众议院外交事务委员会主席迈克尔·麦克考尔周日哀叹近三周以来议事厅没有一个发言人在保守派关于如何填补关键领导角色的内讧中。
“这可能是我见过的最尴尬的事情之一，因为如果我们没有众议院议长，我们就无法治理，”来自德克萨斯州的10届共和党议员麦考尔告诉美国广播公司“本周”的联合主播乔纳森·卡尔。
众议院的危机是在国外冲突不断增加的时候发生的，乌克兰正试图击退俄罗斯的入侵在中东，以色列在那里与哈马斯作战在一次造成1400多人死亡的恐怖袭击之后。
“世界着火了。我们正在做的事情太危险了，”麦考尔谈到在选择发言人上的瘫痪时说。
“我们现在有非常重要的问题，战争与和平，我们不能处理一揽子援助计划，或我谴责哈马斯和支持以色列的决议。我们不能这么做，”他说。
“最重要的是，这令人尴尬，因为它授权和鼓励我们的对手，如主席Xi[金平]谁说，你知道，民主是行不通的，”麦克考尔说，指的是中国的领导人。
凯文·麦卡锡10月初被罢免众议院议长一职一小群共和党人和少数民主党人联手。麦卡锡的两个潜在继任者无法团结共和党人当选他的继任者。会议计划本周再次尝试。
麦克考尔在“本周”节目中说，他还没有选择支持谁，“但我希望有一位发言者主持会议，这样我们才能向前迈进。”
他表示，可能需要民主党投票，通过某种权力分享安排来解决僵局，即使他更喜欢其他方式，即使其他一些共和党人“也认为这非常危险”。
“我更希望是共和党提名并投票选出一名共和党发言人。但这不可能永远持续下去，”麦克考尔说。“我不知道下周我们是否会有一位演讲者。我不知道事情会如何发展。”
2023年10月19日，众议院外交事务委员会主席迈克尔·麦克考尔在华盛顿国会大厦接受电视采访。
亚历克斯·布兰登/美联社
在正在展开的以色列-哈马斯战争麦克考尔说，他同意国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀的意见，她也出现在了《本周》节目中。中东存在着扩大冲突的真正危险。
奥斯汀说，美国已经在该地区部署了两个航母战斗群和其他军事资产，以示威慑。
麦克考尔说，他赞赏这些举措，“因为哈马斯和(黎巴嫩激进组织)真主党只看到一件事，那就是权力。”
“如果他们发现弱点，他们就会开火。我担心真主党，乔恩，他们有10万枚火箭和精确制导武器，可以让铁穹过载，”麦考尔说，他指的是以色列用来保护自己的先进反导系统。
麦克考尔补充说，他还担心以色列预计对哈马斯控制的邻近巴勒斯坦领土加沙的地面入侵，“可能会引发真主党的升级。”
“他们是A队，”麦考尔说真主党。"这就像哈马斯，就像，小联盟棒球."
卡尔敦促麦克考尔——他一直致力于更新9/11后使用军事力量的授权，以包括新的激进组织——美国更直接地参与战斗的前景。
“我们不想看到这种情况，这就是为什么，你知道，如果我们现在提供威慑，我们就有希望避免战争，”麦克考尔说。
奥巴马表示，他大体上支持白宫上周向国会提交的1050亿美元对外援助提案，其中包括对乌克兰的约600亿美元、对以色列的140亿美元、对印度-太平洋优先项目的70亿美元以及对边境管理的140亿美元。
“我赞成将最大的威胁与自由世界联系起来的概念。...我们在看数字。房子，你知道，我们有权力的钱包，我们适当的钱，”麦克考尔说。
麦克考尔说，他认为现在放弃美国的盟友“将是非常危险的”，但他承认，他的政党中有人批评为乌克兰提供资金的范围。
“他们想要问责。他们还想规划一条通往胜利的道路和一个战略目标，我认为这是公平的，”麦克考尔说。
美国和乌克兰都表示，有护栏帮助确保钱花得其所;乌克兰表示，希望将俄罗斯驱逐出所有被占领土。
House Republicans' speaker fight is 'probably one of the most embarrassing things I've seen': McCaul
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul on Sunday bemoaned the nearly three weeks -- and counting --that the chamber has gone without a speakeramid conservative infighting over how to fill the key leadership role.
"This is probably one of the most embarrassing things I've seen, because if we don't have a speaker of the House, we can't govern," McCaul, a 10-term Republican lawmaker from Texas, told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
The crisis in the House is unfolding at a time of growing conflicts abroad -- in Europe,where Ukraine is seeking to repel Russia's invasion, and in the Middle East,where Israel is fighting Hamasin the wake of a terror attack that killed more than 1,400.
"The world's on fire. This is so dangerous what we're doing," McCaul said of the paralysis over choosing a speaker.
"We have very important issues right now, war and peace, and we cannot deal with an aid package, or my resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel. We can't do that," he said.
"Most importantly, it's embarrassing because it empowers and emboldens our adversaries like Chairman Xi [Jinping] who says, you know, democracy doesn't work," McCaul said, referring to China's leader.
Kevin McCarthywas ousted as House speaker in early Octoberby a small group of Republicans who were joined by the Democratic minority. Two potential successors to McCarthy were unable to unify Republicans to be elected as his replacement. The conference plans to try again this week.
McCaul said on "This Week" that he hadn't chosen whom to back, "but I want a speaker in the chair so we can move forward."
He suggested that Democratic votes may be needed to resolve the impasse through some kind of power-sharing arrangement, even if he would prefer otherwise and even if some other Republicans "see that as very dangerous as well."
"I'd rather it be the Republicans nominating and voting on the floor for a Republican speaker. But this can't go on forever," McCaul said. "I don't know if we're going to have a speaker next week. I don't know how this plays out."
Onthe unfolding Israel-Hamas war, McCaul said he agreed with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin,who also appeared on "This Week,"that there was a real danger of a widening conflict in the Middle East.
The U.S. has deployed two carrier strike groups and other military assets to the region in a show of deterrence, Austin said.
McCaul said he applauded those moves "because Hamas and [the Lebanese militant group] Hezbollah only see one thing, and that's power."
"If they see weakness, they will fire. And what I worry about Hezbollah, Jon, is that they have 100,000 rockets and precision-guided weapons that can overload the Iron Dome," McCaul said, referring to the advanced anti-missile system Israel uses to protect itself.
McCaul added that he is also concerned that Israel's expected ground invasion of Gaza, the neighboring Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, "could trigger an escalation by Hezbollah."
"They're the A-team," McCaul said of Hezbollah. "It's like Hamas is, like, Little League Baseball."
Karl pressed McCaul -- who has been working on updating the post-9/11 authorization for use of military force to include newer militant groups -- on the prospects of America being more directly involved in the fighting.
"We don't want to see that, and that's why, you know, if we provide deterrence now, we hopefully can avoid war," McCaul said.
The chairman said he was broadly supportive of a $105 billion foreign aid proposal that the White House sent Congress last week, which would include about $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $7 billion for Indo-Pacific priorities and $14 billion for border management.
"I'm in favor of the concept of linking the biggest threats to the free world. ... We're looking at the numbers. The House, you know, we have the power of the purse, and we appropriate the money," McCaul said.
McCaul said he believes it "would be very dangerous to abandon" U.S. allies right now, but he acknowledged that there are members of his party who criticize the scope of funding for Ukraine.
"They want accountability. They also want to plan a path to victory and a strategic objective, and I think that's fair," McCaul said.
The U.S. and Ukraine both say there are guardrails in place to help ensure the money is well spent; Ukraine has said it wants to expel Russia from all occupied territory.
