Whether removing Speaker McCarthy was a good decision or bad one, what should the GOP members of the national legislature focus on now that he is gone? According to Sen. John Kennedy of Lousiana, the GOP should focus on the four issues that matter most to Americans right now: crime, the border, inflation, and passing a budget.
Such is what Sen. Kennedy, who was not in favor of ousting Speaker McCarthy, told Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” on Wednesday, saying that former Speaker McCarthy acted in a selfless manner by voluntarily removing himself from consideration for the Speaker’s chair and that the GOP needs to quickly select a new Speaker and then move forward with serious objectives in mind.
Beginning, Sen. Kennedy said, “Even on a good day, most Americans look at Washington, D.C. and they ask themselves, ‘How did these people make it through the birth canal?’ That’s on a good day, and I understand that. I don’t want to underestimate or overestimate what happened in the House yesterday. The House decided to change leadership. That’s alright.”
Continuing, he added, “This time next week, they’ll have a new leader and while we’re on the subject, I think it should not go unnoticed that Speaker McCarthy decided to take himself out of the running for the speakership. That was a very selfless act.”
He then described what he thinks the priorities of the GOP should be, saying, “Once we have a new leader in the House, we need to concentrate on four things. Number one, the budget. We’ve got to get a budget passed. Number two, inflation. Inflation is falling, but that’s not going to solve the problem of high prices because the high prices aren’t falling. Number three, the border. Number four, crime.”
Those are broadly the same goals Rep. Jordan announced in his letter in which he laid out his program for the House and asked for the support of his compatriots in the House, saying, “The Republican majority must continue to address the issues that matter to the American people. We must address rising crime in major cities and reject soft-on-crime, pro-criminal policies. We must get our fiscal house in order and reduce spending so that we can leave more to the next generation than a crushing deficit. We must do our constitutional oversight of the federal bureaucracy to ensure they work for the American people- not the other way around. And we must continue working to secure the border and protect our national security.”
He continued, “We are at a critical crossroad in our nation’s history. Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans. The problems we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions. But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference. I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
Featured image credit: By Tammy Anthony Baker from Louisiana – LAGOP GOTVR Dec2016 176, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54036001
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