Announcement By the Clerk

Floor Speech

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Mr. MAST. Madam Clerk, I rise to nominate Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House.

I think at this point we have all heard about Kevin McCarthy at length. He is my friend, my colleague. I am very proud to say that. I know our remarks are directed toward the Clerk and the Chair, but I don't mind saying that I am directing my remarks to another part of my team. And make no mistake, we are a team. We are together.

I would say this to some of my friends in Texas. I have the same fear, truly, that some of you have, that we squander this opportunity to right the wrongs that have gone on here for the last 2 and 4 years, and there are very real wrongs. I have that fear just like you do.

I would say to my friend from Montana that I have the same fear you do, that America gives us this chance to change our course and that we fail. I have that fear.

I would say to my friend from Arizona, I have the same fears that you do, that we don't recover from the indifference that has been shown to the honor we have to serve here, to the responsibility we have to safeguard our Constitution and the freedoms of Americans. I have that fear that it can't be recovered from.

I would say to my friend, the general from Pennsylvania, that I have the same fears that he has, that we squander what our brothers and sisters in arms have sacrificed for. I stand differently because of sacrifice.

My friend from Texas, Mr. Crenshaw, when he looks out at the world, he sees the world differently because of what he sacrificed for.

My friend Jim Baird, when he extends a hand, he extends it differently because of what he sacrificed for during his service in Vietnam.

We have so many in this body that gave so much, sacrificed so much to support and defend the Constitution of our United States. I fear that we don't live up to what some of our friends and brothers and sisters in arms have very literally given their lives for. I don't mind saying that, on occasion, that absolutely brings a tear to my eye, because it does.

It is not for that.

My friend from Texas, my colleague, Mr. Roy, he and I have stood on this floor together, arguing on the same team about life and death issues for the United States of America, with so few people in here that you could hear an echo. That is sad. That is not living up to our friends.

I have sat in classified briefings with the general from Pennsylvania, minimally attended on both sides, with issues that absolutely matter to the safeguarding of every person within our borders and our servicemembers abroad. We can do better than that, and we will.

I would say to my friends, those issues that we deal with like that, that you have spoken passionately about, I have heard your speeches. I have sat and listened to them.

They can't be fixed by our friend Andy, and they can't be fixed by our friend Kevin, or our friend Jim, or our friend Byron. That comes from inside each and every one of us to change what we prioritize, to change how we choose to spend our time given this opportunity, this honor, to serve in this place.

My friend, Mr. Roy, has been very proud of the number of individuals that are in here, saying that this is how the process should play out, and I totally agree with him on that.

But we don't control whether individuals in here are sitting on their cell phones, scrolling through whatever social media, or whether they are actually paying attention to the issues.

The Speaker can't change that. That is up to the individual. That is something that we have to look at each other and sharpen each other and make each other better.

When we started this process months ago behind closed doors--as leadership for the minority was being chosen behind closed doors, leadership for the majority was being talked about and debated and chosen behind closed doors--I said to my friend, Mr. McCarthy: Please don't look at us and see me as your friend or all of us as your friends. Don't look at us and see us as your colleagues. Don't look at us and see us as individuals that are votes for Speaker of the House. Look at us as individuals that are looking out to our communities, our neighborhoods, our friends, our neighbors, and our country and telling them that we vouch for you because that is what we are doing. We are vouching for you, and I couldn't be more proud to stand here today and vouch for you, my friend.

I vouch to my community that Kevin will do as he has promised. He will give us the opportunity to right the course. He will give us the opportunity to vote.

He won't control how every individual votes, but he will give us the opportunity to make sure that we have smart energy policy between the Atlantic and the Pacific that makes sense for Americans; to make sure that he protects our border, protects Americans; to make sure that we don't spend what we don't have on a credit card, that we don't spend wastefully.

I am vouching for my friend that he will give us that opportunity to make sure that we don't have endless terms here in the House of Representatives. I vouch that he will deliver that opportunity to us.

I am proud to stand before my country and say that Kevin McCarthy is different. He is different. That is why, for those that I was speaking to earlier, the process is where it is today.

He is different. He is not Paul Ryan. He is not going to tell you that you will get a term limits bill, and then you won't.

He is not Mitch McConnell. He fought against the $1.7 trillion wasteful spending package that was sent to us on Christmas Eve eve. That is not him. He is different.

He is not John Boehner. He didn't throw you all that disagreed with him out on your cans and say: I don't want to hear from you. I don't want to listen to you.

He welcomes everybody in because he is different. If we give him the chance to be our Speaker, we will all be different. He will be different; this Congress will be different; and our country will be different.

I stand before you today and say, at the direction of the Republican Conference, I advance the name of Kevin McCarthy, very proudly, as the next Speaker of the House.

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