Pelosi Mocks McCarthy for Offering to Bet Own Home on GOP Taking Back House: 'Doesn't Have Much to Give'
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California on Saturday mocked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California for saying that he would bet his own house that Republicans will win control of the lower chamber next year.
In a Saturday CPAC panel with Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana and American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp, McCarthy said that he's so confident that Democrats will lose their majority in the House in 2022 that he would wager his own house on it.
"We're going to get the majority back. We're five seats away," he said. "I would bet my house. My personal house. Don't tell my wife, but I will bet it. This is the smallest majority the Democrats have had in 100 years."
Pelosi responded within hours of McCarthy's CPAC appearance in a statement to Newsweek.
"No one should be surprised the Minority Leader is willing to wager his home. McCarthy doesn't have much to give after sacrificing his integrity trying to cancel $1400 survival checks for Americans trying to make ends meet during a deadly pandemic," said the statement emailed by Robyn Patterson, Pelosi's deputy communications director.
Newsweek reached out to McCarthy's office for comment.
Republicans lost control of the House to Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. However, the GOP thwarted expectations in the 2020 election cycle by flipping several seats in the lower chamber when they were projected to lose more than a dozen.
McCarthy and Pelosi have traded jabs in recent weeks over President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
On Friday night, two hours before the House voted to pass the sprawling stimulus legislation, McCarthy criticized Democrats for pushing the relief bill, which he called the "Pelosi Payoff Bill."
"Congress won't actually vote on this bill until 2 a.m. Saturday," McCarthy said. "Why? Because Democrats are so embarrassed by all the non-COVID waste in this bill that they are jamming it through in the dead of night."
Earlier this month, Pelosi mocked McCarthy for being cowardly in refusing to censure GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her past support of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
"After several conversations and literally running away from reporters, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Q-CA) made clear that he is refusing to take action against conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene," said a statement issued by Pelosi's office on February 3.
"As a result, the House will continue with a vote to strip Greene of her seat on the esteemed House Committee on Education & Labor and House Committee on Budget. McCarthy's failure to lead his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene—an anti-Semite, QAnon adherent and 9/11 Truther."
