Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Republicans appeared to engage in a shouting match on the House floor.
The moment occurred as the House attempted to elect a speaker during the ninth round of voting.
“This is my ninth vote for Hakeem Jefferies,” Waters said.
She then turned around and pointed at the crowd, saying, “Matt Rosendale, get it together.”
Several Republicans shouted back at Waters, yelling, “Order!”
Waters attempted to continue speaking, but she could not be heard as the shouting was louder.
Watch the video below:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), on her ninth vote for House Speaker, gets in a shouting match with Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), who invoked her name during his speech earlier:
— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2023
“You call my name, I’ll call his name!” pic.twitter.com/vq7f27Poid
Before the shouting match, Rosendale took a moment to call Waters out while speaking on the floor.
“Last summer, we began to negotiate, a group of us in good faith, a list of changes, amendments, to the rules of this body. Not to empower ourselves, not to bring personal benefit to ourselves, but to empower you and you and you, Maxine, and you, and you, and everyone sitting in this chamber equally,” Rosendale said.
He added, “There’s no rules, I did not use anyone’s name … Excuse me, Maxine.”
Watch Rosendale’s remarks below:
Rep. Matt Rosendale gets in a bit of trouble for directly addressing Rep. Maxine Waters in his nomination of Rep. Byron Donalds for House Speaker. pic.twitter.com/tPN4vqE5y3
— Forbes (@Forbes) January 5, 2023
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is confident progress will be made Friday in his bid for speaker.
“We’re going to make progress today. We’re going to shock you,” he said ahead of the Friday morning GOP call as reported by CNN.
When asked about the structure of a deal with lawmakers, McCarthy said, “We’ll have to see. You know we have a couple members who have some family issues.”
Three sources familiar with the deal told The Washington Post several of the holdouts are close to agreeing to it and plan to vote for McCarthy.
The Post noted it is not clear when that might happen.
Additionally, the outlet pointed out tensions remain high as lawmakers on both sides expressed their frustrations.
One Republican member reportedly recalled a GOP colleague saying to them, “I wouldn’t piss on them if they are on fire,” making a reference to the holdouts against McCarthy.
