Kevin McCarthy, House GOP Press Conference Transcript: “Fire Nancy Pelosi”

Kevin McCarthy: (00:00)
Thank you all for coming. We have a country in crisis. A recent poll showed Americans’ optimism about this country’s direction over the next year has plummeted 20 points just since May. This should surprise no one in America. Every time Americans go to the checkout at the grocery store or gas station they’re paying more. Every time they turn on the local or national news, they’re seeing crime continue to surge. Every time they get updates about our Southern border they’re seeing reports about thousands of migrants that are illegally entering our country every single day and not being tested for COVID and then being moved throughout the nation.

And every time the CDC releases new guidance, not only does it contradict information they’ve already released, but it punishes Americans who’ve already done everything they were asked to do. They were told to be vaccinated, they wouldn’t have to wear a mask. Think about what the CDC did just this week. They forced vaccinated Americans to wear masks because of a study in India about a vaccine that’s not even in America, that has not been per reviewed. The CDC has become a political arm of the administration. It wants to control every element of our life. What’s interesting we stand out here in front of the Capitol by the chambers of the house, but as you look across on the other steps is the Senate. I’m not quite sure where the CDC got but somewhere in the middle of that dome the science changes. If you are a Capitol police officer you got orders that you work at some parts during the day on the house side and some parts on the Senate. If a vaccinated staffer comes across in the house side without a mask, you are ordered to arrest them, but not on the Senate.

This is not the America we know, this is not Pelosi’s house this is the people’s house. The study, the political CDC won’t even put out the study from India but they based this and in their guidelines they say only in hotspots we’re 85% vaccinated. If you are vaccinated and you get the variant there’s 0.003% you’d go to the hospital. There’s a greater chance you got hit by lightning. But some reason Pelosi thinks the storm is coming. Are they using this new report because school districts are soon to have to open back up? We believe in science and we want a speaker that will take the time to understand the science instead of just calling people names. Meanwhile, we have a president in the white house and Democrats in Congress that are completely oblivious to the frustration the American people are feeling at this moment. Their message to the American worker is actually you will have to deal with higher costs for a while because we want to spend trillions more of your money. We have a Democrat created inflation we haven’t seen in decades. We have gas prices that haven’t been this high since the last time Biden was in office. We have borders that are open, our numbers that we’ve never seen before. People coming across with COVID and being shipped by your taxpayers money throughout this nation. And a government telling vaccinated Americans to wear a mask.

We have children, millions of them who’ve been out of school for more than a year. Businesses that were shut down directed by the government. And for months they were told to get the vaccine and they could go back to work back to normal, back to school. On schools recent studies showed on average students in grades one through six were about four months behind in reading and five months behind in math. On the economy, the US economy grew 6.5% versus the 8.4 that we were expected. They’ve had enough and we hear you. We have had enough as well. We make this pledge to you, we will not allow the CDC to be political. We’ll base decisions on science and we will fight for the American people.

The goal is simple. Back to work, back to school, back to health and back to normal. If they could take the nation’s capital and in one building tell you the science is different on one side to the other, they can do the same throughout the nation. Republican Congress will not allow this to happen. We’ll work to fight to stop the Democrats created inflation, we’ll work to make America energy independent again so the price of gas is lower. Remember what inflation is, a tax on every single American. And we will make sure the next century is the American century. With that I want to bring up our whip Steve Scalise.

Steve Scalise: (06:23)
Thank you Kevin. Good morning. We’re getting ready to go back to our districts for the next few weeks. And as we listen to American families all across the country, I would urge my Democrat colleagues to listen to those same families who are calling on this Congress to stand up and work for them, not for the powerful brokers in Washington. If you look across the board right now we’ve been having this debate over whether or not schools should be open. Yet the science has been clear from the beginning that all children in America should be in schools. It’s safer for them to be in schools. The learning gap is wider when they’re not in the classroom. The science says that and yet Democrats are not listening to the science they’re listening to the union bosses. We saw that with the CDC. The CDC was getting ready to come out with guidance months ago urging kids to go back in schools except the union bosses said, wait.

And sadly Joe Biden sided with the union bosses against our kids all across the America and let them rewrite the science to follow the wishes of the union bosses at the expense of America’s children. That is not the America that we need to be living in. That’s not the America our parents all across America want to be living in. And so as we go back and listen, I know what we’ve been hearing already. Families are concerned about inflation. It is a real problem, it is a real tax on hardworking Americans. And families also know this inflation is being driven by president Biden’s policies. We see gas prices over 45% higher. And what did Joe Biden do on day one when he came into office? He canceled the Keystone pipeline. He put a moratorium on drilling on federal lands, but it’s not just that president Biden is against pipelines.

He’s only against pipelines in America because he green-lighted the Russian pipeline Nordstream too. Whose side is he on? Creating billions of dollars of wealth for Russia and crushing thousands of good jobs in America and billions of dollars of opportunity in a partnership between Canada and the United States. That’s the divide that we’re seeing that people are so angry with. When they look at this crisis at the border that Joe Biden created, Joe Biden himself is the one who ended the agreements with Mexico and with the Northern triangle countries that were working to ebb the flow of illegals coming into our country. And what are we seeing now? It’s not just thousands of people a day coming across our border, it’s thousands of people bragging that they have COVID and being welcomed in, given plane tickets and bus tickets to go and be super spreaders all across America.

We’re seeing the numbers. The border patrol agents are telling us this. When president Bon started cramming these kids into cages in places like the Donna detention facility that I went to. I asked Dr. Faucci I said, “I’ve looked at the numbers, you’ve got a place rated for 250 people and you’re cramming 4,000 into it.” I said, “Dr. Faucci, would you recommend shutting down a restaurant in America that had those kinds of numbers?” And he said yes. And I said, “Well, then isn’t the Biden administration violating their own guidance by doing that at the detention facilities at the border?” And Dr. Faucci said yes. So here you’ve got Faucci actually acknowledging that Biden is violating his own health guidance at the border while he’s telling American families to alter their lifestyle. If you’ve got a family in America right now that is getting ready to go on vacation in Mexico-

If you’ve got a family in America right now that is getting ready to go on vacation in Mexico, which many are doing. Do you know that if you’re in Mexico as an American citizen and you want to come back home, according to the CDC you cannot even board the plane to come back to America as an American citizen unless you produce a COVID negative test. That’s the law. Yet, if you come across our border illegally bragging that you have COVID you’re welcomed in. What kind of law and policy is that by the Biden administration? It makes absolutely no sense and people are figuring this out.

People are furious about it. We’re furious about it. And we’re going to be fighting to get sanity and normal common sense policies back in Washington. We have got to focus on helping those hardworking families. The businesses that want to get back open. The kids that just want to learn like everybody else. If 40% of America’s not back in the classroom, that means 60% of our kids are learning at a normal pace and 40% are being left behind. That’s not the America Joe Biden promised when he ran for president, but that’s the kind of thing that he’s doing in the White House because he’s turning over his decisions to other people that don’t have those hardworking families at heart.

Well, we’re going to stand up and fight for those hardworking families, fight to get crime under control, fight to keep taxes low instead of crazy radical leftist socialist policies that they’re trying to bring. Like today when they’re trying to gut Hyde Amendment protections something that’s been in place for over 40 years, bipartisan agreements that say taxpayer funding shouldn’t go to abortion. In fact, Joe Biden himself years ago said that taxpayer funds shouldn’t go to abortion. What happened to that Joe Biden? What happened to that Democrat Party?

Unfortunately, the Democrat Party has moved so far to the socialist left that you can’t even recognize them to the point where people are marching in the streets of Havana for freedom waving the American flag. And here you’ve got the Biden administration won’t even force a vote that we’ve been bringing to support the people of Cuba who want freedom. They’d rather support the people. We’re going to continue to stand up for freedom all around this great world. You look at that statue of freedom. That is the symbol of freedom, not just here in America, but it’s the symbol of freedom for everybody who wants freedom all throughout the world and it’s in jeopardy right now.

We are going to continue as House Republicans to fight for what that statue of freedom represents, what that American flag represents. We’re going to be bringing that message back to our constituents over the next few weeks and then we’re going to bring it back to Washington. And if Speaker Pelosi will continue to fight against those freedoms, we’ll just have to fire Speaker Pelosi next November. With that, I’d like to bring up our conference chair, Elise Stefanik.

Elise Stefanik: (13:02)
Thank you, Steve. Republicans are about to head home for our August district work period across America. And we will be talking about issues that matter to every hardworking family. America is in crisis because of President Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s failed leadership and their radical far-left socialist agenda. Inflation is skyrocketing because of Democrats reckless and wasteful spending. Families are paying more at the gas pump and the grocery store. With the rising prices, back to school family spending is expected to reach a record high.

This rampant inflation is a result of Democrats reckless tax and spending policies. This is while crime rates across the country continue to skyrocket. We are less safe in Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s America. And the American people know that it is because of the Democrats defund the police rhetoric and policies. Our southern border is in the midst of the worst crisis in 20 years. The reason? President Biden and House Democrats open border pro-amnesty policies.

This is what Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s America looks like after only seven months. And this is what Democrats don’t want to talk about because they know their policies are failing and they know they are losing. And most importantly, the American people know it. Everyone knows that Nancy Pelosi is nothing more than an authoritarian lame duck Speaker of the House. Sooner than later. That’s right. House Republicans will keep fighting against these failed far-left policies until we fire Nancy Pelosi once and for all and save America. And I’m honored to represent my colleague or I’m honored to introduce my colleague, Ashley Hinson from Iowa. Thank you.

Ashley Hinson: (15:10)
Good morning, everyone. I’m here to give the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi a dose of Iowa common sense from a mom who drives a minivan and does that grocery shopping. We know how much Iowans are paying more for things at the grocery store. I can tell you Iowans are paying more at the gas pump than they did the last time my eight-year-old was in diapers. It’s completely unacceptable. And we know that this is a direct result of the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in control of Congress and their policies.

Parents are racing for back to school season, back to work, back to health, back to school, back to normal. But I can tell you, my 10-year-old is with me this year or this week here in Washington, D.C. We’re talking right now about back to school supplies. “Mom, I want to go get my notebooks. I want to go get my crayons.” all of that is going to cost more this year. On average about $59 more per family.

So let’s be very clear about this. Inflation is a tax. Inflation is a tax on our middle and our working class families. So what does the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats in Congress want to do? They want to double down on that spending spigot that they’ve turned on and they want to spend three and a half trillion more of your tax dollars on failed policies that will not move this country forward.

First and foremost, it’s irresponsible, it’s disrespectful for taxpayers and is deeply, deeply reckless. So Iowans are sitting around their kitchen tables having these conversations every day. And it’s clear to all of us standing here today back in our districts, our constituents are having those same kitchen table conversations. And the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi have turned a deaf ear to those conversations.

Well, we can tell you, we hear you. We are listening and we will continue to stand up for you here in Congress because it’s really about the future of our country. Our conference will keep fighting this tax and spend agenda and we are working to make it easier for all of you, parents, families to put food on the table, do your job, get back to work, get back to health. And most importantly, get back to normal. So that’s our agenda here. And now it’s my opportunity to introduce to you one of my colleagues, Representative Tony Gonzales.

Tony Gonzales: (17:19)
Good morning, everyone. Nancy Pelosi is a lame duck speaker. Lame duck Nancy wants us as Republicans to be distracted. She wants us to talk about this ridiculous mask mandate. She wants to divide us, but we’re not going to be divided. We’re going to be focused on one thing, securing our southern border and helping the American people. My district is over 40% of our southern border. This is what I’m seeing every single day. Yesterday, my mayors, my judges, my sheriffs, my Border Patrol agents reached out. Things are as bad as they’ve ever been. And they’re only getting worse. And what do we have in El Paso at Fort Bliss? You have the secretary, you have Secretary Mayorkas hiding the fact that COVID is spreading in these detention centers. Upwards of 20% of migrants have COVID. These children have COVID. I have six children. It is terrible to see the conditions that these young children are having to go through. Meanwhile, over 1.1 million illegal immigrants have come through our southern border unvaccinated without masks. And yet, you’re demanding that folks have a mask mandate. It is absolutely ludicrous.

Also on the ground, you’re seeing catch and release numbers. You’re seeing over 50,000 migrants being released into small communities, small communities that can’t handle the influx of migrants from Haiti, from Venezuela, from Africa, from Asia, from across the world. They can not handle it. This does not need to fall on the Border Patrol. I want to be very clear. House Republicans stand firm for law and order. We stand firm with Border Patrol agents.

They are doing God’s work securing our border. They’re doing God’s work saving migrant lives. In the Big Bend Sector, they just put up a rescue beacons. I mean, this is the desert. This is the Chihuahuan Desert. Imagine being a migrant traveling three or four days in the hot desert sun and you can come across a rescue beacon that saves your lives.

Patrol agents and sheriffs and local law enforcement are saving lives every day. This is a crisis that the Biden administration coupled with Nancy Pelosi have created and it’s pure and utter chaos. So Republicans will not be distracted. We will ensure we will constantly fight to secure our southern border. And with that, I want to turn it over to Brad Wenstrup. Thank you.

Brad Wenstrup: (20:05)
It’s very interesting, especially after just listening to Representative Gonzalez, while healthy and vaccinated Americans have often been subjected to lockdowns and mask mandates, disease and drugs are knowingly and willingly allowed by the Biden administration to freely cross our borders. 20,000 apprehended just last week.

I will say I give the medical personnel at the border a shout-out for doing the best that they very can, very well can. And if you look at Border Patrol, they’re becoming social workers and healthcare providers.

They’re doing the best that they can, but testing is erratic for COVID. You may have some that get tested by Border Patrol, but only if you have symptoms. You may have some that get tested by HHS. You may have some that get tested by ICE. There’s no coordination, no set of rules, no guidelines per se. The testing is scattered, and the only place that people coming through have an option of a vaccine is with ICE. And they don’t have to take it of course, but that’s the only place it’s offered.

How are we keeping America healthy? This is not the way. We subject our people to so many things through this, often willingly, because we’re trying to do what’s best for the country and our health, yet that’s being completely ignored at the border.

We’ve been blessed in this country with Operation Warp Speed and a vaccine in record time, not just one, but three. This is unprecedented. As one of the chairs of the Doctors Caucus, we are so proud of this moment and what was accomplished to have a safe and effective vaccine. And we see that it’s effective. But I will tell you that we’ve from the beginning, from the initial trials, that some people, even vaccinated, can get COVID, but the data is showing you’re less likely to get hospitalized and it’s very unlikely that you will die if you’ve been vaccinated.

But one of the things that we are missing under this administration and the efforts is therapeutics, treatments for those that get COVID. Treatments are what got us through HIV. Treatments will also be a key part of what we can do in America to end this surge, and it’s being ignored.

As the Doctors Caucus, we’ve done public service announcements about the vaccine. “Talk to your doctor, do what’s best for you. Do what’s best for your family. Do what’s best for your community.” We know that vaccines work. We’ve taken the vaccine as members of the Doctors Caucus.

But look today what we’re getting with politicization of healthcare and science. We’re being asked to follow CDC guidelines here, and the CDC guidelines and mask mandates being inflicted on the House of Representatives doesn’t match the guidelines for D.C. Look at you. You’re not wearing masks because D.C. is not requiring it because of the CDC guidelines, yet that somehow is being ignored once you walk into this side of the building. We are getting CDC guidelines that are based on un-published studies with no peer review from foreign countries that weren’t even using our vaccine. So how can that be legitimate? I’m sorry, folks, as a doctor, it is not legitimate. And I hope that when you talk to your doctor, that they are giving you the best advice based on known data, based on peer review data, as opposed to what is happening here in Washington.

And I just want to finish with this message for the American people. As we saw Joe Biden and Kamala Harris berate the vaccine until they got elected, I just want to tell you, if you’re rely on Facebook or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris for your medical advice, you’re going to the wrong place.

So understand what’s taking place here, how science is being politicized, and understand that we are going to fight that, and especially proud, as members of the Doctors Caucus, to try and deliver appropriate advice and appropriate data to the American people and let the decisions be made by you.

At this time, I’d like to introduce my friend Nicole Malliotakis from New York.

Nicole Malliotakis: (24:58)
Thank you, Brad. We talked about the public health crisis, the economic crisis, the border crisis, the national security chronic crisis it causes. Now we’re going to talk about the public safety crisis.

As a representative from New York City, I can tell you that these cities run by radical Democrats that have decided it was a good idea to tie the hands of police departments and cut their funding are seeing record high levels of crime in their city and it’s got to stop.

A government’s first responsibility is to protect its citizenry, yet in New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Portland, Hartford, Norman, Oklahoma, and Austin, Texas, we have seen the radical left take away those resources from our police and the citizens are suffering. I’m here in Washington to spread that message, that what’s happening in my city of New York cannot continue to happen in cities across America.

In New York City, shootings are up by 73% this past month of June compared to last year, and that is on top of a 97% increase from 2019 to 2020. Because of bail reform, Governor Cuomo’s bail reform, we have seen 50% of criminals who are arrested for shooting someone being put back on the streets. And nine out of 10 people who are arrested with firearms, illegal firearms, are released the very next day.

And what does Nancy Pelosi want to do? She tried to sneak in the bail reform here in the public relief package. And when you gave them the opportunity, and think about that, think about what they’re doing, when I put up language that says Congress condemns any attempts to defund, dismantle or abolish the police, every single Democrat voted against that language. What is wrong with that language? And I assume every single person here would agree with it, yet nancy Pelosi is running around saying she wants to arrest people, my staff members who are vaccinated, arrest them if they’re not wearing a mask.

So where is their priority when it comes to public safety? In my district yesterday, an 88 year old woman was… There was a gunpoint robbery in the middle of broad daylight, 3:00 PM, an 88 year old woman where they took her necklace. If she didn’t give it to them, they threatened to shoot her. And that’s just the latest example of the ridiculous things that are happening in our cities because of the policies put in place by the Democrats.

We stand for law and order. We support our police and we will continue to push back against those hypocrites who want to abolish the police, defund the police, and then they walk around with their own personal security. Thank you very much.

We started this talking about American crisis. We pointed to the latest poll of Americans, the optimism dropping by more than 20 points just since May. What’s the cause? The cause of that drop are Democratic policies being enacted by winning the White House and the Senate.

We’ve watched inflation grow based upon what the Democrats have done. Pelosi may not feel it because her husband just made $5 million in a month buying options, a technology stock [inaudible 00:28:52].

We watched their defunding of the police, crime rising in every city across America, that even the former liberal Senator Barbara Boxer now has the effect of being robbed in Oakland.

We watched the borders get opened up to a crisis that we’ve never seen the size in 20 years.

We watched the variant come back and people that are not vaccinated based upon these individuals being moved throughout the country.

We watched locusts knocked down our military.

These are the things that we’re going to fight and put America back on the right pace, we just need to make sure we fire Nancy Pelosi.

With that, let’s take some questions.

Yes, sir?

Speaker 1: (29:36)
You mentioned all of the various crises that are happening under the Biden administration. Can you point to a single thing that President Biden has done right since taking office?

When I point out the challenges, there wasn’t one piece of legislation passed when it came to the border, and now we have a border crisis greater than we’ve had in 20 years. But the one thing that did happen was executive orders.

… than we’ve had in 20 years. But the one thing that did happen was executive orders. He’s actually spent taxpayers’ money, billions of dollars, stopping finishing the wall. The Democrats passed the defunding of police. We now watch crime rising in every single location. The President we sat and met with, that we wanted to keep our path to be energy independent, we now watched him shut down a pipeline that he promised he would not do. We watched Russia get a pipeline. We watched the eastern coast of the United States actually bring natural gas in from Russia, even though American gas is 42% cleaner. We watched the President time again, when he was sworn in, said he was going to work in a bi-partisan method. But time again, we found the lack of any opportunity to have that discussion.

We saw a Speaker get her most narrowest majorities ever, even narrower after the election on Tuesday. Instead of working across the other side, she imposes fines. She calls names. She narrows the ability for the American public to actually have input. I haven’t found very many things that they have done right now. If the President asked my advice, had he done nothing since he took office, optimism would it be up 20%, not down.

Speaker 2: (31:28)
Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell had similar authority over congressional security officials on January 6th. So why do you keep blaming Speaker Pelosi for all the security failures that day? And does Leader McConnell bear any responsibility as well for that?

That’s interesting. In the Senate, vaccinated Americans don’t have to wear a mask, but in the House, you do. So I guess there’s differences. It’s not the same.

We see time and again in reports, that as of December 14th, they knew there would be a challenge. We’ve watched Speaker Pelosi politicize medicine, just as she’s doing right now. We’ve watched the Sergeant of Arms have to pass a note to the Speaker during the altercations on January 6th, with whether to call the National Guard. We hear reports that prior to that, the National Guard was offered to her. And we hear that the Sergeant at Arms said the optics were not right. We’ve watched Speaker Pelosi say, during the riots of the summer, the disgust she had at seeing National Guard protecting the Lincoln Memorial. So yes, it’s fundamentally different. Yes, if there’s a responsibility for this Capitol on this side, it rests with the Speaker and the House administration. The House administration is solely pointed of the Democrats by the Speaker. It’s interesting that she puts three of them on the committee.

Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the committee, once proxy voting took effect, never came back to Washington. What does that mean? Starting in May, she was never here until the day of swearing in to vote for a Speaker. Even though IG reports talked about Capitol police needed reform, they need better training, even though the Republican on the committee ranking, Rodney Davis, produced legislation, she would never bring up for a hearing. So yes, it does rest with them.

All the effects… January 6th should not have happened. Those Capitol police officers should not have to go through what they did. This line was broken in the Kavanaugh debates, but no change was taken since then. In the six months that Nancy Pelosi played politics, the Senate, not one but two committees, bi-partisan, looked at this. This has always been a partisan play. She picked Bennie Thompson, who says it’s all open, except the Speaker. You can’t question her. The power rests there. That’s why we bring it up because that’s where the facts take us.

Speaker 2: (33:57)
Yes, sir.

Yes, ma’am?

Speaker 3: (33:59)
Thank you. The January 6th committee is expected to eventually subpoena a number of people. Is it your position, the conference’s position, to fight any subpoenas that may be issued against Republican members, including yourself?

No. I think if they had the five members that we, the Republicans, want to put on there, we’d gladly go. If this is just going to be a D triple C, we don’t see…. We see it just as a sham, it’s not something that’s serious. Yes.

Speaker 4: (34:28)
Do you still believe, as you said on February 12th, that President Trump bears responsibility or some responsibility for what happened on the 6th?

I think from the standpoint that we wanted to make sure that resources were brought here as fast as possible. When I called the President, I was telling him about what was happening in the Capitol, because none of you would know unless you were in the Capitol.

Lo and behold, the information we have today, I didn’t know at that moment in time that Pelosi had been passed a note, can you call the National Guard? I didn’t know at that time at December 14th, they knew. I didn’t know, at that time, the Sergeant at Arms said he couldn’t have it because optics, because they never spoke to us. It’s purely a political position that the Speaker controls and the House administration.

She will go at no [inaudible 00:35:12] to break the rules. We watched time and again, where she told the American public, they couldn’t get a haircut except for her. We told her that she fights for the Americans, but they make five million dollars in less than a month, trading stock options. Not stocks, but stock options, on tech companies that were debating inside the House. That the only reason the market went up, that they made that money, was the outcome of the stocks, the outcome of the bills. We’ve watched time and again that she wants to inflict punishment on the floor. Fine people who are vaccinated, who wear a mask, but that’s not based on science. If you question and point the science out, that it’s a study that’s not printed, based upon India, on a vaccine that’s not in America, that it hasn’t been peer reviewed, she calls you a moron. That is not a Speaker for America. That’s a Speaker only concerned about her own wealth, her own direction, and her own control. This is the people’s House, not Pelosi’s House. Thank you.

Kevin McCarthy, House GOP Press Conference Transcript: “Fire Nancy Pelosi”

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