- Rep. Kevin McCarthy said on Saturday that he would bet his house on the chance that the GOP would secure a majority in 2022.
- “I would bet my house. My personal house. Do not tell my wife, but I will bet it,” he said.
- Democrats have a slim majority in the House. Republicans will have to turn over five seats to regain control.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy said on Saturday that he would bet his own House on the fact that Republicans would regain a majority of the House in 2022.
“We are going to get the majority back. We are five seats away,” he told a crowd at the Conservative political action conference.
“I would bet my house. My personal house. Do not tell my wife, but I will bet it,” he continued. “This is the smallest majority the Democrats have had in 100 years.”
In the 2020 election, the Democrats retained control of the House. Democrats now have a slim majority in the lower house, and Republicans only need to turn over five seats to regain control. Democrats also took back the Republican Senate, which gave President Joe Biden a Democratic stronghold in Congress.
McCarthy also said there is “no chance” that Republicans will lose in 2022.
Since the days surrounding Biden’s formal inauguration, other Republicans have also begun to doubt a possible GOP victory in 2022.
Earlier this month, for example, Senator Lindsey Graham said he would try to harness the influence of former President Donald Trump to ensure the Republican Party takes back the House and Senate in 2022.
In an interview with Politico, Graham said he plans to meet with Trump to discuss the future of the IDP and its role in it.
“I’m going to try to convince him that we can not get there without you, but you can not keep the Trump movement going without the GOP united,” Graham said.
“If we come back in 2022, it’s a confirmation of your policies,” he said of Trump. “But if we lose again in 2022, the story goes that not only have you lost the White House, but that the Republican Party is in a bad place.”
McCarthy’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
However, House President Nancy Pelosi hit back at McCarthy’s remarks in a statement to Insider:
“No one should be surprised that the minority leader is willing to bet his house,” said Robyn Patterson, deputy director of communications. “McCarthy does not have much to worry about after sacrificing his integrity and trying to cancel $ 1400 survival surveys for Americans trying to reach the ends during a deadly pandemic.”
Democrats and Republicans are once again clashing over the content of the next stimulus bill. House Democrats this weekend approved a $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief package containing $ 1,400 stimulus checks for Americans.
McCarthy, the House’s minority leader, was one of the dissenters of the bill and said on the House floor that its price is untenable.
“The Democrats’ spending bill is too expensive, too corrupt and too liberal for the country,” the California Republican said.