Is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in trouble?

A veteran congressman warns that a “perfect storm” within the California Republican’s own caucus could threaten his leadership.

Colorado Republican Representative Ken Buck cited McCarthy’s contradictory assurances to Republicans to secure his speakership earlier this year.

Buck spoke Sunday on MSNBC with former Biden administration White House press secretary Jen Psaki about three issues facing House Republicans.

“On the one hand, we’ve got to pass a continuing resolution,” he said of funding the federal government.

“We also have the impeachment issue,” Buck said.

“And we also have members of the House, led by my good friend, Chip Roy, who are concerned about policy issues. They want riders in the appropriations bills, amendments in the appropriations bills that guarantee some type of security on our southern border,” the Colorado congressman told Psaki.

Buck asserts that McCarthy’s pressure over the three priorities amounts to a “perfect storm” for the speaker.

“So you take those things put together, and Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, has made promises on each of those issues to different groups,” he said. “And now it is all coming due at the same time.”

Buck stated that the funding measure poses a particularly difficult problem for McCarthy.

“It is going to be very difficult to pass a continuing resolution with Republican votes — only Republican votes,” the congressman said.

However, he said, if McCarthy “reaches across the aisle and gets Democrat votes and goes with a higher number than he has promised before … that will cause him problems down the road.”

McCarthy, in order to secure his position, consented in January to House rules that permit a single member to file a resolution to vacate the speaker’s chair.

Buck predicted, despite this, that the speaker would withstand the tempest.

“I don’t see anybody else that really has risen up and is willing to take on this job,” he said.

On Sunday, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a longtime McCarthy critic, proposed collaborating with California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell to remove McCarthy from office.

“If I make a motion to remove Kevin, how [many] democrat votes can I count on?” Gaetz said in a social media post. “Asking for a friend…”

I’ve never seen a colleague make more empty threats — day in/day out than this guy. Gaetz folded like a cheap card table to make McCarthy speaker and will never — I repeat never — make a motion to remove McCarthy. I do not work with serious people. https://t.co/7CNLOpbc7g

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 8, 2023

Buck also cautioned House Republicans against pursuing a precipitous indictment of President Joe Biden, characterizing it as a distraction from pressing policy concerns.

“If we start going down these paths that really bear no fruit — we are not going to get an impeachment through the Senate,” the congressman said.

Buck asserted that congressional investigations of alleged influence trafficking by the president and son Hunter Biden haven’t borne fruit incriminating the elder Biden.

“The Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee, the Ways and Means Committee are all investigating,” he told Psaki. “They’re developing really good information about Hunter Biden.”

However, the congressman said, “There is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president.”