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Brianna Keilar was flummoxed when Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) insisted that the House’s lack of a leader is a “bipartisan failure.”

The House has been without a speaker for nearly two weeks after it ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the job after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate. Eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats in doing the honors. The removal was made possible by a deal McCarthy struck with Gaetz in January that allowed just one member to trigger a vote on the speaker’s ouster.

The House is set to vote Tuesday on whether to elevate Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to the position. Jordan was nominated by the Republican conference last week when Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) dropped his nomination after being derailed by about 50 Republicans who opposed him.

On Monday’s CNN News Central, Keilar asked Bucshon if he’s concerned about the global perception of the U.S. government’s ability to function, especially as war rages between Israel and Hamas.

“How much do you worry about how this inability to put up a leader in the House is making America look weak on the world stage?” she inquired.

“I don’t think it makes America look weak, but let me say this: I travel all over the world and it makes people nervous,” Bucshon replied. “I think historically, it’s gonna go

down as a bipartisan failure. We had eight people on our side, of course, that led this, but we also had every Democrat in the House vote to remove the speaker of the House.”

Keilar was taken aback by the comment:

KEILAR: Wait, you think this is going to go down as a bipartisan failure?BUCSHON: I really do. Yes. I think it’s gonna be mostly on the eight people in the House Republicans. But I do think institutional-wise, history will say that removing a House speaker with 208 minority votes was a bad idea, yes. I do believe that. But, again, let me just say, you know, this is on Republicans. We had Republicans that brought up the vote, but I do think–KEILAR: But you’re in the majority. Sir, you’re in the majority and the majority elects the speaker.BUCSHON: That’s correct.KEILAR: So, I mean, just historically, it’s up to the majority. That’s just the way it goes. It is the responsibility of the majority party. Why put that– why put that on the minority party?BUCSHON: Well, it is the responsibility to elect a speaker. That’s true but that’s not what we did. What we did is for the first time in U.S. history, is we removed the speaker. So, you know, yes, if we didn’t–KEILAR: But why not just own that? I mean,

shouldn’t– why not just own that if that’s what your party did?BUCSHON: I think we have, but I think– I’m talking about [the] history of the House of Representatives going forward. I don’t think history will write that it was a good idea to remove the House speaker regardless of who started it.

Watch above via CNN.

Tags: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Larry Bucshon