to me now is Colorado Republican Ken
Buck who has said he is a no on the debt
limit deal Congressman thanks so much
for joining me really appreciate it
thank you so let me just ask you about
our reporting we have reported that on a
house Freedom caucus call last night you
actually floated the idea of using the
motion to vacate which would basically
force a vote to remove the speaker can
you tell us what specifically did you
say to your colleagues are you calling
for a motion to vacate no I did not what
I said was that speaker McCarthy had
promised spending limits of at the 2022
level this deal calls for spending
limits above the 2022 level and I was
asking my colleagues in the House
Freedom caucus whether they were
considering a motion to vacate as a
result of a broken promise uh Scott
Perry the chairman of the House Freedom
caucus told me it's premature let's get
through this battle and decide if we
want another battle so just to be very
clear you did raise the question is
anyone considering a motion to vacate
yes okay under what circumstances
Congressman would you take further
action
well look I think that uh this bill is a
horrible Bill we're talking about four
trillion dollars of additional debt in
in the next 20 months that's that's just
unsustainable for this country Kevin
McCarthy has the obligation now to come
forward and explain how he is going to
do better than this bill how he is going
to improve on the situation we have 12
Appropriations bills coming up in the
next three months we can get through
those Appropriations bills and recover
some of this money but he's got to make
sure that he does that and I think that
that motion to vacate he may not be
concerned about it because he has a plan
on on how to recover from this horrible
negotiation he's had with President
Biden so just to be clear between now
and next week on June 5th that date that
the treasury secretary has identified
for potential default would you take any
action toward a motion to vacate oh no I
don't think there's I don't think
anybody is talking about a motion to
vacate before this bill the the debt
ceiling bill has passed I don't I don't
believe that's uh in the cards what what
is your I heard what you said there but
speaker McCarthy says he's not worried
about it you seem to be suggesting he
should be what's your message to him
well my message is that we have to make
sure we get to those 2022 spending
limits in the Appropriations bills and
not use the the debt ceiling negotiation
as the Baseline we can do a lot better
than where we are right now I guess the
question is and we saw the this during
the votes for the speakership if not
McCarthy then who who would you if you
got to that point of frustration who
would you support instead of speaker
McCarthy have you thought through that
yeah I have I I think during the speaker
vote no one was stepping forward because
they believed Kevin was going to win
number one and number two Kevin had
earned it because he had done a lot of
the campaigning to raise the money to
get in the majority and and number three
no one wanted to put their head up and
get their head chopped off I think that
Dynamic changes drastically if there is
another motion to vacate and I'm not
saying there will be but if there is
another motion to vacate or if there's a
motion to vacate
um I I think that people will be bold
and they will make statements about how
we need to reduce spending in the
federal government and I think the
person that does does that is likely
going to be the next speaker do you have
a name in your head
I have a lot of names in my head
against the top name who's in who's the
best name in your head the top name
that's not going to do it is Ken Buck
other than that I don't know who is
going to step forward and do that and
just give us a sense before I ask you
about the
deal
spots from your fellow freedom
free members broadly
sense that if these Appropriations bills
don't go in the direction that you
support that there would be a
Groundswell of support for a motion to
vacate I I don't have a sense that I
just got off a plane just got into town
so I don't have a sense of what other
people are talking about I can tell you
that I think from the freedom caucus the
vote for the debt ceiling bill will
probably be 80 against 20 in favor 80 20
percent
80 percent
opposed to the deal that Kevin McCarthy
and Joe Biden cut so do you think this
bill can pass
oh I think it will pass with Democrat
votes Democrats have four trillion
reasons to vote for this bill so you Don
oh no no the Nations and and the June
5th date is just a made-up date anyway
it is not the nation will not default
well the treasury secretary says it's a
very serious State and that it there
could be an economic disaster if this
deal is not reached by June 5th you
reject that analysis by the treasury
secretary the treasury secretary said we
wouldn't have inflation that lasted more
than a few months I reject the analysis
by the treasury secretary would you be
willing to see the country default if to
vote no on this deal
no that's not a that's not an option uh
I will vote no this bill will pass and
the country will not default
Embers to kill the bill we do not okay I
do not believe that no okay I guess big
picture here this is a divided Congress
Congressman you you know that is it
realistic to think that a bill can pass
with only Republican support
no I think this bill will pass with with
bipartisan support um
in order to get this done
sure but you can't compromise the the
the uh status the financial state of of
America you can't we're moving to 35
trillion dollars of debt under this bill
uh it is a terrible deal we can't
compromise in that way well but
Congressman just to go back very quickly
President Biden said he wasn't going to
negotiate at all speaker McCarthy got
him to the negotiating table over the
budget some people are looking at this
and saying why not take the win why add
more uncertainty and churn in this
moment when the nation's credit rating
is at stake you know for anybody to
suggest that this bill is a win is pure
Folly this bill is not a win the
American public understands that 35
trillion dollars of debt is not
sustainable and so to call this a win
because uh you know Republicans got a
couple of billion here a couple billion
there it's just nonsense we can't keep
adding a trillion two trillion dollars
to our national every year without
defaulting a serious default a default
that we can't come back from all right
Congressman Ken Buck we are out of time
but I really appreciate your joining us
this hour thank you so much thank you
Chuck is back tomorrow with more Meet
the Press Now NBC News Now coverage
continues with