McCarthy tells McConnell to 'wait until we're in charge' to pass spending bill

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is taking a hard line on talks to try to negotiate a catch-all spending bill to keep the government running – saying Republicans will have more power next month.

'Why would you want to work on anything if we have the gavel inside Congress?' he told Fox News Monday.

'Wait till we're in charge,' McCarthy said, staking out a position that puts him at odds with Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose team has engaged in end-of-year talks with Democrats in an effort to button up spending bills.

'We would be stronger in every negotiation, so any Republican that's out there trying to work with them is wrong,' McCarthy told Fox host Laura Ingraham, who said an omnibus bill 'takes away your power for 10 months,' with a video crawl calling it an 'end of year cash grab.'   

'We're 28 days from Republicans having the gavel, we would be stronger in any negotiation. Any Republican trying to work with them is wrong,' McCarthy told her.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to put the brakes on 'omnibus' spending bill negotiations, saying 'Why would you want to work on anything if we have the gavel inside Congress?'

'Why would you want to work on anything if we [don't] have the gavel inside Congress. We have a stronger  ... wait until we're in charge.'

McCarthy has continued to slam Biden on the border, both outside the White House and on Ingraham's show.

He also repeated his call for putting a provision in the final National Defense Authorization Act ending the covid vaccine mandate for U.S. forces.

'If we win it here, we can push it everywhere else,' McCarthy said of the mandate. 

He said Republicans would have more power to end such measures once they have majority control. 

He made the comments hours before Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) announced he would challenge McCarthy on the House floor January 3, when he makes his run for speaker.

McCarthy made the appearance on Laura Ingraham's show, where she blasted the catch-all spending bills

He called in an op-ed in the Daily Caller for making 'structural change' against a Republican he called a 'creature of the establishment status quo.'

He had earlier challenged McCarthy inside the closed GOP Conference, losing by a vote of 188 to 31. 

But just a handful of Republicans could bring down McCarthy if they insisted on voting for someone else.

Without a large 'omnibus' bill, Congress will have to pass another short-term continuing resolution to keep the government running.