McCarthy to Johnson: ‘Stop recessing’

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday criticized his successor’s decision to send the lower chamber home early last month amid internal divisions among Republican lawmakers.

McCarthy called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “stop recessing” in an interview on Fox News’s “Hannity,” warning of possible negative consequences in the November elections if Republicans do not pass key legislation.

“You have the majority in the House right now. Stop recessing,” McCarthy said in an interview with GOP political consultant Kellyanne Conway.

“Show the American public what you are by passing the legislation that you believe in. You can’t sit back and say the Democrats are socialists and they can’t do it,” the former Republican leader continued. “You gotta be able to show them what you’re able to achieve.”

Conway asked McCarthy how Republicans in Congress should approach the four final months leading up to the midterm elections this November.

“Pass the legislation day in and day out between now and the election and show them what you believe in,” McCarthy responded.

Johnson sent lawmakers home early for the second week in a row at the end of June amid a standoff in the lower chamber over a key voting bill, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act. The House is scheduled to return from recess on Monday.

Many House Republicans have grown frustrated with GOP leaders in recent weeks amid debate over the SAVE America Act, which President Trump has marked as his top legislative priority.

On Friday, the president said he would not sign a bipartisan housing bill “in PROTEST” over the stalemate over this bill.

“The SAVE AMERICA ACT’s non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

The standoff over this legislation has led Republican leadership to delay action on a Defense spending bill, the renewal of the government’s warrantless spy powers and other government funding bills.

The SAVE America Act would place new identification requirements for Americans when registering to vote or when going to cast their ballots. Democrats have warned that this legislation would “disenfranchise millions of Americans.”

Hardline Republicans, like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), have vowed to oppose votes on the Defense bill and other legislation in the House until the SAVE America Act is passed.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) criticized this strategy, saying it “makes no sense” to hold up other legislation.

“We need to pass both, and now both [are] delayed,” he said, referring to the SAVE America Act and the Defense bill. “It’s just a dumb strategy that weakens House GOP, and no one is more thrilled than Jeffries.”