Rep. Kilmer on Congress: ‘I would like to see it function’

Implying that Congress needs to start from scratch, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash. 6th District) said, “I would like to see the institution function” during an interview that aired Friday on Seattle’s Morning News.

In the wake of the ouster of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Kilmer explained, “I’m an institutionalist. I am hopeful that while we’re going to see some chaos in the near term. My hope is that this drives a conversation about how to make the institution function in a smarter way.”

Kilmer said the House doesn’t have much time to get itself together, as another budget vote to keep the government open is just weeks away on Nov. 17.

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“I think, unfortunately, the potential of a shutdown is significant, as long as you have a group of House Republicans who have defined success as reneging on a deal,” Kilmer said, explaining the budget deal that went south earlier in the week.

“That wasn’t just (President) Joe Biden and (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer, this was Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, and supported by about 300 members of Congress,” Kilmer continued.

Head of the House Democratic Caucus Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said McCarthy reneged on a budget deal agreed to by both parties. Aguilar said McCarthy encouraged negotiators to set 2024 spending levels below the caps agreed upon with Biden.

He said that McCarthy defied the terms of the deal and increased the likelihood of a government shutdown later in the year.

“And so not everybody likes that compromise,” Kilmer said on Seattle’s Morning News. “There were things within it I didn’t like. But when you make a deal, that’s the deal. And so the notion that if the Republicans nominate as a speaker, someone who defined success as I am going to stand up about against this deal that we’ve already agreed to, I think that’s a recipe for more dysfunction and and certainly increases the likelihood of having a shutdown threat.”

Who might replace McCarthy as House speaker? And what are Republicans already demanding for their vote?

Kilmer said Congress must spend more time on developing bills that actually have realistic chances of becoming law, instead of symbolic ones that won’t go anywhere.

“There are House Republicans that where I may disagree with them on a whole bunch of policy issues that I think would help chart a smarter path forward for the institution that would make the institution more functional, that rather than having most of the time in the house, focused on bills that aren’t going anywhere, message bills that are designed to appease the most extreme elements of the Republican Party,” Kilmer explained.

“Maybe just maybe there are some leaders who would be willing to work in a bipartisan way to actually solve some problems for the American people,” Kilmer continued, referring to who might be the next Republican to head the House. “That’s what my constituents want. That’s what I want. And I do think that there are members of the House Republican Conference that would be capable, capable of that if they’re willing to disappoint the most extreme elements of their conference.”

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien on KIRO Newsradio, weekdays from 5-9 a.m.