Gottheimer dodges on if he'd vote for McCarthy if GOP opts to oust Speaker

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, on Sunday dodged a question on whether he would vote to save Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) if his GOP conference opts to oust him.

“Well, first of all, I'm focused on protecting the country and the people in the Fifth Congressional District. That's always my goal. And shutting the government down is not a way to actually protect people and look out for our veterans and law enforcement and making sure we have what we need,” Gottheimer told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” when asked about a motion to vacate and how Gottheimer would vote if that does arise.

Gottheimer praised the bipartisan work earlier this year that avoided a debt default and said he was hopeful members of Congress, with the help of leadership, could do the same when it came to government funding.

The Problem Solvers Caucus has put forward a plan to avert a government shutdown but it remains unclear whether it will come to the floor for a vote. If McCarthy supports a bill that relies on Democrats’ votes for passage, some House GOP members have hinted that they might call for his ouster. 

“When the far right -- when they tried to burn the place down, when they threw procedural hurdles in the way and tried to stop progress for the country, we all stepped up, Democrats and Republicans, with the support of our leaderships, to make sure we averted that disaster,” he said, referring to the earlier debt-ceiling agreement. 

“So our focus is going to be getting this to the floor, Dana, making sure that we can have a bipartisan solution, stop a government shutdown, keep the lights on, so we can keep working together for the country,” Gottheimer added.

When Bash noted that the two measures are connected – a potential motion to vacate and getting a bipartisan solution to the floor of the House to avert a shutdown – Gottheimer seemed to dodge once again.

“Yes, well, any procedural hurdles get thrown in the way that the far right tries, we're going to make sure that we can get a vote done. And that means getting the support of both sides to the table. And that's all we're focused on, is keeping the lights on this week,” he said. “We have got seven days left to do it. And you're going to see us working around the clock to make sure we get that done.”