Issa: Only Kevin -- "he's earned it"

REP. DARRELL ISSA: As an old whip counter here in the Congress, he had 31 people who voted for somebody other than him in the first round. That has dwindled down to single digits, with a couple of people saying they will never vote for him, but, at the end of the day, recognizing that, if five or six people hold out, all we’re really doing is empowering the other side, and not having a speaker, because there’s no question, over 200 members, Republican members, will stick with Kevin McCarthy again and again and again.

And that includes Steve Scalise and the rest of the leadership team. You can’t — you can’t make a decision somebody with nobody. And, quite frankly, there is no alternative to Kevin. He clearly is our choice broadly. And he’s earned it. He’s earned it over more than a decade of incredible hard work in the leadership.