AOC suggests Democrats could save McCarthy but ‘shouldn’t do it for free’

“Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested that House Democrats could bail out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) if a motion to vacate his speakership comes before the House, but not without a price.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that a “real conversation” between Democrats and Republicans would need to take place in order to get the former’s support in keeping McCarthy as speaker.

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“I don’t think we give up votes for free,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Rank-and-file Republicans have floated the idea of ousting McCarthy if he went against their demands or collaborated with House Democrats to pass a clean continuing resolution — which he did.

The House voted 335-91 on Saturday to pass a 45-day continuing resolution that did not include Ukraine funding but did approve disaster relief aid and kept funding at fiscal year 2023 levels. The Senate passed the measure on Saturday night, sending the bill to President Joe Biden‘s desk to be signed just hours before the government would have shut down.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said on Sunday that he plans to introduce a motion to vacate this week, in which a majority is needed — ironically requiring the support of House Democrats, as Gaetz would not have the votes from the full Republican caucus to remove McCarthy.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked the New York congresswoman’s thoughts on comments made by fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Friday, in which she argued that Democrats should only support McCarthy in exchange for a 50/50 power-sharing agreement.

“I think when it comes to power-sharing, we will discuss that as a caucus and what we would finally accept or not,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But again, it’s going to — it comes at a price. You don’t just vote for a Republican speaker for nothing. That’s not what we’re elected here to do.”

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Ocasio-Cortez said she would “absolutely” vote to vacate McCarthy but that it is up to the Republican conference to “determine their leadership and deal with their own problems.”

“It’s not up to Democrats to save Republicans,” Ocasio-Cortez said.