周日，在一小批共和党人上周在民主党人的帮助下解雇了议长凯文·麦卡锡，使众议院失去了领袖，两名来自过道对面的立法者对众议院正在发生的混乱进行了权衡让一半的国会陷入瘫痪.
华盛顿正在盯着11月份为联邦政府提供资金的最后期限，否则将面临部分关闭的风险。
科罗拉多州共和党众议员肯·巴克(Ken Buck)在美国广播公司(ABC)的“本周”(This Week)节目中表示，他的政党必须将选举新议长作为首要任务。
巴克是驱逐麦卡锡的八名共和党人之一，他告诉“本周”主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，无论会议如何解决政府支出问题，他们的下一任领导人都应该遵守;在那之后，巴克会支持某人。
“在就发言人达成一致之前，你怎么能就此达成一致呢?这不就是导致麦卡锡下台的原因吗?”斯特凡诺普洛斯按下。巴克说不——是麦卡锡没有能力兑现他的承诺。
巴克还表示，他希望该党对继任者的审议在公众视线之外展开，“在那里摄像机没有打开，我们没有人试图在某些问题上引起注意。”
众议院司法委员会主席吉姆·乔丹和众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯都参加了竞选。
巴克说，他希望避免1月份爆发的长期和非常公开的冲突，当时在共和党强硬派的抵抗下，麦卡锡花了15轮投票才赢得议长职位。斯特凡诺普洛斯接着问共和党人是否会在议长选举前推动共识，“这意味着这可能会持续一段时间，不是吗?”
巴克说，如果私下进行会更好:“对于那些认为我们在展示一个混乱的形象的人来说，关起门来做这件事，在我们去会场(投票)之前完成它，会更有意义。”
当斯特凡诺普洛斯问及如果选择麦卡锡的继任者需要超过几天的时间可能会有什么后果时，巴克说:“我们将在本周末就一名候选人达成一致，或者我们将在周末就一名候选人达成一致。我认为我们锁上门，我们只有非常有限的上厕所和吃饭的时间，并确保我们完成工作。”
“我们将能够进行家庭讨论。当我们离开家庭讨论时，我相信我们会团结起来，”巴克还说。
在这张2023年9月20日的档案照片中，众议员肯·巴克在华盛顿特区国会山的众议院司法委员会听证会上看着
弗朗西斯钟/政治通过美联社，文件
众议院民主党三号人物、加利福尼亚州的皮特·阿吉拉尔(Pete Aguilar)同时抨击共和党人的惨败，指出民主党人今年早些时候支持提高债务上限，这一谈判也是为了在资金辩论之前设定支出水平。
“民主党是这里的领导者。这是一个没有能力管理和领导的共和党众议院会议，但这就是我们处于这一时刻的原因。我们的选民没有派我们来这里空出椅子，”阿吉拉尔在自己的“本周”节目中说，他指的是用来驱逐麦卡锡的程序机制。"他们把我们送到华盛顿特区工作。"
议员们必须在11月17日之前通过拨款法案，以防止政府部分关闭，这将对数百万员工和社会服务接受者产生连锁反应。
但是共和党人和民主党人，各自控制着国会的一个议院，目前在花费多少上意见不一。民主党坚持认为，共和党应该遵守今年早些时候与白宫在债务上限协议中达成的上限，而众议院共和党人认为这些数字只是上限，支出水平应该更低。
斯特凡诺普洛斯问巴克，这种僵局是否表明有可能关闭。巴克对此轻描淡写。
“我认为我们需要做的是，我们需要提出一个好的、负责任的数字，能够为其提出论据，然后带着妥协的想法参加参议院谈判会议。但我们必须从我们认为可自由支配支出最低的地方开始。
然而，阿吉拉尔指责一些保守派渴望政府关闭。
“我认为，众议院共和党会议中有一种因素坚决要关闭我们的政府，走向突破债务上限或不给政府提供资金。他们中的许多人在公共领域为我们欢呼，要我们关闭政府。这对这个国家来说是可怕的，对我们的治理来说是可怕的，这表明了领导的无能，”阿吉拉尔说。
阿吉拉尔回应麦卡锡和其他人的批评，即民主党应该投票反对让麦卡锡留任的动议，他说，他的政党的任务是支持他们的领导人，而不是共和党人。
“这个人没有能力管理和领导他的会议，”他说麦卡锡。他接着批评说，如果约旦赢得了木槌，他将是“民主的危险分子”。1月6日骚乱后不久，乔丹和斯卡利斯都投票反对认证唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在2020年大选中的失败。
巴克说，他不认为这“会是一个非常大的因素”，但他认为，该党的某些成员必须超越他们的选举否认主义。
“这损害了我们与美国人民一起前进的能力和信誉，”他说。
他说，他希望下一任议长能够团结全党，在一次投票中当选，避免又一次混乱的继任。目前，共和党众议员帕特里克·麦克亨利担任临时议长，但他表示，他认为自己监督立法的权力有限。
巴克说:“我们需要团结在一位候选人的身后，并在国会的剩余时间里支持他们。”
Republicans have to quickly 'make sure we get the job done' and elect new speaker, Rep. Buck says
Two lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle on Sunday weighed in on the ongoing disarray in the House of Representatives, after a small group of Republicans last week booted Speaker Kevin McCarthy with Democrats' help, leaving the chamber leader-less andparalyzing one half of Congress.
Washington is staring down a November deadline to fund the federal government or risk a partial shutdown.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said on ABC's "This Week" that his party will have to make electing a new speaker a top priority.
Buck was one of the eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy and told "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos that their next leader should abide by wherever the conference settles on government spending; after that, Buck will back someone.
"How are you going to get agreement on that before you get agreement on a speaker? Isn't that what brought McCarthy down?" Stephanopoulos pressed. Buck said no -- that it was McCarthy's inability to deliver on his promises.
Buck also said he wanted the party's deliberations on a successor to unfold out of the public eye, "where the cameras aren't on and we don't have people trying to get attention over certain issues."
Both House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise are in the running.
Buck said he wanted to avoid the extended and very public conflict that played out in January when it took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to win the speakership amid Republican hard-liners' resistance. Stephanopoulos followed up to ask if Republicans will push for consensus before a speaker election, "That means this could play out for some time, doesn't it?"
Buck said that was still better if it was done privately: "For those folks that think we are projecting a chaotic image, it makes a lot more sense to do this behind closed doors and get it finished before we go to the floor [for a vote]."
When pressed by Stephanopoulos on the potential consequences if picking McCarthy's successor takes longer than a few days, Buck said, "We'll agree on a candidate by the end of the week, or we'll agree on a candidate over the weekend. I think we lock the doors, and we have very limited bathroom breaks and food breaks and make sure we get the job done."
"We're going to be able to have a family discussion. When we leave that family discussion, I believe we're going to be united," Buck also said.
Pete Aguilar of California, the No. 3 House Democrat, meanwhile panned Republicans over the fiasco, noting Democrats' support earlier this year for a debt ceiling increase that was negotiated to also lay out spending levels ahead of the funding debate.
"Democrats are the ones leading here. This is a Republican House Conference who has an inability to govern and to lead, but that's why we're in this moment. Our constituents didn't send us here to vacate the chair," Aguilar said in his own "This Week" appearance, referencing the procedural mechanism used to oust McCarthy. "They sent us to Washington, D.C., to work."
Lawmakers have until Nov. 17 to pass funding legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown, which would have rippling consequences for millions of employees and recipients of social services.
But Republicans and Democrats, which each hold a chamber of Congress, are currently at odds over how much to spend. Democrats insist that the GOP should abide by caps agreed to in the debt ceiling deal with the White House earlier this year, while House Republicans argue those numbers are only ceilings and that the spending levels should be lower.
Stephanopoulos asked Buck if this impasse indicated a shutdown was likely. Buck played that down.
"I think what we need to do is we need to come up with a good, responsible number, be able to make an argument for it and then go into the Senate negotiation conference with a compromise in mind. But we have to start where we believe the lowest possible number for discretionary spending is," he said.
Aguilar, however, accused some conservatives of pining for a government shutdown.
"I think there's an element within the House Republican Conference that is dead-set on shutting down our government, to walking up to breaching the debt limit or not funding government. There were many of them in the public domain who were cheering for us to shut down the government. That's just terrible for the country, it's terrible for our governance and it just shows an inability to lead," Aguilar said.
Responding to criticism from McCarthy and others that Democrats should have voted against the motion to vacate and kept McCarthy in his role, Aguilar said his party's job was to support their leaders -- not Republicans.
"This is somebody who has an inability to govern and to lead his conference," he said of McCarthy. He went on to criticize Jordan as "dangerous for democracy" if he wins the gavel. Both Jordan and Scalise voted against certifying Donald Trump's 2020 election defeat shortly after the Jan. 6 riot.
Buck said he didn't feel that was "going to be a very big factor at all," but he argued that certain elements of the party must move past their election denialism.
"That hurts our ability and credibility to move forward with the American people," he said.
He said he wants the next speaker to unite the party, be elected in one vote and avoid another messy succession. For the moment, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., is serving as interim speaker pro tempore but has said he believes his authority to shepherd legislation is limited.
"We need to unite behind one candidate and stay behind them for the rest of the Congress," Buck said.
