The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - October 10, 2023


Episode 118 LIVE： Israel at War – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats

Length

29 minutes

Words per Minute

156.40857

Word Count

4,603

Sentence Count

264

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

24


Summary

Live from the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., Rep. Matt Gaetz delivers an impassioned plea for support for the Israeli military in response to a rocket attack on Israel from Gaza, and calls for all Americans to join the fight.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Matt Gaetz, the biggest firebrand inside of the House of Representatives.
00:00:07.540 You're not taking Matt Gaetz off the board, okay?
00:00:09.940 Because Matt Gaetz is an American patriot and Matt Gaetz is an American hero.
00:00:14.680 We will not continue to allow the Uniparty to run this town without a fight.
00:00:20.240 I want to thank you, Matt Gaetz, for holding the line.
00:00:24.360 Matt Gaetz is a courageous man.
00:00:26.380 If we had hundreds of Matt Gaetz in D.C., the country turns around.
00:00:31.140 It's that simple.
00:00:31.940 He's so tough. He's so strong.
00:00:33.980 He's smart, and he loves this country.
00:00:36.340 Matt Gaetz.
00:00:38.040 It is the honor of my life to fight alongside each and every one of you.
00:00:43.260 We will save America.
00:00:45.360 It's choose your fighter time.
00:00:47.140 Send in the firebrands.
00:00:48.640 It began Saturday morning with a massive rocket barrage from Gaza striking across Israel.
00:01:03.060 While targets were hit, the likely intent here was to keep Israelis indoors to distract from the invasion.
00:01:10.440 Others attacking border points and fence lines, all while thousands of rockets rained down.
00:01:20.960 Others using boats.
00:01:24.160 Meanwhile, on the ground, hundreds of Hamas fighters poured across breached border points,
00:01:31.420 smashing Israel's defenses,
00:01:33.980 heading to more than 20 communities in a house-to-house search,
00:01:38.300 largely unopposed.
00:01:39.840 This happening across a wide area,
00:01:43.400 in communities which were clearly part of a targeted plan.
00:01:47.560 Once there, the fighters killed indiscriminately,
00:01:51.120 in the single deadliest day in Israel's existence.
00:01:55.600 Others managed to seize Israeli military equipment and open fire on passing vehicles.
00:02:02.840 Citizens of Israel, we are at war,
00:02:06.480 said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
00:02:09.840 Welcome back to Firebrand.
00:02:13.300 We are live broadcasting out of room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building here at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C.
00:02:20.680 Israel is at war.
00:02:22.940 For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1974,
00:02:25.400 Israel is under siege and the Holy Land is being soaked in blood by terrorists who have no positive vision for the future.
00:02:34.900 Every place where Hamas has gained control or influence, life for the people in those areas has gotten worse.
00:02:43.560 In Gaza right now, the conditions are horrendous.
00:02:47.820 As they were even before this action, and as you just saw from that report, what you're dealing with is a coordinated attack.
00:02:54.880 There were explosives, gliders, there were rockets, and even these really, really vicious plans on raids of communities inside Israel where innocent people were slaughtered in the most grotesque and horrifying of ways.
00:03:14.080 This is a war that Israel will win.
00:03:17.400 It's my expectation that Israel will be larger, not smaller, at the end of this conflict.
00:03:22.020 It's also important to recognize right now that this is an asymmetric conflict.
00:03:26.920 In other wars that Israel has fought, they've largely had to deal with other countries as state actors unifying against the Jewish state,
00:03:37.160 while Israel has always prevailed in those endeavors.
00:03:41.040 That's something very different than we're dealing with right now.
00:03:43.440 Hamas is largely a proxy for Iran and other entities that would spread their malign influence,
00:03:50.980 not only to Israel, but frankly to other parts of the Arab world where they don't like the fact that there seems to be some sort of a westward turn,
00:04:00.440 a turn away from the barbarism that you see on display here.
00:04:04.360 In a lot of respects, this is a spasm of barbaric activity in response to what I think was very productive with the Abraham Accords under President Trump and other efforts,
00:04:17.120 whether it's the work between Israel and Egypt on the Red to Dead project for water infrastructure for people who otherwise wouldn't have those life-sustaining assets,
00:04:29.480 or the recognition of Israel from some of the Gulf monarchies, including the United Arab Emirates,
00:04:35.560 or the energy cooperation that you see between Israel and Qatar on liquefied natural gas,
00:04:41.460 or Israel and Saudi Arabia on other energy collaborations.
00:04:47.120 This is one of the worst manifestations of humanity, driven by Hamas, driven by political Islam,
00:04:55.580 and it is something that the United States certainly observes as we recognize our obligation to stand with our ally Israel.
00:05:05.300 We're going to talk a little bit about what that looks like, ways in which this conflict could get worse,
00:05:11.440 even malign activity here inside the United States of America.
00:05:15.420 But I want now to go to the I-24 news report, showing just how grave this has become for innocents.
00:05:23.020 Play the clip.
00:05:23.480 David, it's hard to even explain exactly just the mass casualties that happened right here.
00:05:31.780 In fact, the Israeli military says they still don't have a clear number, but I'm talking to some of the soldiers,
00:05:36.460 and they say what they've witnessed as they've been walking through these different houses,
00:05:41.620 these different communities, babies, their heads cut off.
00:05:46.300 That's what they said, gunned down, families completely gunned down in their beds.
00:05:52.680 You can see some of these soldiers right now comforting each other.
00:05:56.180 Many of them reserves who jumped into action, leaving their own families behind as well,
00:06:02.000 not knowing the sheer horror that they were about to come to.
00:06:06.340 They say they've never experienced anything like this.
00:06:09.480 This is nothing that anyone could have even imagined.
00:06:13.320 This is the reality, and this is what all of these soldiers, you can see, none of them expecting this,
00:06:18.260 but all of them being here, ready for the fight nonetheless,
00:06:21.760 and proud to fight for their country is what I'm hearing as well.
00:06:26.060 And so that's why they want to show the press.
00:06:28.320 They want to show these very, very difficult images, David,
00:06:31.460 but they want everyone out here because they want to see and show exactly what is happening here on the ground.
00:06:36.680 That's I-24 News from today.
00:06:41.200 You saw how difficult that was for the reporter just to share that information,
00:06:45.920 and certainly it's difficult for all of us to see these images of innocents being slaughtered,
00:06:50.740 but I think we have to see them, and we have to acknowledge them.
00:06:53.960 You see, during the Holocaust, Hitler was able to do more harm
00:06:58.780 and was able to afflict more death because they were trying to hide the number of people that they were killing.
00:07:04.300 And so I think that as gut-wrenching as these reports are,
00:07:09.500 we have to force ourselves to acknowledge what people are up against
00:07:13.320 and how depraved these Hamas objectives are,
00:07:18.060 and that's why it brings into such sharp focus the harm here within the United States of America
00:07:25.240 that can emerge from groups that are championing Hamas
00:07:29.600 and their efforts to harm people who really have done nothing to aggrieve anyone, little babies.
00:07:39.640 Black Lives Matter is a radical leftist organization here in the United States of America,
00:07:43.740 and their chapters are in unison putting out their support for the violence that is being driven by Hamas.
00:07:51.880 Let's go ahead and put up that image.
00:07:54.020 Yeah, we've got it on the screen now for those who are watching our live stream.
00:07:57.820 Black Lives Matter, grassroots statement, solidarity with the Palestinian people,
00:08:02.300 and I just saw another one from BLM Chicago that actually had the image of someone paragliding from Gaza into Israel,
00:08:12.020 presumably to carry out attacks, and BLM Chicago was cheerleading that type of terrorism,
00:08:19.380 and it shows how really the evils of some of these globalist and international enterprises
00:08:30.300 can show a very cold solidarity with one another,
00:08:36.020 and I think it should allow all of us in the United States to look at Black Lives Matter
00:08:40.180 as the terrorist organization that they are here in our country,
00:08:43.700 showing solidarity and sympathy with another terrorist organization.
00:08:47.600 But that brings me back really to the central point of this discussion.
00:08:51.420 Right now, you're not looking at freedom fighters,
00:08:54.820 you're not looking at people under the color of state action,
00:08:57.900 you're looking at terrorists, Hamas terrorists.
00:09:02.300 And one of the reasons the Biden administration has said that they have now moved two carrier groups
00:09:08.240 into the eastern Mediterranean is to deter other nations from getting involved,
00:09:13.020 nations like Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, whoever would present any threat of violence against Israel,
00:09:19.880 and by the way, I think Egypt is low likelihood now,
00:09:22.780 but given their prior involvement in some of these anti-Israel military campaigns,
00:09:29.300 historically, it's worth taking note of where they are now for no other reason than if they're sympathetic
00:09:35.360 to some of the humanitarian goals to get people out of Gaza that that be recognized as a legitimate shift.
00:09:44.160 So, one of the countries that you're going to want to watch right now is Lebanon.
00:09:51.620 Gaza shelling Israel from the south.
00:09:55.180 Lebanon poses a real threat to Tel Aviv, to northern Israel,
00:10:00.540 because of the amount of Hezbollah control and activity and encampment and fortification
00:10:07.160 and munitions and rockets that they maintain in southern Lebanon.
00:10:12.140 I've seen southern Lebanon with my own eyes from the Golan Heights,
00:10:16.220 and even, you know, I've seen some of the infrastructure that Hezbollah has there from a military standpoint.
00:10:23.320 And we really are going to see now where the Lebanese military is,
00:10:29.760 because Hezbollah, undeniably, is going to start raiding communities in Israel in the north
00:10:36.280 the way you've seen Hamas raid communities in the south.
00:10:39.960 That is going to happen, and I wish it weren't,
00:10:43.060 and I'm grateful to see there's been a lot of buildup from the Israelis in the north
00:10:47.520 to try to anticipate this and stop this and protect their people.
00:10:50.900 But there's been the accusation, and in fact, evidence in the past,
00:10:58.780 that Hezbollah operates to some degree in concert with the Lebanese military.
00:11:05.420 Now, you fund a ton of the Lebanese military with U.S. tax dollars.
00:11:11.960 And so my colleague, Florida Congressman Greg Stubbe,
00:11:15.280 introduced an amendment recently on the House floor
00:11:18.020 to strip out of our aid package any funding for the Lebanese military.
00:11:24.960 This could become very significant going forward,
00:11:27.180 so I want to bring you back to that moment on the House floor.
00:11:30.580 Congressman Stubbe introducing his amendment. Take a listen.
00:11:34.800 I encourage my colleagues to answer the question,
00:11:37.900 how can we justify appropriating America's hard-earned taxpayer dollars
00:11:41.660 to a foreign military that emboldens Hezbollah
00:11:44.480 and their reign of terror and hate for America?
00:11:47.600 Hezbollah's influence runs rampant throughout the Lebanese government.
00:11:51.140 Even advocates of aid to the Lebanese military concede
00:11:54.320 that Hezbollah's influence runs rampant throughout the Lebanese government.
00:11:58.360 What matters is not the addressee, it is the address.
00:12:01.600 Hezbollah's house.
00:12:03.020 Money is fungible, and we are pumping cash and hard currency
00:12:06.240 into a terror haven infested with terror finance and corruption.
00:12:10.560 Even those advance advocating to aid the Lebanese military say
00:12:14.560 that this is an entity unwilling and unable to counter Hezbollah.
00:12:18.980 Then why are we wasting our money?
00:12:21.120 My amendment ensures that none of America's taxpayer dollars
00:12:24.060 may be made available for the Lebanese armed forces.
00:12:27.700 Funding to the Lebanese armed forces is a policy
00:12:30.140 that has been in place since 2006, essentially on autopilot.
00:12:34.120 Since then, the U.S. has provided more than $3 billion to the Lebanese military,
00:12:39.460 supposedly to build up state institutions as a counterweight to Hezbollah,
00:12:43.420 but with little to show in return.
00:12:45.720 In fact, Lebanon has come more under the sway of Hezbollah and Iran today
00:12:49.520 than when the U.S. began funding Lebanon's military.
00:12:54.460 Hezbollah's chief Christian ally, the Free Patriot Movement,
00:12:58.020 is the political party literally in control of Lebanon's defense ministry.
00:13:01.560 This is a policy on autopilot that gets renewed every year
00:13:05.380 without Congress really having a chance to review this funding
00:13:08.380 and ask whether this is a good place to spend taxpayer dollars
00:13:11.660 and in our national interest.
00:13:13.860 We are funding an army who just yesterday shot smoke bombs at Israeli troops,
00:13:18.900 which it called enemy troops.
00:13:21.140 This should not be a partisan issue.
00:13:23.300 Anyone who takes a look at this issue objectively,
00:13:25.780 I think, will have serious questions about why we continue to fund the Lebanese armed forces,
00:13:30.140 one of the most corrupt and bloated armies in the world.
00:13:34.440 Most of Lebanon's military expenditures go to personnel salaries and benefits,
00:13:38.380 a whopping 93% compared to 29% in the United States.
00:13:42.700 These benefits include health care, maternity leave, compensation in the event of death,
00:13:46.920 as well as domestic workers and drivers for high-ranking officers.
00:13:50.500 For example, the Lebanese military, which consists of 80,000 soldiers,
00:13:54.740 has 400 generals, which are extremely highly paid,
00:13:58.800 while the U.S. Army has a force of half a million, but just 295 generals.
00:14:03.480 This did not stop the Biden administration from notifying Congress last year
00:14:07.340 that it was repurposing $67 million in aid to the Lebanese military
00:14:11.980 in order to provide them with livelihood support,
00:14:15.260 which just funds their salaries even more.
00:14:17.880 Rather than funding armed Mercedes and other luxury goods for Lebanese generals,
00:14:21.520 we should be funding our southern border.
00:14:22.940 However, Lebanon's financial system is soaked in Hezbollah money laundering and financial crimes,
00:14:27.900 and the terrorist group touches almost every facet of life in that country.
00:14:31.820 It is impossible that any administration could vet all the recipients
00:14:35.360 of this taxpayer dollars and their families because there are no controls.
00:14:39.180 There is no way to know how these individuals use this money.
00:14:42.420 Some of it could flow through Hezbollah exchange houses
00:14:44.780 or possibly be spent in Hezbollah-run businesses.
00:14:47.520 Mr. Speaker, by safeguarding the actions of Hezbollah and other terror groups,
00:14:52.140 the Lebanese Armed Forces fuels Iran's mission to kill American troops and wipe Israel off the map.
00:14:57.340 I can't justify funding such horrific activity.
00:15:00.260 I encourage my colleagues to recognize the dangers of funding the Lebanese Armed Forces
00:15:04.280 by voting for my amendment.
00:15:05.720 I reserve the balance of my time.
00:15:06.960 Okay, we're back live.
00:15:10.520 That was Florida Congressman Greg Stubbe introducing the amendment
00:15:13.760 to stop funding Lebanese military through U.S. taxpayer dollars.
00:15:18.520 And, oh my gosh, the live stream is with Congressman Stubbe on that.
00:15:23.160 Christine on Facebook says that we should not be funding these other countries.
00:15:26.860 Biotech Babe on Getter saying that Hamas and Hezbollah work together.
00:15:31.380 I think you heard that thread in the debate from Congressman Stubbe talking about Iran
00:15:36.280 being the central point of resources that is distributed to these terrorist groups
00:15:41.340 to put pressure on Israel.
00:15:43.180 And in a lot of ways, Iran's getting isolated right now.
00:15:46.120 More and more Arab countries are joining the Abraham Accords.
00:15:51.220 You're seeing this westward turn.
00:15:52.480 And so I think that Iran is doing everything they can to try to really harm Israel
00:16:01.840 for the sake of getting the Muslim world to do something that would not be in the interests
00:16:07.220 of their own citizens, would not be certainly in the interests of peace and stability
00:16:11.920 in the Middle East or globally.
00:16:14.000 So, very important argument from Congressman Stubbe.
00:16:16.680 But how did that amendment turn out?
00:16:19.160 I mean, all of you are saying it's America first.
00:16:21.620 We shouldn't be going into debt for this.
00:16:24.000 I think the argument Congressman Stubbe made about the corruption in the Lebanese military
00:16:27.600 is worth listening to.
00:16:29.920 But go ahead and put up the vote screen.
00:16:31.980 So, on the Stubbe amendment, you had 128 people voting yes.
00:16:40.920 The rest of Congress 309 on this vote voting no.
00:16:44.740 You had 90, over 90 Republicans voted against the Stubbe amendment.
00:16:50.100 That's just remarkable to me.
00:16:52.060 Over 90 Republicans voting to take your money and send it to the Lebanese military,
00:16:57.020 the very Lebanese military that was shooting smoke bombs at Israelis,
00:17:00.940 and the very Lebanese military that Congressman Stubbe alleges is entirely interwoven with Hezbollah,
00:17:07.360 which is interwoven with Hamas, which is interwoven with Iran.
00:17:11.000 So, very important for you to watch.
00:17:13.520 That amendment vote could be very ugly for some of the Republicans who were not with Congressman Stubbe and myself.
00:17:20.820 And it should be worth noting, every single Democrat voted against the Stubbe amendment.
00:17:26.600 So, that's Lebanon.
00:17:27.600 But there are other countries that I think are going to play a key role here.
00:17:30.400 We've talked a little bit about Egypt.
00:17:31.780 Jack Posobiec is the host of Human Events Daily, one of my favorite shows.
00:17:37.280 Also a guy who knows a lot about the intelligence community and how these types of exfiltrations of innocence work.
00:17:45.200 Go ahead and put up Posobiec's tweet from earlier today.
00:17:48.040 It reads,
00:17:48.500 The U.S. should be putting intense pressure on Egypt and everyone in the region to ensure there is a civilian corridor open for families out of Gaza,
00:17:57.160 the same way there was out of Bakhmut.
00:17:59.320 Biden won't, of course, but it needs to be said.
00:18:02.740 That is a very important diplomatic objective.
00:18:05.600 I think Posobiec makes an excellent point there.
00:18:08.200 Egypt has a role to play on the humanitarian side, and none of us want to see innocents killed.
00:18:13.900 I don't think Israel wants to see innocents killed.
00:18:15.780 I think Israel wants to defend itself, and to the extent that there are civilian casualties,
00:18:22.140 I do worry about that creating a new generation of terrorists, not just in Gaza, but throughout the Muslim world.
00:18:30.220 And so that's why I think Posobiec's tweet is right on the money,
00:18:35.140 and it would be important post-haste for the State Department to heed that warning.
00:18:41.460 I also want to draw attention to an argument.
00:18:44.120 We've seen a little bit of this argument on the live stream.
00:18:47.120 Someone said that not having a speaker could potentially harm Israel.
00:18:51.480 If we don't have a speaker of the House, like, in the next 10 minutes, Israel might lose the war to Hamas.
00:18:57.200 Let's go up and put up the tweet from former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
00:19:03.980 He tweets,
00:19:05.980 The reason military aid to Israel will not face some of the obstacles Ukraine aid faced is because back in December of 2020,
00:19:14.180 we passed my bill authorizing a minimum of $3.3 billion a year in aid for eight years.
00:19:20.980 So that would carry us through 2028.
00:19:22.580 Because of our bill, the administration already has pre-existing authority to provide substantial defense aid without any new congressional action.
00:19:33.860 So you can read that clearly from Senator Rubio, who would know, having chaired the Intelligence Committee,
00:19:39.740 that aid to Israel for the military is functionally on multi-billion dollar auto pay.
00:19:47.340 And beyond that, the president has the authority to be able to meet any specific needs that arise as a consequence of the very integrated attack plan that we saw from Hamas.
00:19:57.600 So take it from Senator Rubio, the fact that the House does not have a speaker in no way impairs our ability to help our ally Israel.
00:20:05.160 So an important point.
00:20:07.020 I also think when you zoom the lens out a little bit, you see incitement as a major contributing factor to this violence.
00:20:16.000 In Gaza today, half the people are under the age of 18.
00:20:19.420 And so to win the future, to win any prospect of peace, you can't be plowing in to young people through pedagogy and education that their principal role in life is to kill Jews or kill people who aren't Muslims or to become a martyr.
00:20:36.160 That is not a positive vision for the future.
00:20:38.760 It is only a path to death and despair.
00:20:41.540 I introduced legislation years ago to strip out of any resources we provide, the instructional materials that promote this martyrdom.
00:20:55.880 We should not be providing aid from this country that leads people to hate one another.
00:21:01.000 And certainly we should not be providing any aid that in any way could manifest toward anti-Semitism.
00:21:07.120 I made those points on the House floor.
00:21:08.580 Take a listen.
00:21:11.540 One of the first amendments that I passed as a lawmaker on the House floor banned funding for entities that inculcate hate against Israel in the Arab world.
00:21:21.880 Mr. Speaker, it does not advance the interests of the United States to fund schools that incite terror and hate throughout the world.
00:21:31.680 34 of those such schools exist in Judea and Samaria, the area currently controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
00:21:38.380 And this amendment would defund those 34 schools that are named after terrorists, killers, and Nazi collaborators.
00:21:46.720 Mr. Speaker, I care deeply for the education of our youth, but we have to demand that curriculums be reformed so that the schools that American taxpayers fund do not promote hate.
00:21:57.120 Stopping that cycle of hate is in the national security interest of the United States.
00:22:05.040 We certainly shouldn't be funding it, and we will be monitoring the situation closely.
00:22:09.180 Tomorrow morning, the House of Representatives has a classified briefing on the unfolding events in the Middle East, and I look forward to learning more then and seeing what specific needs we need to be able to be there to ensure that we meet.
00:22:20.920 So that brings us to the race for House Speaker, and if the live stream is any indication, there is a lot of support for Donald Trump.
00:22:32.060 There are a lot of Jim Jordan supporters out there.
00:22:34.680 I want to bring you into the decision-making process within the House Republican Conference.
00:22:39.240 Obviously, we have the need to elect a speaker because I filed the motion to vacate on Kevin McCarthy.
00:22:44.780 I did that because Kevin McCarthy did not keep his promises from January to release the January 6th tapes, to have single-subject spending bills, to have a balanced budget amendment.
00:22:55.500 He drug his feet on term limits.
00:22:57.740 Time and again, we saw Kevin McCarthy making multiple contradictory promises, and I think we did what had to be done.
00:23:04.080 But I don't want to look in the rear view, and I don't want to relitigate the past.
00:23:07.440 I want to look at these two men that we have that are putting themselves forward for Speaker of the House, and let's take a gander at their argument.
00:23:15.400 So Jim Jordan writes an October 4th letter to the House Republican Conference that states in part,
00:23:22.300 We agreed at the beginning of Congress that there are three fundamental things the House must do.
00:23:27.180 Pass the bills that need to be passed, do the oversight, and rein in the spending.
00:23:31.680 Working with Chairman Green and our leadership, I helped to deliver the most significant legislative accomplishment this Congress,
00:23:38.500 the strongest immigration and border enforcement bill ever.
00:23:42.260 With other committee chairs and members of the Judiciary Committee, I'm doing the oversight and holding the administration accountable.
00:23:49.680 And I've been among the leaders in pushing for fiscal discipline my entire career.
00:23:54.000 We are at a critical crossroad in our nation's history.
00:23:56.780 Now is the time for our Republican Conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans.
00:24:02.940 The promises we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable.
00:24:06.640 We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions.
00:24:11.960 But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference.
00:24:15.840 I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
00:24:20.620 That is the opening argument from Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
00:24:24.760 A similar letter on October 4th came out from the current Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Steve Scalise.
00:24:31.560 We'll get into Mr. Scalise's argument.
00:24:33.980 It reads, quote,
00:24:34.920 You know my leadership style.
00:24:37.760 I've displayed it as your majority leader in WIP.
00:24:40.380 I have a proven track record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our conference
00:24:44.920 and building consensus where others thought it impossible.
00:24:48.700 When I ran to be your majority leader, I made a commitment to turn our conservative agenda into legislative action,
00:24:53.960 facilitate a legislative process built on regular order and member input so all members and their constituents have a voice in the House of Representatives
00:25:02.240 and to hold the Biden administration accountable.
00:25:05.260 We moved our top agenda items to the House and based on those three commitments,
00:25:09.380 we ran efficient, collaborative, and successful processes involving multiple members of committees of jurisdiction to pass H.R.1,
00:25:17.800 the Lower Energy Costs Act, which would lower costs, lower inflation, and make America energy independent once again.
00:25:25.480 We ran into challenges on the border package.
00:25:27.620 We pressed pause on that committee process to bring in dozens of members,
00:25:31.260 both on and off the committee, to iron out our differences on the border and immigration policy.
00:25:35.360 The result of that work was H.R.2, the Secure the Border Act, the most conservative border bill the House has ever passed,
00:25:41.660 and we delivered on our commitment to ensure that parents have a say in their child's education
00:25:45.500 through the passage of H.R.5, the Parents' Bill of Rights.
00:25:49.380 While we've made tremendous progress so far this Congress and have demonstrated that we can unite against failing liberal policies,
00:25:55.700 more work needs to be done.
00:25:57.200 We have an extremely talented conference and we need to come together and pull in the same direction
00:26:01.420 to get our country back on track.
00:26:04.060 That was the letter from Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
00:26:07.680 So it is a two-man race right now.
00:26:10.460 I have heard some of these rumblings that McCarthy wants to re-enter the race.
00:26:14.000 Let me address those.
00:26:15.780 Kevin McCarthy does not have the requisite 217 votes to become Speaker of the House.
00:26:21.360 217 is the magic number now, not 218,
00:26:24.640 because we do have a vacancy in the Utah seat that was occupied by Republican Congressman Chris Stewart.
00:26:30.020 Third, Kevin McCarthy didn't have 217 when he tried to use a procedural endeavor to table my resolution vacating the chair.
00:26:38.820 He didn't have 217 when that resolution was ultimately adopted,
00:26:43.240 and he would not have 217 votes at any point going forward.
00:26:46.340 Therefore, if Kevin McCarthy persists to have his supporters vote for him in the absence of any prospect of him becoming Speaker of the House again,
00:26:55.860 those tactics are nothing but dilatory and obstructionist, and they're fundamentally unserious.
00:27:02.160 Folks can be critical of me.
00:27:04.340 They can disagree with my basis for removing McCarthy, but people can't really be surprised.
00:27:09.440 I made a deal in January to have lower spending, to have single-subject spending bills, to get the January 6th tapes released.
00:27:17.140 And when Kevin McCarthy didn't meet major features of that, including a balanced budget amendment,
00:27:22.020 the reason we put a one-person motion to vacate in the rules was to ensure that we did not continue to oversee American decline
00:27:31.520 under the leadership of somebody who wasn't keeping their promises.
00:27:34.420 We were concerned that those promises might not be kept, and when it became evident that they wouldn't be,
00:27:41.000 we did what had to be done.
00:27:42.980 But this is no time to uncork the champagne or pat ourselves on the back.
00:27:46.920 We have to finish the job.
00:27:48.820 We have to get an upgrade at the position of Speaker of the House.
00:27:52.380 And in moments when I leave you, we'll be going to some of the candidate forums and small group meetings
00:27:57.180 to be able to hear Congressman Jordan and Congressman Scalise lay out their vision.
00:28:01.940 And I'm confident that either will do a far better job for us than we saw out of the previous administration
00:28:08.520 of the House of Representatives.
00:28:10.600 Thank you so much for joining me.
00:28:12.180 I would love to get your thoughts on the race for Speaker.
00:28:14.680 Do you have a preference?
00:28:15.640 If so, leave it in the comments on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you're listening to your podcasts.
00:28:20.880 Or, of course, you could chime in on the live stream.
00:28:23.440 I always love knowing what everybody is thinking about these matters of great consequence
00:28:27.860 and great import for the future of our country.
00:28:30.360 Thanks so much for joining us.
00:28:32.040 We'll be back soon.
00:28:33.020 Roll the credits.
00:28:33.420 Roll the credits.
00:28:33.480 Roll the credits.
00:28:33.660 Roll the credits.
00:28:34.300 Roll the credits.
00:28:37.340 Roll the credits.
00:28:51.340 Roll the credits.
00:28:55.780 Thank you.