Booker says House GOP was ‘hijacked’ in speakership ouster 

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Wednesday that House Republicans were “hijacked” in the Speakership ouster and called on the party to end the civil war and work for the people. 

“I am hoping that the Republican Party — that has been hijacked, again, by a very thin margin of extremists — begins to understand that this is a civil war that we have to end,” Booker said in an MSNBC interview Wednesday evening.

“We have to start regaining our identity and doing the kind of things that most of the House Republicans, I believe, swore oaths to come and do, to do what’s best for this nation, to do what’s best for the country, and to find ways to work with other members to get good things done for the people,” he added. 

Booker suggested he thought it would wise for Democrats to stay out of the Republican chaos of choosing a new Speaker, saying, “I’m not sure if I would advise anyone over there to get into that — I think the political science term is mishegoss — on the other side of the Capitol,” using a Yiddish word for craziness. 

Booker said he thinks this is a time for bipartisanship and said he thinks the American people elected such a closely divided legislative body, perhaps, because there is an appetite for compromise.

“The reality is, this is a moment where the American people who vote for the House of Representatives put in a very narrowly divided situation. Perhaps as an indication that they want the House of Representatives to find ways to work together to do bipartisan things, to understand that negotiation, compromise, is how we, as a nation, from our very start, were able to move forward,” he said. 

The House voted Tuesday evening to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his post in a 216-210 vote. Eight Republicans voted with all present Democrats against McCarthy after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called for a motion to vacate. The Speaker position is now vacant. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is acting Speaker. 

Congress also faces another shutdown deadline of Nov. 17, when the continuing resolution that President Biden signed into law Saturday, just before the previous deadline, expires.