Speeches

The ancient Greeks would have appreciated the irony of this story. Kevin McCarthy spent his life preparing for the job that he held for just 269 days. For decades, he devoted all of his energies and skills to build one of the most formidable political organizations of our time that ultimately took back the House. In those 269 days as Speaker, despite the most slender of majorities and with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House: He cut $2 trillion of spending over the next decade. He forestalled the hiring of an army of IRS agents. He curtailed the woke policies plaguing our armed forces. He averted a government shutdown in a dangerous world. He reopened the Capitol to the American people. He launched historic investigations into government corruption. And he produced the strongest border security measure in a century and landmark legislation to restore American energy independence.

Mr. Speaker: Short of declaring war, impeachment is the most serious act Congress can take. It must be confined to the narrow grounds established by the Constitution and never used to settle political differences. But the Democrats would have us turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of a family influence peddling scheme that implicates the President. This we cannot do. We owe it to the country to get to the bottom of these allegations and that requires the House to objectively invoke its full investigatory powers, respect the due process rights of those involved, and lay ALL the facts before the American people. Last session, Democrats made a mockery of impeachment and we cannot allow them to become our teachers. Shrill voices should be kept far from this inquiry lest they undermine its legitimacy and credibility. Congress has an obligation to approach serious accusations seriously. With this vote, we do so.

Mr. Speaker: When the Presidents of MIT, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania were invited to denounce open race-hatred on their campuses, they wrapped themselves in the mantle of free speech. People have a right to say what they think as long as it doesn’t become threatening conduct, they said, and on this narrow point they’re right. But that doesn’t explain why antisemitism is rampant on their campuses. It is not a tolerance for outrageous speech that is the problem – it is a complete intolerance of patriotic speech. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the two most intolerant and oppressive universities in the country are Harvard and UPenn. MIT ranks 136th out of 254 universities surveyed. How is it possible that such depraved and discredited philosophies as Marxism, totalitarianism, racism, Islamic-fascism and antisemitism now flourish on these college campuses? Because for years, the antidote to these social pathologies – the American founding principles of freedom, democracy, tolerance, and justice that have always kept them in check -- have been systematically suppressed and removed from campus discussions.

Mr. Speaker: The attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th was an unprovoked act of barbarity and butchery that targeted innocent civilians and broke every rule of war dating back to medieval times. The sinister nature of the attack and the genocidal character of the government behind it should shock the conscience of every man and woman of good will on this planet. As the Nazis were systematically murdering six million Jews, the civilized nations of the world took up arms in defense of the defenseless, annihilated the scourge of Hitler and Hitlerism and vowed to NEVER allow such crimes to be permitted again. To assure this objective, these united nations restored the Jewish state to the Jewish homeland, whose roots in Israel trace back to the dawn of human history. NEVER AGAIN. Israel exists today to maintain and uphold that sacred vow of mankind. NEVER AGAIN. The generation that survived those times KNEW how vital that declaration is and how essential the existence of Israel is to fulfill it. And yet, the genocidal hatred that produced the Holocaust was never completely extinguished.

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered remarks on the House floor in opposition of a motion to vacate the chair. Mr. Speaker: If there was ever a time for sobriety, wisdom and caution in this House, it is right now. If this motion carries, the House will be paralyzed. We can expect week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be conducted. The Democrats will revel in Republican dysfunction and the public will rightly be repulsed. It will end when the Democrats are able to enlist a rump caucus of Republicans to join a coalition to end the impasse. This House will shift dramatically to the left and will effectively end the Republican House majority that the voters elected in 2022.

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered remarks on the House floor in opposition of a motion to vacate the chair. Mr. Speaker: Benjamin Franklin described the limitations of any deliberative body in his closing speech to the Constitutional Convention. He said, “when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?” We have certainly approached these limits in our deliberations in recent days and I want to pause for a moment and assess where we are and where we are going.

Congressman McClintock delivered the following remarks during a press conference discussing the House Budget Blueprint: Just as you cannot drink yourself sober, you cannot spend yourself rich. You cannot borrow your way out of debt. And you cannot tax your way to prosperity. And yet, those are the three principles upon which Bidenomics is founded. No nation in the world has ever spent, borrowed and taxed its way to economic health. But many, many nations have spent, borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin, bankruptcy and collapse. Before any nation can ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare – it must be able to pay for them, and our nation’s ability to do so is coming into grave doubt. I believe this budget is a good faith effort to apply the principles of fiscal responsibility to federal spending before we are faced with a crisis that we can no longer pay for.

Yesterday, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee that the open Southern border poses a huge security risk to our nation – his words – and that they have tracked a significant increase in crime, criminal cartel activity and gang-related cartels because of this crisis.