GOP Rep. Tim Burchett accuses ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the back

Tensions among Republicans flared Tuesday following a run-in between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and one of the eight members of his own party who voted last month to oust him.

McCarthy bumped into Representative Tim Burchett, a hard-liner from Tennessee, as Republicans left a meeting. It was unclear if the collision, which occurred in a narrow hallway in the US Capitol’s basement, was accidental. But the exchange quickly turned heated as McCarthy walked away.

Burchett yelled to McCarthy, asking why he elbowed him in the back and questioning whether he had any “guts.”

Burchett told reporters later the shove was a “clean shot to the kidney” and “absolutely” on purpose. It’s because “I was one of the eight,” Burchett said. “He’s just a bully.”

McCarthy told the conservative Washington Examiner following the incident that he innocently bumped Burchett.

The dust-up illustrated the boiling frustration among House Republicans after a tumultuous few months, capped off by 10 consecutive weeks in session. The infighting has hampered the GOP’s ability to perform basic functions in the House, such as passing annual spending bills.

In a separate incident Tuesday, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned on the social media site X whether another Republican, California’s Darrell Issa, had male anatomy after Issa helped defeat her effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Across the Capitol, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin came close to a physical altercation with Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, during a hearing.

“This place is a pressure cooker,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the need to pass a stopgap government funding bill and send lawmakers home for Thanksgiving to “cool off.”

The House plans to vote later Tuesday on Johnson’s temporary funding plan under an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for approval — meaning Johnson will need Democrats to pass the measure.

Burchett and other ultra-conservatives oppose the plan. Burchett has blamed the intra-party warfare on McCarthy’s prior leadership of the conference.

Johnson’s proposal lacks spending cuts or changes to immigration law desired by the most conservative House Republicans. It also leaves out aid to Israel and Ukraine demanded by many Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate.

Greene told reporters Monday evening the plan, which would punt the deadline for funding negotiations to early next year, is a failure. She also said it does not make sense to accept a temporary spending bill after McCarthy was removed from the speakership for passing what she considered to be a similar stopgap.

“If you’re going to oust a speaker of the House from your conference, the red line should remain the same for the next speaker,” she said. “What’s the point in throwing out one speaker if nothing changes?”