December 17, 2023 - Washington, D.C. – Last week, Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor.
Mr. Speaker:
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
On his 269th day as Speaker,
- He enjoyed the overwhelming support and confidence of his Republican colleagues
- He was completing the process of adopting the most conservative appropriations bills in decades
- He had put House Republicans in a commanding position to sweep the 2024 election
- And national polls recorded that he had become the most popular elected official in America
Yet his Speakership ended that day – not because of the Republican Conference – but because of eight sad and pathetic mediocrities nursing petty personal grudges. As Shakespeare said, “This House is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died.”
But this is not the end of the tale. “History commands and we must obey.” And soon, I believe Kevin McCarthy will be called back to the national stage to play a vital and leading role in a command performance by history to save our beloved country.
Source: Congressman Tom McClintock
