Election of Speaker

Floor Speech

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Mr. AGUILAR. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I rise today at the direction of the House Democratic Caucus to place into nomination for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Here we are again, Mr. Speaker pro tempore, and I promise to make these speeches shorter if we get closer to a compromise, but I am not certain that is going to happen at this moment.

While the Republican candidate for Speaker is making late-night backroom deals to secure the gavel, Leader Jeffries has once again extended the hand of bipartisanship for a path forward.

One thing was very clear yesterday, the vote total: 212-200. The People's House has spoken and Leader Jeffries has the support to be the Speaker that this country needs. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, 212-200, no amount of election denying is going to take away from those vote totals.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, we shouldn't be surprised at the vote count. I noted yesterday the legislative acumen of the gentleman from Ohio. Would it surprise anyone that in addition to not passing a single piece of legislation, he has never put up a piece of legislation that has made it to a committee?

The Speaker of the House must be a legislator, and the gentleman from Ohio falls short in that regard. He supports an extreme agenda and is hell-bent on banning abortion nationwide, gutting Medicare, gutting Social Security, and giving cover to January 6 attackers. Those aren't the values that we share.

If we don't see a Speaker elected in this round, there is going to be another candidate, another internal Republican Conference vote, and a secret ballot. The country can't afford more delays and more chaos. Fifteen days should be enough.

House Democrats are united on this path forward. We are united behind Hakeem Jeffries. We are united to put people over politics, to lower costs, create better paying jobs, build safer communities, and defend democracy.

Once again, we are coming together to achieve this common goal, and that is to make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, Hakeem Jeffries has done what we haven't seen from the other side of the aisle, and that is to keep the Caucus united. When extreme MAGA Republicans vowed to send our country into a devastating default, it was Leader Jeffries who led House Democrats to reject the extremism and keep the government open. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, we have the vote totals to back that up.

It has been Leader Jeffries and House Democrats who have shown a willingness and a conviction to keep our promise to deliver for American families, and it will be Hakeem Jeffries who moves our body and our country forward on a bipartisan path.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, who on the other side of the aisle will take ``yes'' for an answer and work with us to achieve three common goals?

My colleague and good friend, the gentleman from Oklahoma, mentioned one of them: supporting assistance to Israel. What he left out was assistance to Ukraine and our national security objective.

Second, above all else, we must commit to keeping this government open and functioning.

Finally, Mr. Speaker pro tempore, we need to put this body on a bipartisan path to achieve real results for the American public. That is what we were sent to do. That is what we need to do. That is why Hakeem Jeffries is the leader we need at this time to lead this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I would like to nominate Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House.

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