Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed concerns on Sunday about Congress’ ability to deliver on aid to Israel as the House’s Speaker debacle draws on.
“The House can’t do anything without a speaker,” McConnell told Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. “And it’s a problem, but I hope it’s gonna get solved pretty quickly.”
The House has been in disarray since Oct. 3, when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) successfully led an ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
One frontrunner for the job, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), failed to receive the minimum number of votes (217) needed to become McCarthy’s successor three times. In each successive round of voting, Jordan lost support.
It is unclear what candidate the GOP would be able to coalesce around, with nine candidates currently throwing their hat in the ring.
Asked by Brennan whether there is anyone in the House who can lead the Republicans, McConnell replied that he is “not an expert on the House.”
“I have my hands full here in the Senate, and we’re gonna do our job and hope the House can get functional here sometime soon,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s quip about the House finding itself a Speaker came as Brennan and he discussed the importance of delivering on aid to Israel in the wake of its war with Hamas, as well as continuing aid to Ukraine.
After explaining that he supports Ukraine aid on the basis that much of its is being used to rebuild the U.S.’s industrial base, and noting that “the Ukrainians are destroying the army of one of our biggest rival,” Brennan said that it sounds like he has lot in common with President Joe Biden.
“Well, not on the domestic side, but on this issue that we’re discussing today, we’re generally in the same place,” McConnell replied.
He added later in the interview that unlike with Ukraine, he doesn’t think there needs to be strings attached to any aid package sent to Israel.
“Israel is our strongest ally in the world. We trust them, and we have a very tight relationship with them both on the intelligence side and the military side,” McConnell said. “So I don’t think the kind of oversight we’re talking about for Ukraine, for example, would be necessary for Israel.”
McConnell also addressed a series of incidents where he froze up while speaking and needed to be assisted by his staff.
“I’m fine. I’m completely recovered, and I’m just fine,” he told Brennan. His staff chalked both incidents up to being lightheated, but declined to elaborate.
“I think we ought to be talking about what we were talking about earlier rather than my health.”
