Moderate Republican Congressman John Duarte believes that due to the unrest in Israel and the unsettled nature of House leadership, Kevin McCarthy should return as leader.

McCarthy was voted out as Speaker of the House last week, leaving the House of Representatives leaderless under the Republican majority. Until a new speaker is elected, Congress is limited in what it can get done. Representatives Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are the top contenders among those jockeying to replace McCarthy.

During a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends, Duarte argued that, given the urgent nature of U.S. legislation support of the conflict in Israel, McCarthy should just be voted back in with the support of a handful of Democratic members of Congress.

Over the weekend, Israel suffered a massive attack led by the terrorist group Hamas over occupied territories, leading to countless dead civilians and dozens held hostage, if not many more.

Doocy: You said that you wondered whether or not the Biden administration’s policies and the disarray in our House of Representatives, given the fact that we don’t have a speaker, could be part of the timing by Hamas.

Duarte: They could be as we learn more. It looks like this was happening before Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership. But what we do know is that there is no greater friend of Israel than Kevin McCarthy. And in terms of American government, this last year, Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House has been the adult in the room. We’ve been passing the appropriations bills. We did pass H.R. one to make sure America had its own energy supply. And Kevin McCarthy has been engaged in world affairs. We need Kevin McCarthy back in the speakership right now. We need to get that vote done this week. And on the Democrat side — I don’t know if we’ll get our crazy eight back in line or not — but on the Democrat side, when we have that vote, anyone who’s a friend of Israel needs to go have a Tea Party or vote present and let Kevin McCarthy get back in the speakership chair right now.

Doocy: Because, Congressman, there’s nothing the House can do until they elect a speaker. And I was talking to somebody on Capitol Hill yesterday and they said essentially that, you know, given this timing, it’s impossible to for the House to authorize emergency funding to Israel because you can’t run anything.

Duarte: Exactly. They’re going to run out of ordnance and we’re not going to be able to authorize the funding to to get them the weapons and the defense they need. We have one of our strongest allies in the world under attack, and we are dilly-dallying around with a leadership struggle in the House that should never have occurred. Kevin McCarthy should never have been ousted. He has, he has led through some of the most bipartisan constructive legislation that’s happened in the House for years, and he’s an excellent speaker. We need to get him back and the Democrats need to look at, you know, I don’t blame him. Party wants to tear itself apart, let him. But in this situation right now, we need the Democrats’ help. Just a few of them need to take a walk while we elect Kevin McCarthy back into the speakership.

Doocy: Well, Congressman.

Duarte: Can help Israel.

Doocy: What are the odds that you could actually pick a new speaker? It sounds like Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

Duarte: Very low. Very low. Between the demand to get Kevin back in. Jim Jordan’s a fine man. Steve Scalise is a fine man. They’re good guys. But getting the conference lined up around them and neither one of them has the experience. I mean, when you become a freshman in Congress, as I am now, the number one CODEL, the number one congressional delegation trip that Kevin McCarthy tells us we need to make is an eight day trip to Israel. Eight days is a lot of time. Kevin McCarthy has put Israel first in so much of his policy and so much of his development of the Congress itself that he stands alone in his ability to navigate this with our ally, Israel.

Doocy: Congressman, I know that Mr. McCarthy is aware and apparently grateful that there is this move by moderate Republicans like yourself. But is he actively involved behind the scenes saying, hey, let’s do this?

Duarte: No, Kevin McCarthy will always put the country first if the country needs him back and we can get him back in there. He’ll serve, I have no doubt. Kevin McCarthy stepped aside because he thought it was the best thing for the country. Kevin McCarthy will step back in if he’s got the support and believes it’s the best thing for the country. And I can’t see how he wouldn’t believe that the country needs his leadership right now as the speaker of the House.

Doocy: Well, if he could get the votes that that would be.

Duarte: We don’t need no votes. Yeah. Again, if the if a few Democrats, Israeli supporters would go have a Tea Party, we’ll get the votes.

Doocy: Right now, though, the odds are long that this could actually happen.

Duarte: I won’t. I won’t give it that. Facts are much different today than they were Tuesday of last week.

Doocy: Apparently, Mr. McCarthy is going to have a press conference today at 11:00 in the morning. Any idea what that’s about?

Duarte: I don’t. I don’t know.

Doocy All right. But as you are sitting here on this Columbus Day morning, you say there is an appetite among a majority of moderate Republicans to do this.

Duarte: There was an appetite of 210 within our conference to do this. We’ve got two of our Congress people back this week, Judge Carter from Texas and Anna Paulina Luna from Florida that were out ill last week with health issues. They’re back this week. We only need a few more votes to get in. Kevin McCarthy back in the chair as the speaker, where we can help our ally Israel and help the American people. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We don’t need a prolonged speaker fight. We can get these appropriations done. We’re heading for another shutdown if we start. This out. We just need to get back to work. And I think our conference and a few Democrats are going to sober up and do what’s right for the country at this point.

Doocy: Well, that would really be something. They vote them out, then they vote them back in. Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us on this Columbus Day.

Duarte: Good to be here. All right.

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