Congressman great to have you back on
BBC News you've been critical of the
former speaker's decision to work with
Democrats to get a stop Gap funding bill
passed this weekend but can you tell us
a bit more about what went into your
decision to vote to ask Kevin
McCarthy sure the the major problem
we've had is that we have to pass 12
Appropriations bills and we have uh up
until last week we had passed one
Appropriations Bill we passed three last
week the promise from the speaker when
he became speaker was that we would pass
12 by September 30th negotiate with the
Senate and have a package ready for the
president that didn't happen and I think
a lot of people were frustrated over
that eight people uh stood up and and
voted against speaker McCarthy I think
there were others that had similar
feelings uh that didn't feel they needed
to do it because the vote was uh already
216 to
210 so you were one of those eight and
we just played a clip from Kevin
McCarthy he was speaking a short while
ago and he said the eight who voted
against him are not conservatives that
they have enabled Dem Democrats to seize
the opportunity to regain power in the
house what's your reaction to that
Congressman I I will put my conservative
record of of voting up against anybody
particularly uh someone from California
like speaker McCarthy or some of the
other critics who have criticized me um
from New York um I I believe that we are
spending too much money in this country
I believe it's an existential threat to
this country and I believe that we need
to uh at this point in time uh make sure
that we are doing the right thing and
spending responsibly and that's why I
voted the way I did this leaves the
house paralyzed at the moment the
temporary speaker has proposed next
Tuesday for Republicans to come together
in conference and decide on a candidate
do you think that is fast
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enough well uh these two weeks we were
supposed to be back in our districts uh
working had the Appropriations bills
come to the house um in an orderly
fashion in June and July uh we would
have been in our districts meeting with
our constituents
explaining what's going on in DC and
listening to their concerns so the fact
that we are not in uh working on
Appropriations bills this week or early
next week is nothing new it was planned
that way um I don't think we are
paralyzed I think we are going through
an orderly process that will result in a
better spending plan for the United
States but Congressman funding for the
government will run out again in a
month's time so is there enough time to
come to an
agreement as going yeah in 42 days time
the the money will run out again we will
have another uh continuing resolution
for a period of time until we can meet
with the Senate conference with the
Senate decide on what to do with these
12 bills and send them to the
president Congressman it took 15 rounds
to elect a speaker last time around do
you think it's going to take that long
this
time I don't I think that uh over the
weekend we will have a lot of
conversations among ourselves I think
that we will have a candidate and I I
believe that the the party will get
behind that candidate Steve Steve SLE is
the next candidate up uh we'll see if
he's interested in it he's had some
health issues but uh I I think he may be
interested in it and I think a lot of
people will come together and support
Steve scal do you think Steve scales
would have the votes needed to be
speaker I I don't know at this point in
time because the conversations really
haven't occurred and we don't know who
else is interested but but is certainly
one of the people that could get the
votes to be speaker uh Congressman we
spoke to one of your colleagues
Congressman Don Bacon a little bit
earlier I want to play you a clip of
what he said it's really a vote for
chaos we have so many important issues
that we have to site on right now
Appropriations bills the farm bill the
defense Bill we have a broken border
right now and all this is going to go on
hold uh I think it weakens America and I
think it's a good day if you're a
Russian government guy or a Chinese
communist
uh you're probably they're probably
smiling and giving high fives to Matt
Gates Congressman what's your reaction
to
that I think there's a lot of
frustration in our conference at this
point a lot of frustration that's
building been building up for the last
N9 months I understand the frustration
when someone loses a vote I don't think
it's appropriate to suggest that the
Chinese Communists and Matt Gates have
anything in common uh what Matt Gates
did was bring a very important issue to
the floor uh the speaker did have the
support and uh we will move forward and
we will move forward in a way uh in my
opinion that will make this country
stronger and those that believe in
Freedom around the world stronger there
are Republicans who are unhappy with the
deal that Kevin McCarthy cut with
Democrats this past weekend to C uh keep
the government open but there is still a
Democratic controll Senate and white
house so can the next speaker do
anything different to keep that
job 90 Republicans voted against that
bill this weekend it wasn't just a few
Republicans uh who were upset with that
and yes I believe the next speaker can
pass these Appropriations bills
negotiate with the Senate and deliver
something to the White House that will
be signed and will be stronger than
where we are right
now Congressman would you uh throw your
hat in the ring to be
speaker no I will not I I I would not
even vote for myself for speaker so I I
doubt uh I would get any votes if my
name was put in um I do believe that
there are a number of good people uh
people who are popular people who have
worked very hard uh around the country
uh have met uh the the congressmen in
their districts U those folks will run
for speaker and I'm I'm sure that we
will have a very qualified speaker in
the near
future and final question Congressman
are you confident that next Tuesday that
you will be able to together with your
colleagues come together on one
candidate who will get enough votes to
become
speaker
I don't know that it'll be next Tuesday
but I I am confident that by the end of
Wednesday we will have a speaker and we
will start working on Appropriations
bills
yes Congressman Ken Buck thank you so
much for joining us this evening on BBC
news thank you