House Republican conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream that Republican Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy is going to “survive” the current discord within his party, despite reports of a “civil war” in the House GOP.

Rep. Matt Gaetz and others in the more MAGA wing of the party have been making noise about trying to oust McCarthy, whose speakership began in chaos and against the resistance of that faction.

In the last week it was reported that McCarthy told Gaetz that if he wants to file a motion to vacate, “then file the fucking motion.”

On Fox News Sunday, Bream asked whether that was an accurate quote from the tense GOP meeting, and the anchor quoted Axios describing Republicans as being in “paralyzed chaos” to ask: “How tense are things within the party right now?”

Stefanik declined to verify the particular f-bomb, but did offer optimistic if unspecific expectations of the various factions coming together, and said “I’m confident we will work through this. And certainly the majority of members and I believe the Speaker will survive any type of motion.”

“But, I don’t even think it’s going to get to that,” Stefanik added. “Because as I said, we are going through great productive conversations with our members, including from the House Freedom Caucus, as well as the Republican Study Committee and the broader Republican Conference to work through this appropriations process, but while also standing up for fiscal responsibility and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars and reining in this out-of-control spending.”

Democrats and member of the press have suggested that the Speaker’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry is an effort by McCarthy to distract from the internal strife and placate the Freedom Caucus, but McCarthy continues to defend the legitimacy of the move.

BREAM: Here we have this possibility of a government shutdown days away, analysts say mostly because of internal strife within the GOP. Politico, or excuse me, Axios puts it this way” “Republicans have fallen into a state of paralyzed chaos with no obvious exit ramp in a government spending fight of their own creation.” Our brand new Fox News poll also puts congressional approval at 19%. So you guys run the House now, what do you tell the American people about the fact that we can’t even move a defense bill to fund our troops?

STEFANIK: Well, we’re in a very good place. I’ve been engaged in conversation with members as well as Speaker McCarthy over the weekend. We are working through this, and I’m optimistic that we will continue to move the appropriations process forward. And that includes the DOD appropriations bill. That also includes potentially a continuing resolution to ensure that we do not face a government shutdown. But what’s really important here, Shannon, is, on behalf of the American people, we know inflation is one of the top concerns. 91% of the American people are concerned about inflation. We have to rein in this reckless, out-of-control spending that we’ve seen under the Biden administration.

BREAM: Well, and that is what your most conservative wing is worried about. They say they made deals, they agreed to a budget deal, there were spending caps, priorities, all those kinds of things they don’t think are going to be honored in this new batch of spending bills. You’ve got Matt Gaetz, one of them, very vocal. He’s threatening to call this Motion to Vacate to force the Speaker out or at least force a vote on him if he doesn’t get what he believes was agreed to, which is cutting and fiscal austerity and, you know, dialing things back. We’ve got a meeting this week that was described by Congressman Brian Mast as saying that the Speaker said to him, “if you want to file the motion to vacate, then file the f ing motion.” How tense are things within the party right now?

STEFANIK: Well, I’ve chaired a lot of the conference meetings. I was actually chairing that meeting. It’s our weekly discussion with all the Republican members and sometimes–

BREAM: Is that an accurate quote?

STEFANIK: I’m not going to get into, I don’t quote members in that meeting because I want to make sure that I respect them. But Speaker McCarthy’s support is strong within the conference, and he has said that he’s going to continue doing his job leading this conference. So I’m confident we will work through this. And certainly the majority of members and I believe the Speaker will survive any type of motion. But, I don’t even think it’s going to get to that, Shannon, because as I said, we are going through great productive conversations with our members, including from the House Freedom Caucus, as well as the Republican Study Committee and the broader Republican Conference to work through this appropriations process, but while also standing up for fiscal responsibility and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars and reining in this out-of-control spending.

Watch the clip above via Fox News Sunday.

The post Shannon Bream Confronts Stefanik Over F-Bombs and ‘Paralyzed Chaos’ in GOP Caucus: ‘How Tense ARE things?’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/XfW5qST