House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned on Thursday that some MAGA Republicans “want to burn the whole place down” after a failed vote on Pentagon funding.
“Frustrating in the sense that I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate and then you got all these amendments if you don’t like the bill,” McCarthy told reporters on Thursday. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. That doesn’t work.”
The remarks by McCarthy on Thursday come shortly after House Republicans failed to pass a procedural vote relating to a Pentagon funding bill. The legislation is now unable to move forward in the House marking the second time this has occurred this week.
Newsweek reached out to McCarthy’s press office via email for comment.
The final vote was 212 to 216, with six House Republicans, many of whom are tied to the MAGA movement and staunch supporters of former President Donald Trump, joining Democrats to block the procedural vote.
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The Republicans who voted against the legislation from moving forward included Marjorie Taylor Greene, Dan Bishop, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Eli Crane and Tom Cole.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Greene issued a response to her vote against the legislation from moving forward saying, “Our country is being invaded by the thousands every damn day and our Department of Defense does nothing.”
Greene continued, “Our Defense bill should not fund our DOD for blood money for the Ukraine war, that’s why I’m a NO. What did we get out of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan?”
Similarly, Rosendale wrote on X that he was planning to vote against the procedural vote, saying, “Unfortunately, the critically important funding of our military is being used as a ploy by the DC Cartel to continue their out-of-control spending which is why I will be voting AGAINST the rule and the bill.”
“Instead of bringing one of the 12 appropriation bills forward that reduces spending, leadership has decided to bring a “must pass” bill forward that increases spending, try and pass it, send it to the Senate, and enable them to create another massive spending measure only to return it to the House,” Rosendale said in another post.
Bishop said he planned to vote against moving the legislation forward writing: “Voting to advance only this ‘must-pass’ bill is the antithesis of a disciplined change of direction. It will become the Christmas tree for completion of the Washington wash cycle — lather, rinse, and repeat.”