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Oct. 4, 2023 - Sean Hannity Show
42:12
Congress Needs Help - October 3rd, Hour 1

Sean covers the latest on Speaker Kevin McCarthy's end of power... Sean reviews how we got here and where House Republicans will need to go from here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Breaking news now.
Here's Sean Hannity.
Sean Hannity.
Alright, here we go as we uh start the show tonight.
Thank you for being with us.
Let me give you my toll our t mine, our toll-free number.
It's 800 941 Sean.
All right, so the battle over the motion to vacate, uh push forward by Matt Gates.
That now has had a number of preliminary votes, and the House now debating in the lead up to a vote on whether to oust Speaker McCarthy.
My sources are telling me it's just too close to call, whether or not that's going to happen or not.
What's been interesting to watch in the lead up to this is McCarthy did not have to hold this vote today.
Uh he could have talked to Democrats and and cut a deal with them.
He said that's not an option for me.
And he's just letting it go.
And uh right now there's uh a lot of angst and anger uh among uh the majority of Republicans against Matt Gates for doing this.
Matt Gates uh just got up to speak.
Let's play this.
Gentleman from Oklahoma's time is reserved.
Gentleman from Florida.
Mr. Speaker, my friend from Oklahoma says that my colleagues and I who don't support Kevin McCarthy would plunge the House and the country into chaos.
Chaos is Speaker McCarthy.
Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word.
The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common, Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn't really mean and never intended to live up to.
I don't think voting against Kevin McCarthy is chaos.
I think 33 trillion in debt is chaos.
I think that facing a 2.2 trillion dollar annual deficit is chaos.
I think that not passing single subject spending bills is chaos.
I think the fact that we have been governed in this country since the mid-90s by continuing resolution and omnibus is chaos.
And the way to liberate ourselves from that is a series of reforms to this body that I would hope would outlast Speaker McCarthy's time here, would outlast my time here, and would outlast either of our majorities.
Reforms that I have heard some of the most conservative members of this body f uh fight for, and some of the reforms that we've been battling for that I've even heard those in the Democratic caucus say would be worthy and helpful to the House, like open amendments, like understanding what the budget is.
We have been out of compliance with budget laws for most of my life, most of many of your lives.
And by the way, if we did those things, if we had single subject bills, if we had an understanding on the top line, if we had open amendments, if we had trust and honesty and understanding, there would be times when my conservative colleagues and I would lose, might be a few times when we'd win.
There'd be times that we would form partnerships that might otherwise not be uh really predictable in the American body politic, but the American people would see us legislating.
These last few days, we've suspended the momentum that we had established the week earlier, where we were bringing bills to the floor, voting on them, staying late at night, working hard.
That's what the American people expect.
It's something Speaker McCarthy hasn't delivered, and that's why I've moved to vacate the chair.
I reserve.
Gentlemen's time is reserved.
General from Oklahoma.
All right, let me uh let me know when we have Jim Jordan uh cued up.
Uh as a matter of fact, we have it now.
He just spoke a second ago.
Let's go right to that.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
On January 3rd, we said the 118th Congress is about three things.
Pass the bills that need pass, do the oversight work that needs to be done, and stop the inevitable omnibus that comes from the United States Senate right before the holidays.
Kevin McCarthy has been rock solid on all three.
We have passed the bills we told the American people we would pass.
87,000 IRAS agents.
That bill, that bill passed.
Parents bill of rights.
That bill passed.
Energy legislation passed border security immigration enforcement legislation, the strongest bill ever to pass the Congress, passed earlier this year.
We have done what we told them we were going to do.
We can't help but the Senate won't take up those good common sense bills.
They'll have to answer to the American people come election day.
oversight.
We have done the oversight that we're supposed to do.
Because of our oversight, we know that parents were targeted by the Department of Justice.
Because of our oversight, We know that 51 former Intel officials misled the country weeks before the most important election we have.
And because of our oversight, the disinformation governance board at the Department of Homeland Security is gone.
Because of our oversight, the memo attacking pro-life Catholics has been rescinded because of our oversight, unannounced visits to Americans home by the Internal Revenue Service has stopped.
That happened under Speaker McCarthy.
And on the third one, on this side of the, we know there's a big old ugly bill coming at the end of the year.
All kinds of spending, all kinds of garbage in it.
We're still in that fight.
Frankly, to Matt's point, we don't know how that one's going to shake out.
But we do know this.
We do know this on Saturday.
We didn't take the Senate's bill.
They tried to send over and shove it down our throats on Saturday.
We didn't take that bill.
And it was a tough position he was in.
There were five options on the table last week.
Option one was to send a long-term CR over there.
That would have leveraged the one percent cut, something a bunch of us voted for.
Both parties couldn't get the votes for that one.
Second option was to focus on the one issue the country now is completely focused on.
The border issue.
We couldn't get the votes for that one either.
But when the Senate tried to send us that bill, he said no to it.
I think the speaker has kept his word.
I know my colleagues and friends are saying different.
I think he has kept his word on those three things that we talked about on January 3rd, frankly, that entire week.
He has kept his word.
I think we should keep him as speaker.
I yield back.
All right, so there's a lot of things that are going on here.
So I'm I'm literally texting with members right now that are on the on the House floor as we speak.
Uh and Chip Roy who will be with us at the top of the next hour, and Byron Donalds will be with us at the top of the next hour.
Uh he just wrote, I said, How's this end?
He writes, it's going to be close.
It is going to be close.
And um, you know, it's it's it's hard to say.
I I just don't know.
Now the a lot of people say, well, what happens if that happens?
Um I guess it's something we need to look at at this moment, but after these last ditch efforts.
Uh anyway, Republicans now went forward with the idea.
It's it's probably 50-50, maybe maybe more of a likelihood McCarthy will be removed according to to some people with the dynamics.
Uh some people speaking only on the condition of anonymity, so I'm not sure I would vote those people as uh in the push McCarthy out category.
Uh a majority of Republicans have vowed to renominate McCarthy to the position, not allow the House to adjourn until he retakes the speakership.
Uh many pointing out that there's a united front within the GOP conference to prevent anyone else from winning the speakership, but McCarthy, though they realize that if the anti-McCarthy Republicans never flip, they're gonna have to rely on Democrats to determine the speaker.
Democrats, you know what?
If I was them, I'd sit back and I'd enjoy the Adam Schiff show, and I wouldn't lift a finger to help anybody, and that's what I would have advised Republicans to do at the time.
Uh McCarthy himself, this is under House rules, was required to turn over to the House Clerk what is a list of members that could temporarily serve as Speaker of the House, If in fact he is ousted from power or if the office becomes vacant, the list is secret.
The power would allow a lawmaker of McCarthy's choosing to temporarily exercise the powers of the speakership.
The rules do require that the speaker uh pro tem uh must be a current member of the House.
By the way, you don't have to even be an elected member of Congress to be Speaker.
The speakership is more than just one of the most powerful posts in Congress.
The House Speaker's also the second in line to the presidency after the vice presidency.
Uh congressional rules uh expert did point out that this temporary speaker could theoretically remain in power.
The Speaker Pro Tem could stay in the chair, uh is just one of the the many possibilities that could unfold here.
The name that I've heard most often, although he just got up and spoke in favor of Speaker McCarthy was uh uh what's his name?
Uh Congressman No M's uh what's his name from he's from Minnesota Emmers, uh from Minnesota.
Uh anyway, so right now this is gonna be close according to the people.
Here's what the votes that we're looking at.
You know, Crane, Rosenberg, Biggs, Gates, uh Good and Burchette.
Hard no.
Unclear about Buck Mills and a few others.
So uh it's gonna be a close vote today.
But I had to guess maybe they get they out oust them by one at this moment.
Well, one of the things that's frustrating to me, and and I know Speaker Gingrich is furious about this.
He actually on Tuesday called for House Repel Republicans to expel Matt Gates.
I look, I don't think tit for tat is the answer to this either.
And the idea that Republicans would turn on another Republican and and try and use an ethics violation that probably had the its own political motivations behind it as the answer either.
Um it what's frustrating is on the one hand, Gates starts out with the proposition that is dead on accurate.
There was a promise to do appropriations bills, they didn't get them all done on time.
And they shouldn't have taken the August recess as far as I'm concerned.
But, you know, frankly, the more time these people are out of Washington, I think the better off most of us are.
But the 12 appropriations bill, you know, the beauty, if there's any good to take out of the 45 day extension CR, which was the worst CR of the three that were brought up.
Um the the beauty is they can get all twelve appropriations done and complete and and therein satisfy what people that have been anti-MCC have been saying that they want.
Um, you know, I've been listening to some of these guys and they've been even critical of Jordan and and James Comer, and I'm like, well, that's really not warranted considering all that they've been able to discover uh and expose uh under very difficult circumstances because nobody in the Biden White House has been cooperative in any way, shape, manner, or form.
Uh but Gingrich is even saying that the Republicans could expel Gates.
That's not an option either.
They don't have the margins to do it.
One of the reasons we're in this position is because the margin of the Republican majority is that small.
But I will tell you, at the end of the day, if they are seen as a party, you know, that can't get their act together, that's not going to end well for them or for anybody.
Uh and and certainly not heading into an election year where all of them are up for reelection.
So anyway, the what what's what's gonna be interesting to watch here is whether in fact the Republicans, you know, what what they do here first and foremost, but what's frustrating to me is there were two opportunities, two for the Republicans to really get their act together and and get it and have a continuing resolution that meant something.
And and this is what Chiproy and Byron Donald's, and they'll join us again at the top of the next hour, were very successful in putting together and threading a needle and and doing a great job.
The first one was an eight percent cut in spending across the board with three exceptions defense, homeland security, and veterans.
Eight percent cut for thirty days to give time to finish the appropriations process to me was a good deal.
It was, you know, the Gates flank that decided they didn't want to go along with that.
I thought that was a good deal.
And by the way, that that they were all freedom caucus guys.
Scott Perry, Byron Donalds, Chiproy, these are solid, solid conservatives.
Uh the second one, they actually were going to cut a whopping, you know, thirty percent in spending.
I mean, which is a a massive amount of money.
Uh I have the exact uh specifications here on uh what it is that they put forward, and and I thought it worked.
One, it would increase spending for the Department of Defense plus 28 billion dollars in line with the debt deal.
It would include funding for veterans and increase that 2.5 billion, uh, and the Department of Homeland Security, but it also would have combined with HR2.
HR2 is the Republican bill, which would be the giant step that would end Biden's open borders policies.
And the two main goals that Republicans should be having as a result of this opportunity where they would otherwise have leverage if they stuck together, is to fight for demand and not back down on the issue of fiscal responsibility,
drastic cuts, getting rid of the this previous, you know, uh financial deal that was made, this omnibus deal that was made with Schumer and McConnell uh back in December, and and change that up front.
That that would be the number one goal.
The second goal's got to be to close our borders.
And if they would pull that off, they'd be doing the country a great service and fulfilling their own campaign promises.
But we'll see.
Anyway, the debate is underway.
Not sure how long that'll last.
We'll follow it all throughout the afternoon.
Full complete coverage of all of this.
Uh, we've got updates on what's going on.
Where do you hear what this judge uh in this Trump case actually had to say in a speech at Queensborough College just a few years ago?
Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
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We've been in political media for a long time.
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Hey there.
I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
You're our kind of people.
Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
I'm Ben Ferguson.
And I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Let me tell you the frustrating part from my point of view as I watch all of this is Is and Donald Trump summed it up well uh in a truth social posting this morning.
Why is it Republicans are always fighting among themselves?
Why aren't they fighting the radical left Democrats that are destroying the country?
He writes on Truth Social.
And it came during a break during his fraud trial, which by the way, we have we have new news to break on that front today, which we will do.
Um and the reality is when you have a four vote margin that is so tiny, and I've been saying this over and over again, that, and I've said this privately to many of these people that have disagreements, get behind closed doors, throw your phones in the garbage somewhere outside, and get together and hammer out agreements.
Because at the end of the day, it's not Republican policies that are hurting the country.
What's hurting the country is what the Democratic radical climate alarmist religious cult is doing to the country.
And with a four-vote majority, sometimes three based on circumstances, you don't have any margins to play with here.
More Hannity.
Less big government.
This is the Sean Hannity show.
All right, 25 now to the top of the hour.
toll-free our number is 800-941-SEAN if you want to be a part of the program uh you know i understand the frustration of some people because they want to get back to what what congress ought to be doing they're There is a very valid argument to this, that we need to have an appropriations process as a matter of course, and that is funding twelve separate bills.
So far, they have dealt with four of the twelve.
They haven't gotten the twelve complete.
Now, the beauty of what Chip Roy and Scott Perry and Byron Donalds have done is they they provided leading up to today, which would have rendered today irrelevant.
And and frankly, I I just think it's it's just a bad look for the Republicans overall.
I understand it considering the margin is tiny and small, and you know, everybody's got their own little agenda, you know, agendas going on, and I understand the principle of wanting to have appropriations bills, okay.
In a way, the people that have been fighting for that actually won that battle had they only just taken the bridge that was offered by conservatives of the Freedom Caucus, and that was Chip Roy, Byron Donald, Scott Perry.
And that would have been an eight percent cut immediately, while they temporarily would up funding for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security for the Borders, and veterans.
Then they came up with a 30, then they came up with 30% across the board cut, again with funding of those three priorities.
And that that would have, you know, not required what we ended up with, which was a 45-day continuing resolution at current spending levels.
But if the goal here is, and the goal is noble and the goal is right, and uh this is certainly worth fighting for, uh, if you want the appropriations bills that will deal with all of these issues, the beauty is if the Republicans can break this log jam within the House of Representatives.
Remember, they have one half of one body of Congress here, one branch of Congress.
And the beauty of it is that had they taken that bridge passed and finished the appropriations bill process, all of the issues surrounding securing the border, HR2, all of the issues involving funding for defense,
homeland security, border security, veterans benefits, and all of the necessary spending cuts so he can avoid two trillion dollars in new debt uh next year, like we've had this year, uh that that would have been a job well done, and everyone could pat each other on the back with a massive win.
Because at that point, as soon as they pass that bill with their with their small majority, and we still may get there, and I'm hopeful that we may get there.
Uh, if we get there, then that means, okay, now the Senate's got to deal with this.
I want the pressure on Mitch McConnell, not on the House of Representatives.
The House is nowhere near the problem that the Senate is.
The Senate is where the real problem is.
But then you'd get conservatives in the Senate like Mike Lee and Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Marco Rubio and others saying, uh uh, We're we're going along with a House bill.
Then they've got themselves a problem in the Senate when they finally try to pass a bill, they will pass a bill with a lot more spending and a lot less border security, and then they go to a conference with the House.
And at that point, the House can just hold firm.
And then if anybody at that point is going to be responsible for quote the dreaded government shutdown that never really is dreaded.
You know, it it is it is all hype, it is all misinformation.
And it's unfortunately is as they fight amongst themselves here.
This is the wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong fight, especially considering we had multiple off ramps put together by some of the most solid conservative members in the House, uh, as supported by even Donald Trump who is weighed in on this.
And he's right in his comments that you know, why were he actually took time from his own New York trial involving his business empire to actually put on truth social?
Why are these Republicans fighting among themselves?
Why are they not fighting the radical left Democrats that are the ones destroying the country?
That's that that that is where the focus and the fight needs to be.
We might get there.
You know, I'm not wringing my hands as all of this unfolds.
You know, it's, you know...
Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs to get a good scrambled egg uh uh lunch there.
Let me go to Steve Scalise, who just spoke.
The majority leader, Mr. Scalise is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, thank my friend from Oklahoma for yielding.
And when we go back to January, as many people have, we knew that it was going to be a narrow majority.
We also knew that it wasn't going to be easy.
How many of us came here because we thought this job was going to be easy?
How many of us thought the task ahead of us to address the problems of this country was going to be easy?
One thing we did know is that if we were going to finally start confronting problems that had been ignored for years and years and years, we had to change the way that this place worked.
And one thing Speaker McCarthy embraced from day one is to start making those kind of changes to this institution, opening up the process, allowing members to be more engaged, having amendments come to the floor, single subject bills, doing appropriations bills.
Yes, making that happen overnight is not something that happens automatically.
But it started to happen, and we are now seeing the fruits of it.
Just last week, we had four different appropriations bills on this House floor, four different ones.
Now, those bills took weeks and weeks to finally get to the floor, going through an open committee process, hundreds of amendments, each one of them, where Republicans, Democrats could bring their ideas.
And we debated those bills on the floor, some until after midnight, where members could actually participate in the process.
But it's a process where we, if we're going to confront the problems that families are facing, because right now we need to resolve our differences inside this House chamber before we can then go and fight for those families who are struggling.
But every single day across America, families are struggling with real problems that we're gonna have to get back to solving.
And those problems are real for them.
It's inflation, it's the economy, it's high energy costs.
It's an open southern border that doesn't just affect the border states, it's affecting every state.
Republican districts, Democrat districts.
Everybody knows it.
And it can be ignored by the White House, but this House is the only body that started to take action.
When we with HR two, and then with the border bill last week, and with over the action we took last week, over 70% of government funding passed out of the House.
However, everybody voted, Republican or Democrat, this House passed funding for over 70 percent of the federal government's operation, and it's sitting over in the Senate where they've passed zero.
And we're gonna beat up each other and talk about our internal processes, and we need to get our internal processes working better.
Start here.
And if we don't focus these next 45 days, because that's what we've got in front of us.
We've got two bills this week.
We've got two more appropriations bills next week.
And if we're gonna be confronting those, we've got to stay focused on our mission.
What the other side does, let's continue to put pressure on them.
But we also need to put pressure on ourselves to do our job.
And Speaker McCarthy's been leading at the top of the level to make sure that we have the tools to do our jobs in a different way than the House has done it before.
This House is going to have to continue to make those changes.
But the American people sent us here to confront those problems.
We're finally starting to.
This isn't the time to slow that process down.
We need to keep doing our work.
We need to keep fighting for those families who are struggling, but so does the Senate, and so does the White House as well.
Let's keep doing this work that we were sent here to do.
I yield back.
Scalise, in many ways, echoing my comments that where the pressure point needs to be is on that other body, the U.S. Senate.
Because if the House passes what is responsible and they make their case to the American people, they're going to win that debate.
They're going to win it.
They're going to win it hands down.
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Um, anyway, so we're we're just watching this unfold.
Let me give you a little bit of a timeline of um.
Um by the way, Chad is looking for the number to call in, by the way, Linda, if you can.
Okay.
Uh but anyway, uh, so the timeline is at some point, maybe in the next five or ten minutes, we're told what's scheduled anyway, is they're gonna have a vote, but it's not gonna be an electronic vote, which means it's gonna probably take a a little bit of time, maybe as long as 30, 35, 45 minutes, somewhere in that area.
Um again, I'm I'm guesstimating here, so I don't know for sure.
Uh also throughout the day, one available when this debate ends and the votes start taking place.
Uh it will get calls probably just off the house floor from people like Chip Roy and Byron Donalds and others.
Uh they're gonna check in.
Um anyway, one other thing that I want to know.
Now, we have yet to discuss that Hunter Biden, by the way, is pleading not guilty today to the gun charge against him.
Ironically, we're told that they're gonna use the defense of the second amendment.
Now that's gonna get interesting.
However, these are the laws that have been supported by you know his own father.
Um it's it's really interesting, and this is I think is the uh I I want to play for you this judge in this case.
Remember the judge yesterday notices he's on live TV.
Oh, let me smile for the cameras.
Let me look really good here.
And remember that yesterday?
Uh, okay.
Well, that judge, by the way, just slapped a gag order because Donald Trump had said something about the clerk.
Let me see what this says.
This is just breaking as we speak.
Uh where is that?
There it is.
No, that's not it.
Um here it is.
The judge issues the gag order in this case in New York on the Donald Trump after the former president quote disparage the key court staffer during his civil business broad trial.
The judge issued the order, applies to all parties in the case.
Anyway, by the way, Chad Pergram is uh actually right outside The House Chamber, he's been watching this in real time as we have.
He knows all things Washington, D.C. more than anybody.
The Hitchhiker's guide to whether or not Speaker McCarthy will be removed in the next hour.
How are you, sir?
Well, this is quite an unprecedented day here in Congress.
At some point in the next couple of hours here, we will have uh an answer to the fate of Kevin McCarthy, the current House Speaker.
What they're debating right now is whether or not to force a vote to remove Kevin McCarthy.
And at the end of this debate, what they will do is they will ask members to vote by their seats.
They will call the role uh orally.
Members will vote by name, as they're called uh alphabetically, and say yes or no.
Do they support this motion to vacate the chair?
This has not happened since 1910.
And if that motion is adopted, then there is no speaker of the House.
Uh things are absent.
And by rule, what they're supposed to do is go in and then start electing a speaker.
This is much what happened in January.
The House cannot function without a speaker.
You can't put other bills on the floor, you can't debate other people.
But I thought McCarthy also handed over a list.
Well, you see, but that's the speaker pro temp.
We've never had that before.
And that's basically based on a 9-11 contingency of government.
So there will be a speaker pro tem who would oversee that debate of the election of the next speaker, whether it be Kevin McCarthy or somebody else.
But that person is not, they can't do anything else except just elect a speaker.
They had the president of the House is to elect a speaker.
And we've almost never been to this position in House history before.
You know, I look at uh President Trump's tweet on Truth Social.
Why is it Republicans are always fighting among themselves?
Why aren't they fighting the radical left Democrats that are destroying the country?
Um and and I tend to agree with him, and especially the timing of this, you know, frankly couldn't be any worse.
Uh especially when there were two resolutions put together by some of the most conservative members.
I think you'd agree with me, Chip Roy and Byron Donalds and Scott Perry was a part of it, Freedom Caucus members.
That one would have allowed an eight percent cut uh across the board, but for defense, Department of Homeland Security, the borders, and veterans programs, uh, while they passed the 30-day CR so they could finish the appropriations process and passing the twelve appropriations bills is has been what Matt Gates has been complaining about the most, isn't it not?
That's right.
And that's where you know the acolytes and the loyalists to Kevin McCarthy have said, you know, this is going to inhibit any of our progress that we may here.
We're not going to be able to fund the government.
We're not going to be able to make some of the cuts that conservatives are demanding if we don't have a speaker.
Uh because again, you know, the House can't act if there's no speaker, and there's a fear on the Republican side of the aisle that if this goes on for a few days or a few weeks, I mean, there's one speaker's election longest in 1855, 56 took two months that you're going to wind up with some other speaker, a coalition speaker, maybe a Democratic speaker, because again, it's not the most votes that win in the House.
You have to have this is the rule to elect a speaker, Sean.
An outright majority of all members casting ballots for somebody by name.
So you always hear me say it's about the math.
So if they need 430, there are four 433 current members right now, you need at least 217 members to vote for someone by name.
And the fact that Kevin McCarthy has 11 on his side who won't they're able to outpace him on that uh on that uh coin.
But they can't get to 217 either.
So nobody knows how we get out of this call to sack.
I mean, this might go on for a while, frankly, if this next vote uh goes the direction that is reflected in the vote earlier that uh got us to this point.
Let me let me ask you this, because I I've been speaking with members, they've been texting me while they're on the floor, even right now, and and the la last text I got from Congressman Chip Roy said, you know, that he's looking at he says he thinks it's gonna be close.
I'm not so sure if it's gonna be that close.
You tell me if if I'm right or wrong in my gut.
And he talked about Crane Rosenberg, Biggs, Gates, Good and Burchette, Hardno, unclear about Buck Mills and a few others.
So what is your count currently?
Because uh you're right there on the ground, you might have a better feel for it.
we've never been to this area before.
And and members might vote present.
They might not actually vote.
And so that changes the vote calculus here.
And so even if you you you get a few of those uh you know on board there, you still still might not have the the votes necessary to you know get over this next hurdle here, let alone elect the speaker.
See, that's why it's so dangerous.
And the reason it's so hard to figure out what the magic number is is that you don't know how many people are actually casting ballots until the end of that vote.
That requires some very complex parliamentary algebra.
All right.
So let's walk through possible scenarios.
Obviously, it's easy if McCarthy is still the speaker, then they move on with regular order and they get back to the business of the people, correct?
Yes, but he is a weakened speaker at that point because you know happened to him.
You know, he had a four-seat majority.
He's considered to be a pretty weak speaker going in because uh, you know, took fifteen rounds back in January.
And so, yeah, but you know, the the first big problem would be where are these votes gonna come uh to fund the government.
Well, the but the biggest argument that Matt Gates has been making, and by the way, I'm in my view it's a legitimate one.
However, I I I thought that the short term proposals, which I didn't understand why conservatives opposed it.
There were two of them.
The first one was the one that I mentioned, the eight percent cut, and the second one, the late latest one was even a little more hardcore, and that was that was the thirty percent cut of the federal bureaucracy and increasing funding for defense and veterans benefits and the Department of Homeland Security combined with HR two.
And that was rejected as well.
Why was that rejected?
Well, because some of these members they just don't want to vote for anything.
Uh it's not going to be uh, you know, Matt Gates used the term log rolling earlier, the idea that they put these bills together, that they should be individual bills.
Uh there's some members uh and by the way, I don't know if you can you're watching this.
This is getting really heated on the House floor right now, where Matt Gates is really having it out here, and there's a lot of booing from the Republican side of the aisle watching this in in real time here, Sean.
Hang on, let me put it up.
Right now, and Sean, I have to interrupt here because the New York Control Room on the television.
Yeah, you go ahead.
I you gotta get back to TV.
Let's go back to the floor of the House.
Chad took up a program, thank you.
I'll be happy to fund my political operation through the work of hardworking Americans, ten and twenty and thirty dollars at a time, and you all keep showing up at the lobbyist fundraisers and see how that goes for you.
I reserve once again the chair would admonish those speaking from the floor to direct their comments to the chair.
Gentleman from Oklahoma.
Mr. Speaker, I would inquire as to how much time remains for each side.
From Oklahoma controls three minutes.
The gentleman from Florida has three minutes as well.
Uh I advise the gentleman from Florida.
I'm prepared to close if he is.
Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to my great uh friend from North Dakota, Mr. Armstrong.
Gentleman from North Dakota, Mr. Armstrong is recognized with the remaining three minutes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Let's be clear why we're here.
Because the incentive structure in this town is completely broken.
We no longer value loyalty, integrity, confidence, or collaboration.
Instead, we have descended to a place where clicks, TV hits, and the never-ending quest for the most mediocre taste of celebrity drives decisions and encourages juvenile behavior that is so far beneath this esteemed body.
Kevin McCarthy has done more in nine months to restore the People's House than any speaker in decades.
We have done regular order.
We have had open amendments.
And every single member of this chamber has the right, the ability, and the opportunity to be heard on the floor.
It's been messy.
It's been raucous, and at times it's been chaotic.
And God bless every minute of it.
Because democracy is supposed to be hard.
And because the alternative is a closed door process where two thousand page bills come out of the speaker's office at midnight and are forced to the floor the next morning.
Kevin McCarthy has broken that cycle.
That alone is enough for him to remain our speaker.
But that doesn't deliver our his opponents what they crave the most.
Attention.
We shouldn't stand for it.
I won't stand for it.
I will stand here with our speaker, with our leader, that the overwhelming majority of our compra supports.
And you need to look no further than where the opponents are sitting today in this chamber.
They're not over here, they're over there.
So you have a very small minority of Republicans wanting to vacate the chair.
Uh the vote seems like it's going to be starting by the time we get back from break.
We'll take a break.
We'll come back the latest on this vote to vacate speaker McCarthy.
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