White House calls on House GOP to join Biden ‘at the adults table’

The White House took aim Thursday at House Republicans’ ongoing struggle to elect a Speaker, calling on the party to “get their act together.”

Andrew Bates, a deputy press secretary, contrasted the House GOP’s infighting that has stalled the chamber with President Biden’s focus on various issues in the wake of a wartime trip to Israel to show support for the U.S. ally.

The Biden spokesman credited the president with “leading and standing up for our national security interests on the world stage” while House Republicans “continue their downward spiral into chaos and away from governing.”

“The House GOP’s backbiting and competition to out-extreme each other is also surfacing hardline positions that the American people have solidly rejected again and again,” Bates said in a memo distributed to reporters. “Including dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, radical abortion bans, and cuts to Medicare and Social Security.”

Bates cited a Speaker candidate forum last week in which neither Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) nor Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) would outright say Biden won the 2020 presidential election legitimately.

He also highlighted an introduction of Jordan as a Speaker nominee this week in which Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) cited Jordan’s willingness to reform programs like Medicare and Social Security to rein in the national debt.

“As President Biden acts to make America more secure, grow our economy for the middle class, and protect our freedoms, House Republicans are falling over one another to find out who can be the most erratic and out of step with the priorities of working families,” Bates said. “They need to get their act together and join this president at the adults table.”

The White House has largely stayed out of the chaos that has engulfed the House since Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted as Speaker, arguing it is up to members to determine the path forward.

Jordan is expected to back a resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as he continues to work to shore up support for his Speaker bid.

But White House officials have in recent days been more outspoken about the standstill in the chamber because of House Republicans’ inability to rally behind one Speaker candidate, seeking to draw a contrast with Biden’s agenda.

The president was asked Wednesday while flying back to Washington from Tel Aviv whether he had a view of Jordan’s issues securing the Speakership.

“I ache for him,” Biden quipped, declining to weigh in further.