Nancy Mace defends Mike Johnson’s deal with Democrats, saying it’s different than McCarthy’s

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) defended House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) deal with Democrats on spending, arguing that it was different from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA).

In an interview with Neil Cavuto that aired on Fox News’s Your World, Mace argued that Johnson’s deal with Democrats was different because he had little choice after being dealt a bad hand and would do a better job next year. She blamed the problems entirely on McCarthy.

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“Kevin McCarthy had all the choices in the world,” Mace told Cavuto. “He promised to cut spending, he promised the appropriations bills to avoid a continuing resolution — this is all Kevin McCarthy’s problem, created by him for this country. Mike Johnson is playing the hand that he was dealt, and I believe that next year he will do a much better job than the former speaker.”

Mariam Zuhaib/AP

On Tuesday, the House passed Johnson’s two-step continuing resolution to keep the government funded in a 336-95 vote. The resolution contained no spending cuts or conservative policy riders attached to it, much to the ire of some conservative members. Mace, one of the eight Republicans who voted to unseat McCarthy, has opted to give the new speaker the benefit of the doubt.

She was joined in her sympathy by fellow South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who said that the situation “is not the same situation as his predecessor.”

“I realize Speaker Johnson has an incredibly difficult job and deserves some runway and grace,” he said in a statement.

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Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) took an opposing view, venting his frustrations on the House floor on Wednesday.

“I’m sick and tired of it,” Roy said. “I didn’t come here for second place. I didn’t come here for more excuses. I didn’t come here to have the speaker of the House assume that position and in 17 days passing a continuing resolution of the floor of this House through suspension of the rules.”