysfunction and extremism. The House Republican civil war is hurting hard-working American taxpayers and limiting our ability to be able to solve problems on their behalf, it’s unfortunate but as House Democrats we are going to continue to try and find common ground with the other side of the aisle.”
Given how small the Republican majority is in the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is likely to need a unified GOP caucus to be able to avoid a potentially devastating government shutdown at the end of the month.
“We urge our Republican colleagues in the House to join us, stop fighting each other, end the reckless, reprehensible Republican civil war and let’s get to the business of the American people,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries also declined to say whether House Democrats would help to bail out McCarthy if members of his caucus move to oust him from his position.
“If that moment presents itself, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he said.
Following him on “This Week,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) expressed dismay over Jeffries’ repeated use of the term “civil war.”
“I find it a little bit hypocritical that this is the divisive language that he used in his interview,” she told Karl.
But Mace declined to say whether she would support if Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) or someone else attempts to oust McCarthy.
“We’ll see how it turns out,” Mace said.