Tag: Kevin McCarthy

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Congress GOP

Kevin McCarthy’s Latest Blunder Suggests His Speakership Is Nearing The End: Report

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) needed 15 ballots before he finally became head of the House GOP caucus in January, but his latest blunder involving raising the federal debt ceiling has some suggesting that it’s time for him to be removed.

According to an analysis by MSNBC’s James Downie, McCarthy’s debt ceiling proposal appears to be fracturing the delicate coalition that helped put him in the Speaker’s chair.

The problem here isn’t the bill itself — even though it has the absence of substance you’d expect from today’s GOP. The problem is that the basic elements of what’s being requested in the bill have been public knowledge for months, and yet McCarthy and his team have dawdled on bringing it to the floor. And even after all this time, McCarthy is, once again, struggling to find the 218 votes he needs to pass the proposal. “The whip count on this is not good,” one senior Republican told Axios on Thursday.

How could McCarthy not have known that such a proposal would be met with disdain on both sides of the aisle? Probably because the Speaker doesn’t know what he’s doing, and, more importantly, doesn’t know how to count votes.

There is no excuse for such negligence. McCarthy’s failures in that office have been, like the rest of his career, largely inconsequential. But if the country is to raise the debt limit in an orderly fashion, then he must quickly find one of two qualities he’s never displayed before. Either he’ll need to put his country over his position and broker a bipartisan deal in the House before the Freedom Caucus inevitably replaces him. Or he’ll need to persuade a dozen or more Republicans, whose brand is just this side of ‘death to Democrats,’ to hold hands with Biden.

All that remains if McCarthy cannot reach a deal that’s agreeable to both his caucus and the White House is a series of moves that no one is eager to try, if only because they reek of desperation and may not even work.

Off-ramps remain, including invoking the 14th Amendment, minting a platinum coin, forcing a discharge petition through the House and issuing “premium bonds.” But these alternatives are untested.

How nice it would be to have a competent Speaker at this perilous moment, a leader, a statesman, Downie concludes, adding, “But we don’t have leadership. We don’t have selflessness. We don’t have competence. We have Kevin McCarthy.”

 

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Congress Economics GOP Taxation

WATCH A CNBC Host Tell Kevin McCarthy He’s A Hypocrite For Refusing To Repeal The Trump Tax Cuts

CNBC host Sara Eisen repeatedly asked Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) why he’s refusing to repeal the Trump tax cuts as part of the ongoing debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

McCarthy was in New York to discuss the debt ceiling and stabilizing financial markets, and he wondered if Eisen would allow the country to continue to tax and spend: “Would you just raise the limit?”

Eisen replied, “Well, if it meant playing with America’s standing and full faith and credit of U.S. government debt, I feel like you can deal with the spending in other ways, which is totally legitimate.”

When McCarthy said debt can only be reduced with massive spending cuts, Eisen wondered, “You did it (raised the debt ceiling) three times in the Trump administration.”

The Speaker protested, “We never raised the debt ceiling by itself.”

Eisen: “And tax cuts. That was like $2 trillion in deficit.”

When McCarthy said those tax cuts had been good for the economy, Eisen countered, “So I was going to ask you about taxes because I wonder, because you want to extend the Trump tax cuts, correct? But isn’t that a little hypocritical when you’re talking about finding savings everywhere and being on an unsustainable fiscal path?”

In response, McCarthy resorted to his favorite trick: He lied.

“How’s that hypocritical when it’s bringing tax cuts, tax savings? I will always advocate for the idea that we are streamlining our tax policies, that we’re also streamlining our regulation.”

Someone please explain the basics of economics to Kevin McCarthy. It’s clear he has no damn idea what he’s talking about.

Here’s the video from CNBC:

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Congress GOP

House Republicans Are Actively Discussing Dumping Kevin McCarthy As Speaker 

The honeymoon is officially over with, and House Republicans are now actively considering kicking Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to the curb, according to a report from Axios.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that McCarthy had sniped at members of his GOP leadership team.

According to The Times, McCarthy said behind closed doors that his top lieutenant, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is “ineffective, checked out and reluctant to take a position on anything.”

McCarthy also reportedly called Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, “incompetent.”

Those remarks have led some powerful House Republicans to suggest McCarthy may need to be replaced, Axios reports.

Some angry GOP lawmakers warn that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s position could be on rocky ground after a report he blamed members of his leadership team for Republicans’ chaos over the budget.

[…]

What they’re saying: A GOP lawmaker accused McCarthy of using Scalise and Arrington as scapegoats before budget and debt ceiling negotiations have fully imploded.

  • “The members I’ve spoken with are just stunned by his rebuking of his budget chair, and certainly of our leadership,” another House Republican told Axios.
  • “I can’t imagine [he will last an entire term].”

Of course, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that’s been paying attention McCarthy is facing a sudden exit from the Speaker’s chair. After all, it took 15 ballots before he was able to obtain the votes needed for the post. Getting rid of him will be significantly easier, but it does raise the question of who might replace him.

The most frequently mentioned names to keep in mind if indeed McCarthy is ousted are Scalise, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Elise Stefanik (R-NY). But could any of them muster the votes necessary to replace McCarthy?

Right now, it appears the House GOP is right where many predicted they’d be: Running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

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Congress Domestic Terrorism GOP Kevin McCarthy WTF?!

Kevin McCarthy Orders House Committees To Run Interference For Trump If He’s Indicted

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Saturday that if former president Donald Trump is indicted next week in Manhattan as expected, he wants the relevant House committees to “immediately” determine if any federal funds have been used to investigate the failed ex-president.

McCarthy made his intentions clear via a posting on Twitter.

“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump. I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”

McCarthy’s comments came just hours after Trump went on an unhinged rant, with his post made on the failing Truth Social site.

“NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

McCarthy’s comments drew a sharp response from presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who noted, “This almost disgraceful tweet that Kevin McCarthy has put out and I don’t use that word often to describe speakers of the House. He is interfering with the process of the rule of law; this is a duly elected D.A. in New York who we don’t even know what’s going to happen yet or what the grand jury is going to do. But the speaker of the House has absolutely no business interfering with this process, siding with one side, Donald Trump’s side, and also saying that he is going to investigate the use of federal funds to interfere.”

Beschloss continued:

“We don’t know what’s going to happen yet so, you have an ex-president calling for a protest we now know could turn into violence, as it did on the 6th of January, 2021. Hordes invaded the Capitol, we were in danger of killing the vice president, killing the speaker of the House, other members of the congress, the defiling of the House and Senate chambers. That’s what happened that day. But at least, as horrible as that was, you and I talked about it that day, at least you had a speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, where we could be sure that she would do her best to try to protect the Capitol against violent attack. After this statement by Kevin McCarthy, we have no such reassurance.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12UUtUXUuFQ

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Congress GOP WTF?!

Twitter Erupts With Disgust After Kevin McCarthy Names Marjorie Taylor Greene Speaker Pro Tempore

In what may well be the surest sign yet that the Biblical apocalypse isn’t far off, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) named Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Speaker Pro Tempore.

Greene called the House of Representatives to order Wednesday morning and a clerk then read the following proclamation from McCarthy:

“I hereby appoint the Honorable Marjorie Taylor Greene to act as Speaker Pro Tempore on this day. Signed, Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

A video clip of Greene presiding over the House quickly went viral on Twitter, garnering over 1.1 million views.

But it was reaction to Greene temporarily serving as Speaker that set off anger, disgust, and mockery on social media.

https://twitter.com/leafs4life59/status/1633494241086169088?s=20