Rep. Derek Kilmer: ‘There has to be potential for an enlightened path forward’
Oct 18, 2023, 1:30 PM | Updated: 4:53 pm
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. 6th District. (Photo: Derek Kilmer)
(Photo: Derek Kilmer)
Even as U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, struggles to become House speaker, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., told KIRO Newsradio Wednesday that he believes there has to be “potential for an enlightened path forward.”
“I’ve spent four years chairing a committee trying to improve Congress as an institution,” Kilmer, who represents the state’s sixth district, said on Seattle’s Morning News Wednesday. “I think if you want to make Congress work better, you shouldn’t hire someone to be the speaker that former Republican Speaker John Boehner called a ‘legislative terrorist.'”
Jordan failed again Wednesday on a crucial second ballot to become House speaker, the hard-fighting ally of Donald Trump losing even more GOP colleagues who are refusing to give him the gavel.
He was opposed by 22 Republicans, two more than he lost in first round voting the day before. He could only afford to be opposed by four Republicans as he needed to win 217 out of the House’s 433 voting members in order to claim the gavel.
No further votes Wednesday were scheduled.
“We’ll keep talking to members, keep working on it,” Jordan, a founding member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said after the vote, The Associated Press reported. He vowed to stay in the race.
Next steps were highly uncertain as angry, frustrated Republicans looked at other options. A bipartisan group of lawmakers floated an extraordinary plan — to give the interim speaker pro tempore, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., more power to reopen the immobilized House and temporarily conduct routine business.
What was clear was that Jordan’s path to become House speaker was almost certainly lost. He was opposed by 22 Republicans, two more than he lost in first round voting the day before. No further votes Wednesday were scheduled.
“I have enormous concerns about Jim Jordan holding the speaker’s gavel. and it’s not surprising to me that he’s struggling,” Kilmer explained. “I think most members of Congress agree that having government shutdowns is a bad idea. Making someone the speaker who has been the architect of past government shutdowns would be a terrible, terrible mistake.”
Kilmer said that there is a bipartisan path forward, but he doesn’t think it will happen.
“You’re going to hear every Democrat (Wednesday) vote for Hakeem Jeffries,” Kilmer stated. “But we know we’re in the minority. As we know, it’s not going to be Hakeem Jeffries. Having said that, I think there is an opportunity for Republicans who want to end this chaos to have a dialogue.”
Kilmer also said that Congress shouldn’t vote a man complicit in the Jan. 6 insurrection into the speakership.
More from Kilmer: ‘I would like to see it function’ Kilmer said regarding Congress
“I don’t think you’re going to see a leopard change his spots,” Kilmer said. “…One of the things he’s proudest of is the support of the former president.”
Seattle’s Morning News co-host Dave Ross also offered the idea of making Patrick McHenry a temporary speaker.
“I think there’s increasing conversation about extending some additional authority to him,” Kilmer responded. “But I think, rationally, and you heard in the nomination speech that Pete Aguilar gave yesterday when he nominated Hakeem Jeffries, he ended by saying, you know, there is a bipartisan path forward. And it won’t involve Democrats asking for a litany of things that are unreasonable.”
Despite all the chaos, Congress is attempting to keep things running.
“The president has asked for a supplemental security appropriations bill that would not just focus on Israel, but on Ukraine. And with some funding for Taiwan as well, the capacity of Congress to engage on that requires us to have a speaker of the House,” Kilmer said.
“You’ve also seen lawmakers engaging on really two areas one, a resolution reaffirming our nation’s support for Israel in condemning terror attacks, but to a letter that has been strongly bipartisan to the leadership in Egypt, asking for them to work with our government, to create humanitarian corridors to make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting to those in Gaza, and trying to prevent any sort of suffering from from the civilian population there,” Kilmer continued.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Listen to Dave Ross on Seattle’s Morning News, weekdays from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3.
