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House Speaker UPDATE · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Well, the sixth time was not a charm for Kevin McCarthy.
0:05
Speaker 1: They have now decided to wait till seven Central, eight
0:09
Speaker 1: Eastern to get back at this, trying to figure out
0:13
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do now. David Jolly said on MSNBC
0:17
Speaker 1: there's just not a pathway now for Kevin McCarthy. It's
0:19
Speaker 1: time for him to withdraw se n Jake Tapper says, quote,
0:23
Speaker 1: democracy is messy, and he actually is defending the Republicans
0:28
Speaker 1: who refused to vote for Kevin McCarthy, which may be
0:32
Speaker 1: the most interesting and shocking moment of the day on CNN.
0:36
Speaker 1: Let me just turn and just say, like I know
0:38
Speaker 1: the viewers out there, this probably seems like chaotic and insane,
0:41
Speaker 1: but hey, this is democracy. I mean, we can't pretend
0:45
Speaker 1: that this is I mean, I think Congressman Gallagher was
0:48
Speaker 1: right earlier today he said this is messy, and democracy
0:51
Speaker 1: is messy. It's a feature, not a bug. That's true.
0:54
Speaker 1: These people are exercising they're right to do that, and
0:57
Speaker 1: a lot of them, I don't know all of them,
0:59
Speaker 1: but a lot of the why rebels are voting the
1:01
Speaker 1: way they're voting because they actually want substantive changes to
1:04
Speaker 1: the rules. I think that is really an open question.
1:07
Speaker 1: I was literally now, I'm not gonna let you hear
1:11
Speaker 1: their fodder. But it was an interesting moment there from
1:14
Speaker 1: Jake Tapper asking this question, joining me as a guest
1:17
Speaker 1: of mine. You heard her yesterday and we're going to
1:20
Speaker 1: talk to her again today. Senior congressional reporter Washington Times
1:23
Speaker 1: Kerry Picketts with McCarry. You heard you heard that moment
1:27
Speaker 1: there from Jake Tapper, who we actually said, look house
1:31
Speaker 1: to Republicans refused to vote for Kevin McCarthy a speaker.
1:35
Speaker 1: Are doing this because they want real changes to the rules.
1:40
Speaker 1: We've now gone through six votes, they've adjourned again. Where
1:45
Speaker 1: are we and what are they doing behind closed doors
1:47
Speaker 1: right now? Okay, Well, it appears that I spoke with
1:53
Speaker 1: Chip Roy earlier today and he's one of the negotiators
2:00
Speaker 1: for the for the never Kevin's as they are as
2:04
Speaker 1: they are being called, uh, and you know he says that, uh,
2:09
Speaker 1: negotiations are moving in a positive direction. But look, I
2:14
Speaker 1: want to be very clear about this. There isn't so
2:17
Speaker 1: much the never Kevin's and the always Kevin's. Uh what
2:21
Speaker 1: you have here? Uh like sort of like the twenty
2:25
Speaker 1: or so, never Kevin's. Then you have the always Kevin's Okay,
2:29
Speaker 1: no one will say, you know, we're supporting Kevin to
2:32
Speaker 1: no matter what. And then you have the vast majority
2:37
Speaker 1: of the Republican Conference, which is basically, we don't really
2:43
Speaker 1: care so much as we'll support the person who really
2:46
Speaker 1: has the majority of the votes. We'll go that way.
2:50
Speaker 1: Just pick somebody, damn it. Okay, yeah, I mean no,
2:54
Speaker 1: it's as right. I mean, I've talked to members of
2:56
Speaker 1: Congress who are at this point like this is just ridiculous,
3:00
Speaker 1: hurry up and do it. Yeah, exactly. It's not so
3:03
Speaker 1: much that they're just like, oh yeah, we're like all
3:05
Speaker 1: about Kevin McCarthy, all right. Yeah, it's it's just that
3:09
Speaker 1: they're going to look, if it seems like, you know,
3:12
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy is like the guy that everyone seems to
3:15
Speaker 1: be sort of going with, then like that, you know,
3:19
Speaker 1: that huge faction is gonna go with Kevin McCarthy. But
3:21
Speaker 1: if it seems like the vibe is going towards somebody else,
3:25
Speaker 1: then that huge faction is gonna go towards, you know,
3:27
Speaker 1: towards like somebody else, you know. But they're not so
3:32
Speaker 1: much they're like die hards towards any one person. Uh.
3:36
Speaker 1: They are the ones who are just like, look, we
3:38
Speaker 1: just want to we just want to move on. And look,
3:42
Speaker 1: I'm sure like the you know, twenty or so anti
3:46
Speaker 1: Kevin's and then twenty or so uh pro Kevin diehards
3:50
Speaker 1: also want to move on, you know, badly as well.
3:53
Speaker 1: But you know they're the ones who are really like
3:57
Speaker 1: the most vocal about their position students right now. So
4:01
Speaker 1: those are sort of like the three factions right now
4:03
Speaker 1: that that are really uh you know out there. When
4:07
Speaker 1: you when you mentioned earlier by the way you spoke
4:10
Speaker 1: with Chip Rory Roy, he seems to be a guy
4:13
Speaker 1: that is trying to somehow get the rules changes and
4:17
Speaker 1: then go to the never Kevin say all right, look
4:20
Speaker 1: we got a lot more than any of us could
4:22
Speaker 1: have imagined, and let's get this done. He does seem
4:27
Speaker 1: to be I guess you'd say the most level headed.
4:30
Speaker 1: Then you look at people like Matt Gates and Bobert,
4:32
Speaker 1: they're pretty much like, the hell with you, He's not
4:35
Speaker 1: getting it. We'll stay here as long as it takes
4:37
Speaker 1: to prove that point. Has there been in the movement
4:40
Speaker 1: behind closed Doors on how to deal with that. As
4:44
Speaker 1: of now, it doesn't seem like it. The big problem
4:47
Speaker 1: is that no one really seems to know what the
4:50
Speaker 1: demands are of the never Kevins, because honestly, ben of
4:56
Speaker 1: the of the twenty never Kevins, it's like all of
5:00
Speaker 1: them have kind of different demands. So for example, uh,
5:04
Speaker 1: Matt Gates, you know, at first, as we talked about
5:08
Speaker 1: very recently, Uh, it was more of a personal problems
5:12
Speaker 1: that that like he had with Kevin McCarthy. Okay, fine,
5:16
Speaker 1: Now uh, apparently he is asking for a sub subcommittee
5:22
Speaker 1: chairmanship uh on on on one of the committees. Uh.
5:27
Speaker 1: And so there's some horse trading that he started putting forward. Uh,
5:31
Speaker 1: and that is kind of being thrown out there. And
5:35
Speaker 1: then there's also um other things where you have someone
5:38
Speaker 1: like Ralph Norman who's saying, well, my problem, as we
5:41
Speaker 1: discussed uh, you know very previously, has to do with spending. Okay, well,
5:47
Speaker 1: there's like another demand there. Then there's issues about uh, well,
5:51
Speaker 1: we don't want leadership to be getting into any of
5:54
Speaker 1: our primaries. Okay, there's another issue. Then there's issues about earmarks.
5:59
Speaker 1: Uh don't we want to ban earmarks? Because you had
6:03
Speaker 1: the Democratic majority last time around who brought earmarks back.
6:07
Speaker 1: So it's a whole morgeseport of like different demands from
6:11
Speaker 1: twenty different people who you know, many of them just
6:14
Speaker 1: got to Capitol Hill about two minutes ago. And you
6:18
Speaker 1: know what, if you had a grievance with Kevin McCarthy,
6:21
Speaker 1: you know, years ago and so on so forth, all right,
6:26
Speaker 1: maybe I can get it. But if you just got
6:29
Speaker 1: here and don't even know where the bathroom is, some
6:32
Speaker 1: people are sort of wondering what exactly your agenda? Maybe,
6:35
Speaker 1: and it may just be to raise your personal persona
6:38
Speaker 1: and the number of people that follow you on Twitter
6:41
Speaker 1: and people now believe that, you know, having your name
6:44
Speaker 1: be known by people gives you political capital in DC.
6:48
Speaker 1: Not actually the truth, but you know, hey, it's popularity contests.
6:52
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Lauren Boebert real quick. She
6:54
Speaker 1: nominated representative Byron Donald's Republican Florida for the House Speaker,
6:59
Speaker 1: called on former President Trump to nudge Kevin McCarthy out
7:03
Speaker 1: of the race, saying you do not have the votes
7:05
Speaker 1: and it's time to withdrawal, saying it from the four
7:08
Speaker 1: of the House. Donald Trump has made it clear today,
7:11
Speaker 1: get this thing done. He's backing Kevin McCarthy, saying move
7:15
Speaker 1: on and enjoy the moment and celebrate, sending Nancy Pelosi
7:19
Speaker 1: back home. This is a weird situation that Trump has
7:26
Speaker 1: kind of gotten himself into because here you have the
7:31
Speaker 1: faction that relies on Donald Trump's support, but at the
7:36
Speaker 1: same time they're not being slayed by mister Trump's, uh,
7:41
Speaker 1: you know, call to support Kevin McCarthy. There, I mean,
7:45
Speaker 1: I I spoke a ship royd Adame. He's like, what
7:47
Speaker 1: Donald Trump made a statement like that's news? Like who cares?
7:53
Speaker 1: You had a Lauren Bobert who said something you know
7:57
Speaker 1: who like said for as you just said, for to
8:01
Speaker 1: persuade Kevin McCarthy to get out of the race. Uh,
8:05
Speaker 1: none of them are being swayed by mister Trump's call
8:08
Speaker 1: to do this. So, uh it looks like this may
8:11
Speaker 1: be a big, big problem for him, not just now,
8:13
Speaker 1: but maybe in twenty four. What point does this going
8:17
Speaker 1: back to Kevin McCarthy, does he give up or say
8:21
Speaker 1: screw it, and or does he have that perspective of look,
8:25
Speaker 1: I'm still in the driver's seat. There is no one
8:28
Speaker 1: else that is as close as I am. We'll just
8:31
Speaker 1: keep going and eventually maybe of the twenty fifteen, what
8:37
Speaker 1: does he need fifteen of him to come back to him?
8:39
Speaker 1: Or fourteen or sixteen? Um, he he would need at
8:45
Speaker 1: least uh, you know, a good fifteen at least, you know,
8:50
Speaker 1: to to uh you know, or maybe seventeen at least,
8:53
Speaker 1: you know, Like, I mean, how many can only how
8:55
Speaker 1: many can you lose? Can you lose? Is I've seen
9:00
Speaker 1: say four or five? He can only lose. He can
9:03
Speaker 1: only lose four. So is there a way that Kevin
9:06
Speaker 1: McCarthy can get of these twenty sixteen of them back? Uh?
9:13
Speaker 1: That's you know, that's a high bar for him. That's
9:16
Speaker 1: a very very high bar. And uh that's why anytime, look,
9:22
Speaker 1: don't bother uh really talking to those uh you know,
9:27
Speaker 1: never Kevin's or always Kevin's to really change their minds
9:32
Speaker 1: on anything. The ones who are sort of like if
9:35
Speaker 1: people are kind of talking to right now, are the
9:39
Speaker 1: who cares it's a you know, we just want somebody, okay,
9:45
Speaker 1: And those are the ones that people are talking to.
9:47
Speaker 1: They're the ones who may have to go up to McCarthy.
9:51
Speaker 1: And this is only if this is only if uh,
9:56
Speaker 1: you know, McCarthy is uh and having to be persuaded
10:00
Speaker 1: to step aside, or they would have to go up
10:05
Speaker 1: to McCarthy. And these the ones who have been consistently
10:06
Speaker 1: voting for McCarthy, They say, look, we've been voting for
10:10
Speaker 1: you round after round after round. Now I'm getting you know,
10:14
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to go somebody in like some other
10:16
Speaker 1: direction if you can't close the deal? Dude, what was
10:20
Speaker 1: the hope of this adjournment? Till eight o'clock eastern, seven Central?
10:24
Speaker 1: And my guests, I mean you need to follow on Twitter.
10:27
Speaker 1: Carry Pickett, Senior Congression reporter for Washington Times, M Carrie,
10:31
Speaker 1: I mean the hope was what? Because it didn't help
10:34
Speaker 1: him adjourney yesterday overnight? I mean it part of me says,
10:37
Speaker 1: just wait him out and if you just go fifty
10:40
Speaker 1: rounds with him, at some point, would somebody to say
10:42
Speaker 1: screw it, will vote for you, be done with it? Uh?
10:46
Speaker 1: You know what, the it's the same thing. It's the same.
10:50
Speaker 1: It's basically trying to hammer around a deal, all right,
10:53
Speaker 1: and like, but is it one? But here's my question.
10:56
Speaker 1: Is it one deal or is it fifteen different deals?
11:02
Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned the uh, the number fifteen because
11:07
Speaker 1: some people will mentioned sixteen rounds, so you know, we
11:13
Speaker 1: could go up to fifteen rounds or sixteen rounds. But
11:17
Speaker 1: the thing that could really start to get some members,
11:22
Speaker 1: some lawmakers to really start to think about whether or
11:26
Speaker 1: not they should be supporting or not supporting Kevin McCarthy.
11:29
Speaker 1: Are the district offices all right? I want everyone to
11:31
Speaker 1: think about that, because, first off, how are people going
11:36
Speaker 1: to maybe let's say that they need they need to
11:39
Speaker 1: go overseas for for whatever reason, to visit family, for
11:42
Speaker 1: an emergency, for work, and uh and they need a
11:47
Speaker 1: last minute passport. Oh sorry, you can't get it from
11:50
Speaker 1: your from your congressman's office because you don't have a congressman.
11:53
Speaker 1: As far as on the House side is concerned, what
11:56
Speaker 1: if you need your congressman for whatever district service? Your
12:00
Speaker 1: district office is closed for any type of service. If
12:05
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm asking you this question, but right now,
12:07
Speaker 1: if I call a congressman's office who is quote newly elected,
12:12
Speaker 1: is anyone at local office? Is anyone going to answer that?
12:14
Speaker 1: Or is that staff not allowed to go in there
12:16
Speaker 1: until this is official? I would imagine that there's at
12:23
Speaker 1: least one staffer. But as far as doing services, constituent services.
12:28
Speaker 1: They're not up and running, is what you're basically telling me. Yeah,
12:32
Speaker 1: that's that's going to be very very hard to get
12:34
Speaker 1: constituent services from a House member. All right, arrogance factor,
12:39
Speaker 1: and I'm going to take a very quick break and
12:40
Speaker 1: come back, my guest. Let me carry Pickett Senior Congression
12:42
Speaker 1: report at Washingtimes there was an X factor question of
12:46
Speaker 1: he already moved in the Speaker's office and that was
12:48
Speaker 1: a really stupid move. Did that actually happen? There are
12:52
Speaker 1: some people that said they were angry over the arrogance
12:55
Speaker 1: to Kevin McCarthy because he got the boxes shipped over
12:57
Speaker 1: and was moving into the speaker's office or false. Uh, yeah,
13:02
Speaker 1: that's that's a true you had he he had a
13:07
Speaker 1: number of his belongings from his minority leader's office put
13:12
Speaker 1: over to the Speaker's office. Uh, sort of assuming that
13:16
Speaker 1: he would end up winning right away. But in this
13:21
Speaker 1: but in the same light, sometimes it's uh, it's also
13:24
Speaker 1: a strategy to say, hey, look I got the votes,
13:27
Speaker 1: because if he didn't do that, that could have that
13:30
Speaker 1: could have also indicated that he wasn't right exactly. So
13:36
Speaker 1: it was sort of like a double edged sword. Uh,
13:38
Speaker 1: you know where is he meeting? Now? Where where is
13:41
Speaker 1: like the meetings? He's not meeting in the Speaker's office,
13:44
Speaker 1: I'm assuming so is he meeting in his old office? Still?
13:47
Speaker 1: How is that? No? No, no, no, no, there is
13:49
Speaker 1: an office um right off the floor, um like right
13:54
Speaker 1: off the house floor. Uh that sometimes uh, like the
13:58
Speaker 1: leaders meet, uh and they can kind of had their
14:01
Speaker 1: little huddles. So that's where he is meeting with Gooke members.
14:07
Speaker 1: So it's not exactly ideal, but it's a place for
14:11
Speaker 1: him to talk with other lawmakers. All right, let me
14:15
Speaker 1: ask you another question the news strategy and last night
14:19
Speaker 1: people were talking about free pizza. Were they meeting directly
14:23
Speaker 1: with these twenty holdouts or were they meeting with intermediarias
14:27
Speaker 1: who were then meeting with the other twenty? Were they
14:30
Speaker 1: meeting in groups individually? What's how's this work? The strategy?
14:33
Speaker 1: How's that working? Because it failed last night, I'd assume
14:35
Speaker 1: they try to change the strategy now. Well, here was
14:38
Speaker 1: a weird thing was that when I was doing some
14:41
Speaker 1: of the steak out last night, I noticed that he
14:44
Speaker 1: was mainly talking to lawmakers who were on his side
14:51
Speaker 1: as far as seeing any of the never Kevins. I
14:55
Speaker 1: didn't see any of them walking in theirs. But for
14:58
Speaker 1: all we know, he made been talking to them through
15:01
Speaker 1: conference you know, like a conference call, so that that
15:07
Speaker 1: made have been going on. But as far as uh,
15:12
Speaker 1: you know, negotiations were concerned, as we saw today, whatever
15:18
Speaker 1: was being talked about just didn't worked out. So you know,
15:23
Speaker 1: I think the main problem once again is just not
15:27
Speaker 1: knowing what his opponents want from him. Well, and that's
15:32
Speaker 1: and that's where it's at some point, I do think
15:35
Speaker 1: the American people and this is a point made earlier
15:37
Speaker 1: today on Fox and I don't remember you said it,
15:39
Speaker 1: but it made It was an interesting point, and that's
15:41
Speaker 1: why I want to bring it up again. There was
15:43
Speaker 1: there was a certain point today where somebody said, if
15:47
Speaker 1: you don't know what the demands of the other person are,
15:49
Speaker 1: then it's impossible to negotiate with them. If he walked
15:52
Speaker 1: in and said, all right, every one of you tell
15:55
Speaker 1: me what you want, I'm going to give it to you.
15:57
Speaker 1: Can he even facilitate that this moment or is it?
16:02
Speaker 1: For some of these twenty it's you, Kevin, and you
16:05
Speaker 1: can't fix that. You see, That's just it because a
16:11
Speaker 1: good number of them just don't want him. Like, I know,
16:14
Speaker 1: I know what chip Roy wants, right, you know that
16:17
Speaker 1: he's made it clear. But when you listen to the
16:20
Speaker 1: speech that was given earlier by Bobert, I mean, I
16:25
Speaker 1: have no idea what she wants. I really don't, except
16:29
Speaker 1: I guess I don't like Kevin and I'm gonna make
16:31
Speaker 1: sure he's not the speaker right right, Basically, they're trying
16:36
Speaker 1: to make his life such a living hell that he
16:40
Speaker 1: just backs out. Now, let's just say, let's just say,
16:47
Speaker 1: for example, they get what they want. Let's say McCarthy
16:51
Speaker 1: is so worn down that he steps out. Well, there
16:57
Speaker 1: is some talk on the hill at whoever ends up
17:01
Speaker 1: stepping in that McCarthy behind the scenes and his and
17:05
Speaker 1: his die hard supporters are going to make that person's
17:09
Speaker 1: life a living hell. That is, um in fact, a
17:14
Speaker 1: big reason why a lot of the you know, people
17:19
Speaker 1: who are are being put up there or are being
17:23
Speaker 1: talked about, whether it's Jim Jordan or Steve Scalies and whatnot,
17:27
Speaker 1: don't want the job because they don't want to deal
17:29
Speaker 1: with any sort of backlash from the Kevin McCarthy diehards. Yeah,
17:38
Speaker 1: it's weird that the most powerful job in the Republican
17:41
Speaker 1: Party right now. There's not a lot of people saying
17:44
Speaker 1: I want it outside of Kevin McCarthy, who's totally obsessed
17:48
Speaker 1: with being it right exactly. They're just like, oh yeah,
17:51
Speaker 1: because if I step in and then I'm looking and
17:54
Speaker 1: then I'm looked as a backstabb er to Kevin McCarthy
17:58
Speaker 1: by all the Kevin McCarthy hearts in, I'm going to
18:01
Speaker 1: be the one who's going to have to deal with
18:03
Speaker 1: all these people who are gonna hate my guts and
18:05
Speaker 1: try and basically make me a big failure in the end.
18:08
Speaker 1: I heard earlier today from one member of Congress, and
18:11
Speaker 1: I'll end with this because I know you'd need to
18:13
Speaker 1: get back at it. But I was told today that
18:15
Speaker 1: there was a idea floated of if McCarthy drops out,
18:20
Speaker 1: bringing back someone to be speaker like Mike Pence. Is
18:25
Speaker 1: that something that could really happen or is that just
18:28
Speaker 1: give me a break? That's that's called give me a
18:32
Speaker 1: huge freaking break. Okay. I mean, I mean, you hear
18:36
Speaker 1: at this point everybody's throwing out every different possibility. And
18:38
Speaker 1: I heard that was like, well, never thought i'd hear
18:41
Speaker 1: that one again. But Okay, here we are. Yeah, I
18:45
Speaker 1: mean that's called desperation. All right, your guests, eight o'clock eastern,
18:50
Speaker 1: seventh Central, look into your DC crystal ball. What do
18:54
Speaker 1: you think's gonna happen? And will anything change on the
18:57
Speaker 1: first ballot I or the next ballot? The next ballot? Yet? Nah? Noah,
19:04
Speaker 1: I don't see anything changing the next ballot right now?
19:06
Speaker 1: Is there a chance it's an all nighter for you
19:10
Speaker 1: if I can help it? No? Okay, there you go.
19:12
Speaker 1: I like it all right. I love bothering you. Carry Pickett,
19:16
Speaker 1: senior congressional reporter for Washingtimes. Give everybody your handle on
19:19
Speaker 1: where to follow you. Hey, find me on Twitter with
19:23
Speaker 1: at carry picket. That's k e r y p I
19:25
Speaker 1: c k et just like the fence. There you go,
19:28
Speaker 1: bother to night. You can tweet at her. She'll give
19:30
Speaker 1: you updates. It's great stuff. That's why I love having
19:32
Speaker 1: her on. Thank you, Carrie. I'll probably bother you again tomorrow. Now.
19:38
Speaker 1: There is one Congresswoman, Lauren Bobert, who barely won a
19:42
Speaker 1: reelection Colorado, who feels like she was hung out to
19:45
Speaker 1: dry by the Republican Party. Why because many of them
19:49
Speaker 1: thought she was hard to deal with. They didn't like her,
19:53
Speaker 1: she didn't play well with others. Was there complaints, So
19:55
Speaker 1: they were kind of hoping they could get rid of her.
19:58
Speaker 1: They didn't. She's a maga individual. She wrapped herself around
20:02
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, and Donald Trumps even said now to her,
20:05
Speaker 1: hey move on with Kevin McCarthy. Warren Bobert nominated represented
20:10
Speaker 1: Byron Donald's Republican from Florida for House Speaker, and then
20:14
Speaker 1: called on the former President Trump to nudge Kevin McCarthy
20:17
Speaker 1: out of the race. Take a listen, rise, Madam Clark.
20:21
Speaker 1: I rise to nominate Congressman Byron Donalds. The gentlewoman is recognized.
20:30
Speaker 1: I rise today to nominate Byron Donalds, my friend, an
20:36
Speaker 1: amazing man of Florida, an amazing leader, someone who almost
20:40
Speaker 1: even took leadership here in our Republican party and came
20:43
Speaker 1: very close in doing so. And it was a very
20:45
Speaker 1: brave run that he took. He's a man who understands
20:50
Speaker 1: what tough times look like and it's come out of
20:53
Speaker 1: those tough times even stronger, more liberally liberated, and as
20:58
Speaker 1: a leader. Now, we just heard from my respected colleague
21:03
Speaker 1: from Ohio and he stated some amazing rules that we
21:06
Speaker 1: have been able to get an agreement on I think
21:11
Speaker 1: we were threatened pretty heavily in conference, saying if we
21:13
Speaker 1: don't do as we ought, then some of those rules
21:18
Speaker 1: may just go away. But even naming the Germanist rule,
21:22
Speaker 1: which is really fantastic after Morgan Griffith, well that was
21:27
Speaker 1: our idea too. My question is why didn't the supposed
21:34
Speaker 1: leader of the Republican Party present these rules? Why were
21:39
Speaker 1: we fought so hard on these rules. The barrier that
21:44
Speaker 1: still stands in the way of these rules is the
21:48
Speaker 1: structure that prevents us from rolling over. And as my
21:52
Speaker 1: friend from chip Roy stated, we need the tools and
21:56
Speaker 1: the leadership to do our job correctly, and that Byron
22:00
Speaker 1: Donalds is the man to lead us to that path
22:05
Speaker 1: of getting America on track and uniting the Republican Party.
22:10
Speaker 1: My colleagues and I have worked tirelessly for months to
22:14
Speaker 1: build consensus, to negotiate in good faith, to help unify
22:19
Speaker 1: our party on border security, energy security, debt reduction, term limits, earmarks,
22:26
Speaker 1: among other many common sense policies. But too often our
22:31
Speaker 1: efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Our border is wide open,
22:36
Speaker 1: inflation is out of control. The Senate just passed one
22:39
Speaker 1: point seven trillion dollars without our input. So let me
22:44
Speaker 1: be clear. Our job is not to coronate the biggest fundraiser,
22:49
Speaker 1: or rubber stamp the status quo, or keep on going
22:53
Speaker 1: along to get along. It's to use our votes to
22:58
Speaker 1: elect a speaker who will enable us to get our
23:02
Speaker 1: country back on track. Getting the job done is what
23:06
Speaker 1: we were elected to do, and that starts with having
23:10
Speaker 1: a leader who supports Republican principles, builds consensus, and has
23:16
Speaker 1: a proven track record of success. Byron Donalds is that leader. Republicans,
23:25
Speaker 1: including many moderates, have been impressed by Byron Donalds. They're
23:31
Speaker 1: impressed by his ability to work together. They respect his leadership.
23:40
Speaker 1: We see him as someone who can communicate what we
23:44
Speaker 1: are all wanting to do in this House to Americans,
23:48
Speaker 1: and he represents so much more than just his district
23:50
Speaker 1: in Florida. Many millions of Americans all over this nation
23:55
Speaker 1: praise the work and the leadership of Byron Donalds. Let's
24:00
Speaker 1: work together. Let's stop with the campaign smears and tactics
24:05
Speaker 1: to get people to turn against us. Even having my
24:09
Speaker 1: favorite president call us and tell us we need to
24:12
Speaker 1: knock this off. I think it actually needs to be reversed.
24:15
Speaker 1: The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you
24:18
Speaker 1: do not have the votes and it's time to withdraw.
24:22
Speaker 1: With that, I yield. Thank you. There it was, That's
24:27
Speaker 1: what she had to say. Now there's people asking the
24:30
Speaker 1: question do you stand with that? Chip Roy also making
24:34
Speaker 1: it clear today in a speech on CNN, I think
24:39
Speaker 1: doing a brilliant job. Okay, a brilliant job explaining what
24:46
Speaker 1: he wants. It's a lot different than Bobert and what
24:49
Speaker 1: you just heard from Bobert. Take a listen to Chip
24:52
Speaker 1: roy or earlier today as McCarthy suffered another defeat on
24:58
Speaker 1: another ballot, we're now up to sit he's not one
25:01
Speaker 1: any of these obviously that you seem actually focused on
25:05
Speaker 1: a set of principles and rule changes that you want
25:07
Speaker 1: to see enacted as opposed to having a personal animus
25:11
Speaker 1: against Kevin McCarthy. Do you agree with that assessment or no? Yeah,
25:16
Speaker 1: First of all, thanks for having me on. I think
25:18
Speaker 1: that's pretty close to correct. I would take some issue
25:21
Speaker 1: with saying that I've been in constant opposition to McCarthy
25:23
Speaker 1: as much as trying to offer changes that I think
25:27
Speaker 1: are paramount to make the housework again. That is, by
25:30
Speaker 1: the way, bipartisan criticism. We haven't had an amendment offered
25:33
Speaker 1: an open debate on the floor of the House since
25:34
Speaker 1: May of twenty sixteen. We cannot keep spending money we
25:37
Speaker 1: don't have. We cannot continue to allow our border to
25:39
Speaker 1: be wide open and dangering Americans and immigrants. We cannot
25:42
Speaker 1: keep business as usual going. It's failing the country. And
25:45
Speaker 1: everybody agrees, frankly, both sides of the aisle. So I've
25:48
Speaker 1: got differences of opinion with colleagues across both sides of
25:51
Speaker 1: the aisle. But the one thing we need to do
25:52
Speaker 1: is change. We need the leadership and the tools to
25:56
Speaker 1: stop the swamp from running over and stepping all over
25:58
Speaker 1: the American people who want change in this town. So
26:01
Speaker 1: that's what I've been pushing for. There's still some things
26:03
Speaker 1: that might change that I could get there, but right
26:06
Speaker 1: now I'm holding the line because I think we need
26:08
Speaker 1: this place to operate differently. And that's not a partisan statement,
26:12
Speaker 1: it's just something that I believe. So you want an
26:14
Speaker 1: open amendment process, which has happened in the past, but
26:17
Speaker 1: obviously leaders of Congress, especially in the majority partner, don't
26:20
Speaker 1: like it because they don't like to. It's losing control
26:24
Speaker 1: of what's going to happen and what's going to be
26:25
Speaker 1: in the legislation. You want an open amendment process. What
26:28
Speaker 1: else would you want to see happen in order for
26:32
Speaker 1: you to get to yes? For Kevin McCarthy or whoever, Well,
26:37
Speaker 1: let's just say Kevincarthy. Yeah, sure, we'll putting aside personalities,
26:40
Speaker 1: just take that out of it and just saying what
26:41
Speaker 1: would give me to yes is I need to make
26:43
Speaker 1: sure that the Rules Committee is structured in such a
26:45
Speaker 1: way that those of us who are what I would
26:47
Speaker 1: call physical conservatives, who want to stop the sort of
26:50
Speaker 1: train of the swamp right, the powerbrokers, the defense industrial complex,
26:54
Speaker 1: if you will, plus the non defense discretionary. You know,
26:58
Speaker 1: folks on the other side of the Alto want to
27:00
Speaker 1: spend more money. They all come together. As you know
27:02
Speaker 1: you follow this town closely. We just saw it happen
27:04
Speaker 1: with the one point seven trillion dollars Omnibus bill without
27:07
Speaker 1: debating the merits of any particular substance in the bill.
27:11
Speaker 1: We can't keep doing that. It was a ten percent
27:13
Speaker 1: increase in defense, a six percent increase in non defense
27:16
Speaker 1: discretionary forty five billion for Ukraine, forty one billion for
27:19
Speaker 1: emergency spending. None of that extra spending was paid for.
27:22
Speaker 1: So when are we going to stop that? So we
27:25
Speaker 1: can't stop that if we don't have the tools in
27:28
Speaker 1: the Rules Committee to stop it. I'd love to have
27:30
Speaker 1: open debate. I'd love to have more amendments with the
27:32
Speaker 1: seventy two hour rule you were just talking about. That's
27:34
Speaker 1: all good stuff, But I got to take issue with
27:36
Speaker 1: one thing that Jamie talked about just a minute ago,
27:38
Speaker 1: which she was still on because I don't want to
27:39
Speaker 1: talk about her in the third person, but she said
27:42
Speaker 1: that we were asking for things for personal handouts, spots
27:45
Speaker 1: on committees, which she wasn't talking about you. She wasn't.
27:47
Speaker 1: We were very clear to distinguish you from others. We
27:50
Speaker 1: talked about how your opposition was based in principle having
27:54
Speaker 1: to do with rules. We were talking more about the
27:57
Speaker 1: meeting between McCarthy and Gates, Bobert and at the Perry.
28:02
Speaker 1: But if I might offer a defense of them, what
28:04
Speaker 1: was offered, or at least meant to be offered, was
28:06
Speaker 1: they were a response to the request from Kevin. Hey,
28:09
Speaker 1: we need actual names to know what you want on
28:12
Speaker 1: certain committees. So for example, we put my name on
28:15
Speaker 1: the Rules committee. Jake, I don't want to be on
28:17
Speaker 1: the Rules committee if I don't have to, because you
28:18
Speaker 1: got to fly up on Sunday and I want to
28:20
Speaker 1: be with my family on Sunday night in Texas. But
28:22
Speaker 1: I offered to do it in order to try to
28:24
Speaker 1: advance the ball. Andy Biggs didn't want to be on Appropriations,
28:27
Speaker 1: but we put his name on the list. My point
28:29
Speaker 1: is that was offered in good faith. It's unfair for
28:32
Speaker 1: Jamie to say that and then to say, oh, they
28:33
Speaker 1: want their goodies. These other guys have worked so hard.
28:37
Speaker 1: You listen to what he's sang here, and he said
28:39
Speaker 1: this consistently. He's made it clear what he wants. This
28:44
Speaker 1: is not crazy. Chip Roy was on Fox News channels
28:48
Speaker 1: saying this about what's about to happen with a vote. Listen,
28:53
Speaker 1: we're having conversations about the substance the American people want
28:56
Speaker 1: us to have. Our Democratic colleagues didn't do that at
28:58
Speaker 1: all over the last two years. Right, they jam jam
29:01
Speaker 1: bills through. They didn't a glow us to mend on
29:03
Speaker 1: the floor. But let's be clear, Republicans have their problems too,
29:07
Speaker 1: and we talk about, oh, you guys just want to
29:09
Speaker 1: get in charge so you can start getting things done.
29:12
Speaker 1: You gotta get them done the right way. The American
29:14
Speaker 1: people didn't send us up here to continue the status quo.
29:17
Speaker 1: So Kevin's gonna have to give us the ability to
29:20
Speaker 1: constrain the swamp, the same swamp that passed the one
29:23
Speaker 1: point seven trillion dollar bill that had seventy five march
29:27
Speaker 1: or sixteen billion dollars, that didn't allow us to secure
29:29
Speaker 1: the border, that had forty five billion for Ukraine without
29:32
Speaker 1: a single vote on the floor. I understand all of that,
29:34
Speaker 1: I really do. And we have first charged the swamp.
29:36
Speaker 1: Who talked about the swamp first, former President Trump, as
29:39
Speaker 1: he was campaigning to be president, he talked about the
29:41
Speaker 1: swamp and changing the swamp all the time. And then
29:44
Speaker 1: this statement endorsing McCarthy, He says, I think it's a
29:47
Speaker 1: dangerous game, and frankly, if they're not happy with them,
29:50
Speaker 1: they can do something about it at a later date.
29:51
Speaker 1: I support McCarthy and I support getting the deal done.
29:54
Speaker 1: What I don't support is allowing this to continue to
29:57
Speaker 1: go forward. Do you think that at some point this
30:00
Speaker 1: is hurting the Republican Party understanding your stady on principle,
30:04
Speaker 1: do you think that the split screen of President Biden
30:07
Speaker 1: with Mitch McConnell talking about infrastructure and the chaos on
30:10
Speaker 1: the House floor is eventually hurting your party that maybe
30:14
Speaker 1: there should be a deal to get something forward. There
30:17
Speaker 1: should only be a deal if it's a deal worth
30:19
Speaker 1: doing for the American people who sent us here to
30:21
Speaker 1: stop the swamp from rolling over what they want us
30:24
Speaker 1: to do. Brett and President Trump can say whatever he wants.
30:27
Speaker 1: It won't be the first time I disagree with a minute,
30:29
Speaker 1: it won't be the last. The fact here is, I'm
30:31
Speaker 1: not going through a list of who he's endorsing or
30:33
Speaker 1: not endorsing. I understand I'm doing is standing up for
30:36
Speaker 1: the people that sent me here to stop doing the
30:38
Speaker 1: same old thing, stop spending money we don't have. You're
30:41
Speaker 1: saying Kevin McCarthy is the swamp and that if he
30:45
Speaker 1: was speaker that it would be more of the same.
30:48
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is that you're saying. What I'm saying
30:50
Speaker 1: is that the people who have been here carrying out
30:53
Speaker 1: the status quo, they need to give us the kinds
30:55
Speaker 1: of rules and changes necessary to make sure that we
30:58
Speaker 1: can check that, stop it and stand up for the
31:01
Speaker 1: American people. How far will you go? What ballot will
31:03
Speaker 1: you say? Okay, enough enough, whatever ballot it takes to
31:06
Speaker 1: actually protect the American people. We're having a conversation tonight.
31:10
Speaker 1: We're going to keep talking about it. We want rules
31:11
Speaker 1: committee changes, we want to protect the rules that we've
31:14
Speaker 1: already been able to advance. We want to make sure
31:16
Speaker 1: we have spending restraint like the cut cap and balance
31:18
Speaker 1: from a decade ago. We're having those conversations as we speak,
31:21
Speaker 1: but we're not going to relent unless we can actually
31:23
Speaker 1: do our job and stop this town, this broken town,
31:27
Speaker 1: from rolling over the American people. That's my job. And
31:30
Speaker 1: if Kevin McCarthy says, you know what, I'll give you
31:31
Speaker 1: everything you want, what will you say, Well, you mean
31:35
Speaker 1: give me everything I want? Right? I mean, I've got
31:36
Speaker 1: to be able to go to the What you want
31:38
Speaker 1: is not Kevin McCarthy. But I didn't say that. If
31:41
Speaker 1: I if I get everything that I want, that's great.
31:45
Speaker 1: But we got to get to two hundred and eighteen.
31:46
Speaker 1: So right now in the room, Brett aren't. It's not
31:48
Speaker 1: just Chip Roy, it's people like Brian Fitzpatrick. You know
31:52
Speaker 1: Byron Donald's other people where we're sitting down and talking.
31:54
Speaker 1: So it's not about getting everything I want. It's about
31:57
Speaker 1: getting what is necessary for the American people. And that's
31:59
Speaker 1: the conversations question. There's Chip Roy moments ago on Fox
32:04
Speaker 1: make it clear they're not close. Kevin McCarthy is in
32:09
Speaker 1: the crosshairs of Matt Gates. This is what Matt Gates
32:12
Speaker 1: had to say about him today. Those of us who
32:14
Speaker 1: will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy today take no
32:17
Speaker 1: joy in this discomfort that this moment has brought. But
32:21
Speaker 1: if you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put
32:24
Speaker 1: the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise. I'm a
32:28
Speaker 1: Florida man, and I know of what I speak. We
32:31
Speaker 1: offered Kevin McCarthy terms last evening that he rejected. We
32:34
Speaker 1: sought a vote in the first quarter of the one
32:36
Speaker 1: hundred and eighteenth Congress on term limits. He refused. We
32:40
Speaker 1: wanted a budget from the Republican Study Committee that balances
32:43
Speaker 1: on the floor in the first quarter, he refused. We
32:46
Speaker 1: wanted the border plan that the Texas Delegation put together
32:49
Speaker 1: on the floor, he refused. And it is true that
32:53
Speaker 1: we struggle with trust with mister McCarthy, because time and
32:58
Speaker 1: again his points, his positions, they shift like sands underneath you.
33:04
Speaker 1: Even Kevin McCarthy's own mentor recently said that the lies
33:08
Speaker 1: always change. And mister McCarthy is not only responsive to
33:13
Speaker 1: pressure from the right. Time and again he has failed
33:16
Speaker 1: to achieve the goals that we seek on spending and
33:19
Speaker 1: on the fight. For months, we have been asking mister
33:22
Speaker 1: McCarthy for his battle plan. How do we ensure that
33:25
Speaker 1: we stand up for folks in the military who feel
33:28
Speaker 1: like they're being perched. How do we ensure that if
33:30
Speaker 1: there is the passage of a farm bill, it includes
33:32
Speaker 1: things like work requirements? And all we got was a
33:36
Speaker 1: handful of howdy and a mouthful of much obliged. So
33:40
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty clear you're not gonna get Matt
33:42
Speaker 1: Gates anytime soon on your side on this one. Lastly,
33:47
Speaker 1: we're also being told right now Representative Donald's on McCarthy says,
33:55
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna let you hear what he had to
33:56
Speaker 1: say for himself a moment ago on Fox. We're gonna
33:59
Speaker 1: go back and we're gonna have this round of ballots,
34:01
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have more conversations. One thing I can
34:04
Speaker 1: tell you is nobody is at two hundred and eighteen
34:06
Speaker 1: votes right now. Nobody. Well, we're gonna get this figured out,
34:09
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get this business done because every Republican
34:12
Speaker 1: up here on Capitol Hill is committed to getting to
34:15
Speaker 1: the agenda that we all campaigned for last November. Okay,
34:18
Speaker 1: so we're gonna let you go there, get back to
34:20
Speaker 1: the House floor. Do you see a path forward for
34:22
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy real quick? I think it's possible, but there's
34:26
Speaker 1: a lot of work that needs to be done right now,
34:27
Speaker 1: and for yourself less likely. But you know what is DC,
34:32
Speaker 1: You never know what happens here. Okay, we appreciate you
34:35
Speaker 1: joining us. Thanks for your time, sir. This is a
34:37
Speaker 1: man who has been nominated to be Speaker of the House,
34:39
Speaker 1: and he's like, I didn't come here thinking that's what
34:42
Speaker 1: was going to happen, had no idea. Also, to make
34:46
Speaker 1: things even more complicated, moments ago, on Guy Benson's radio show,
34:52
Speaker 1: Representative Dan Crenshaw has now called, and this is a
34:56
Speaker 1: guy who went to war, these twenty Republicans terror that's
35:00
Speaker 1: gonna help him come to your side of things, Dan
35:03
Speaker 1: Crenshaw say it again, is an idiot, get another scalp,
35:06
Speaker 1: another scalp, whether it's whether it's Bayner or Paul Ryan
35:10
Speaker 1: or then McCarthy. Scalise would just be next. And we
35:13
Speaker 1: all know it. We just can't allow that to happen.
35:15
Speaker 1: That's why those of us are saying, like, look, you
35:18
Speaker 1: pushed us into this corner, so now we're now we're
35:20
Speaker 1: saying we won't go for anyone but McCarthy. That's why
35:22
Speaker 1: we're saying it because we cannot let the terrorists win that.
35:26
Speaker 1: That's basically what's happening. We cannot. Let's just listen to
35:30
Speaker 1: this again. That's a Republican calling these other Republicans who
35:33
Speaker 1: needs to get over to his side. Darist the terrorists
35:35
Speaker 1: win that. That's basically what's happening. Wow, what a moron,
35:41
Speaker 1: What an idiot. That's why we're saying it because we
35:44
Speaker 1: cannot let the terrorists win that. That's basically what's happening.
35:48
Speaker 1: We cannot let the terrorists win. Dan Crenshaw calling his
35:54
Speaker 1: fellow Republicans terrorists. All right, last, please make sure you
36:01
Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button or auto download button wherever you
36:05
Speaker 1: are listening to this podcast, right now and take a
36:08
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