- GOP Rep. Dan Bishop called for Kevin McCarthy's removal as House speaker after he struck a debt ceiling compromise with Biden.
- "I think it's got to be done," Bishop said at a news conference Tuesday.
North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop called for Rep. Kevin McCarthy's removal as Speaker of the House on Tuesday, after McCarthy struck a deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the debt ceiling until 2025.
Bishop, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, is the first Republican lawmaker to publicly demand McCarthy's ouster.
His comments came after a caucus press conference in which members urged GOP lawmakers not to vote for the deal, saying it doesn't cut spending enough. McCarthy said the House will vote on the Fiscal Responsibility Act on Wednesday, and the Democratic-controlled Senate will need to vote on the measure before June 5 to avoid a default.
"I think it's got to be done," Bishop told reporters, referring to removing McCarthy as speaker.
"I'm just fed up with the lies," he said, according to The Hill. "I'm fed up with the lack of courage, the cowardice. And I intend to see to it that there is somebody who's prepared to say what needs to be done."
But he didn't comment on whether he would file a motion on the matter, saying, "I'll decide that in conjunction with others."
The North Carolina lawmaker also excoriated McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon, who briefly served as then-President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist.
"All you're hearing from the mainstream media is Kevin McCarthy is an adult. Kevin McCarthy is a leader. Kevin McCarthy is responsible," Bannon said. "What does that signal to you, congressman?"
"Barely concealed glee," Bishop replied, adding that McCarthy "didn't want to gloat because people wouldn't vote for it."
He went on to call the debt ceiling compromise a "disaster," saying it represents an "entire capitulation of the dynamic created in January," when McCarthy became House speaker. Bishop also said McCarthy "is emasculating himself and the Republican majority" by striking a bipartisan deal to avoid a default.
He urged House Republicans not to vote for the Fiscal Responsibility Act and to force McCarthy to pass it with Democratic votes. He also said that Republicans who support the bill are risking "being destroyed themselves by voting for this."
"If they do, they're gone," Bishop said.
Biden announced the debt ceiling deal on Sunday, saying it would take the threat of a "catastrophic default off the table."
McCarthy said he expects more than 95% of House Republicans to vote for the bill, adding in a statement Sunday that it would constrain the Biden White House's spending by "[forcing] the Executive Branch to find dollar-for-dollar savings in the government for costly rules and regulations, so that executive overreach is reined in and held accountable."