Tag: Kevin McCarthy

Commentary: An Agenda for the GOP House

Virginia Star Staff

Hopefully, it will prove easier for House Republicans to govern than it has been for them to elect a speaker. There is good reason for such hope because the enemy no longer will be Kevin McCarthy and the Ghosts of Republican Speakers Past but instead Joe Biden, the Ghost of Nancy Pelosi, and the specter of a Diversity-Equity-Inclusionary BIPOC-LGBTQIA+ Kamala-Buttigieg ticket. That should end the GOP divisions and even restore amicable relations between Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

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McCarthy Wins Speakership in Dramatic 15 Round Voting Marathon for the History Books

Just the News

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy captured the House speakership in dramatic fashion early Saturday, winning enough votes on a historic 15th ballot that saw 20 renegade Republicans changing their votes under enormous pressure after winning significant concessions about how Congress will operate going forward.

The final vote was 216-212-6.

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House Adjourns Until 10 p.m. After McCarthy Comes Up Short for Speaker in 13 Rounds

Just the News

The House of Representatives convened on Friday for the fourth day of voting for speaker and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has picked up 15 votes from GOP holdouts but he’s still short of the simple majority needed to win.

The House passed a motion to adjourn until 10pm. McCarthy told reporters he’s confident he will have the votes to win Friday evening.

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House Adjourns After 11th Failed Vote to Elect McCarthy Speaker, Deal Reportedly in the Works

Just the News

The House of Representatives has adjourned for the evening after California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to win the speaker’s gavel for the 11th time.

The speaker election started Tuesday but McCarthy has fallen short of reaching the simple majority threshold needed to win in the 222-212 GOP-led House.

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Key GOP Congressman Confirms That Party Blocs Are Negotiating Speaker Deal

Just the News

Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube confirmed on Wednesday that the party’s competing wings have entered negotiations to reach a compromise on choosing the next Speaker of the House.

California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the party’s lead contender for the post, has failed six times thus far to secure the support of a majority of lawmakers. The House voted three times on Wednesday and no candidate received the necessary 218 votes. 

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U.S. House Adjourns Without Electing New Speaker

The Center Square

California Republican Kevin McCarthy failed Tuesday to get enough support in the first three votes as his bid for Speaker of the House struggles to cross the finish line.

The U.S. House adjourned with no debate after the third vote and is scheduled to reconvene at noon Wednesday. Until a new speaker is elected, the House cannot conduct other business.

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McCarthy Agrees to Key Rule Change in Effort to Solidify Support for Speakership Bid

Admin

With the election for Speaker of the House of Representatives taking place on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has agreed to a major rule change in an effort to secure conservative support for his shaky bid for leadership.

The Daily Caller reports that McCarthy agreed on Sunday to make it easier for a vote of no-confidence to be brought up against a sitting Speaker, changing the procedure so that any rank-and-file member of the House can call for such a vote. Previously, a vote of no-confidence, also known as a motion to vacate the chair, could only be brought by a member of party leadership.

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GOP Prepping Steve Scalise to Become Speaker Should McCarthy Fail: Report

Just the News

House Republican lawmakers have reportedly approached Louisiana GOP Rep. Steve Scalise about a potential bid for leadership of the lower chamber should House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy fail to secure enough support to step into the role of Speaker of the House.

McCarthy has struggled to win the support of a majority of lower chamber lawmakers and many House conservatives have withheld their support in a bid to secure concessions from the California Republican. A disappointing midterm showing has left the party with an incoming majority of just 222 seats, leaving McCarthy with little room to maneuver. To become speaker, McCarthy will need 218 votes. 

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Commentary: Kevin McCarthy Is Not the Right Leader for the Moment

RealClearWire

The administration is aiding and abetting an invasion of the Southern border. Our rights are being stripped away. We are at war and the enemy is within.

In response to this existential threat, we’re told that we need to entrust a congressman previously recognized as the “tech industry’s best friend” as our leader.

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Conservative Congressmen Release List of Demands for Kevin McCarthy

Virginia Star Staff

On Thursday, a group of seven conservative House Republicans released a list of demands for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to consider if he wants to earn their support in his bid for Speaker of the House.

Axios reports that the group, led by Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Penn.), sent a letter to McCarthy calling for the future Speaker to make it easier to force a vote on motions to vacate the chair, which would make it easier to remove the Speaker from their position of power. Another demand calls for House GOP leadership to avoid spending any money on House Republican primaries in order to prevent the favoring of one particular candidate over another.

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Andy Biggs Commentary: I’m Running to Replace Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker and Break the Establishment

Virginia Star Staff

It is time. It is time for new leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

People are thrilled that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reign of Leftist extremism is ending. The question is whether we will be treated to the status quo that will move us along the same path, though perhaps more slowly.

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Kevin McCarthy Threatens Biden’s DHS Secretary with Impeachment If He Doesn’t Resign

Virginia Star Staff

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with impeachment Tuesday during a visit to the border in El Paso, Texas.

McCarthy, who is vying for the House speakership, said Republicans will push for Mayorkas’ impeachment if he refuses to step down. He was joined by several Republican colleagues, including Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who represents a southern border district, that made the trip to show support for Border Patrol.

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Kevin McCarthy Vows to Form Select Committee on China as Speaker

Virginia Star Staff

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in his bid to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Sunday that if elected, he would form a select committee to investigate China.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, McCarthy declared that the Biden Administration is not doing enough to stand up to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leader, newly-reelected President Xi Jingping.

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GOP Rep. Greene Says Kevin McCarthy, House GOP Will Defund Special Counsel Investigating Trump

Just the News

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday said that current House Minority Leader and likely next House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would deny funding to the Department of Justice special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump.

In a Tweet detailing the plan, Greene insisted McCarthy would invoke the Holman rule, a procedural measure by which the House may adjust appropriations legislation to reduce the salary of or fire specific government employees. They may also use it to cut specific programs.

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Andy Biggs Commentary: I Cannot Vote for Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker

Virginia Star Staff

During this midterm campaign, I attended hundreds of events in my district, around Arizona, and around the country. The issue I was asked about most often was whether I or the Republicans in the House, or the Republicans in the Senate, would keep the same leaders.

Not only did my constituents want the “red wave” that didn’t materialize, they also wanted new leadership.

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Commentary: Republicans Need to Change Strategies After Disappointing Midterm Results

Virginia Star Staff

Who or what was responsible for the Republican nationwide collapse in the midterms? After all, pundits, politicos, and pollsters all predicted a “red tsunami.” 

Moreover, the average loss of any president in his first midterm is 25 House seats. And when his approval sinks to or below 43 percent—in the fashion of Joe Biden—the loss, on average, expands to over 40 seats. 

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Kevin McCarthy May Not Have the Votes to Become Speaker

Virginia Star Staff

In the aftermath of the disappointing 2022 midterm election results, conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives have signaled that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) may not have the support he needs to become the next Speaker of the House.

As reported by The Hill, some Republicans have asked that the party’s closed-door leadership election be delayed while the results of the outstanding races come in.

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Commentary: The Hard Work Begins for the GOP House

Virginia Star Staff

OK. Yippee! The Democrats have been kicked out of their House majority, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can tend to Paul full time. We must condemn the assault and battery on him that was vicious and evil, and Nancy should be with him. If the definition of a “conservative” is “a liberal who has been mugged,” then perhaps, as with so many others of their ilk and bent, the Pelosis now will appreciate the GOP message on crime, on leniency to violent recidivist criminals, on defunding the police, on the right to bear arms, and on no-bail policies. Again, the attack on Paul was appalling, nothing to joke about. And he needs Nancy there — not only to help nurse him back to full health but also to keep an eye on him when he goes out for a night of social drinking or just to drive the ol’ electric car.

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Youngkin Makes Final Pitch for Republican Challengers in Virginia

Eric Burk

Governor Glenn Youngkin stopped at four rallies supporting five Virginia Republican candidates for Congress on Monday, making a final pitch alongside Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares for continued GOP wins in Virginia begun with Youngkin’s own victory a year ago.

“They said last year that no Republican could win statewide in Virginia. ‘I mean it’s too blue, suburbs are too strong,'” Youngkin said at a morning rally for Karina Lipsman, running for VA-08, and Jim Myles, running for VA-11.

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Commentary: GOP House Majority May Put the Brakes on Ukraine Escalation

Virginia Star Staff

It’s a distinct possibility, though there are too many variables to predict it, that if the Republicans take the House there will be some sort of conclusion to the war in Ukraine.

This column has called for just that. Not in a shameful betrayal of the freedom-loving people who’ve fought by our side, like, for example, what the Democrats did to the South Vietnamese after an honorable peace was reached in Paris, but rather in a way that preserves our interests and keeps Joe Biden’s much-ballyhooed nuclear Armageddon away.

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‘MAGA’ Republicans Seek to ‘Destroy the United States of America,’ Senior Biden Adviser Claims

Admin

A senior adviser to President Joe Biden claimed “MAGA” Republicans pose a “danger to our democracy” and seek to “destroy the United States of America” during a Sunday morning appearance on MSNBC.

“It is important that as we look at this MAGA Republican agenda and those who seek to lead our country like Kevin McCarthy, who will lead our country if Republicans take the House in November, it is important that we pay attention to what they, what the agenda will be,” former Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, now a senior adviser to President Biden, told host Jonathan Capehart. “This MAGA Republican agenda is a very dangerous agenda.”

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Commentary: Adam Schiff Is Hiding Something

Admin

Jeffrey Rosen had a secret on January 6, 2021.

The then-acting attorney general—Rosen was appointed on December 24, 2020 to replace departing Attorney General William Barr—had assembled a team of elite and highly skilled government agents at Quantico, a nexus point between the FBI and U.S. military, the weekend before Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the same time he was rejecting President Donald Trump’s last-minute appeals to investigate election fraud, Rosen was managing a hush-hush operation in advance of planned rallies and protests in Washington on January 6.

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Report: House Republicans to Impeach Mayorkas If They Retake the Majority

Virginia Star Staff

Reports have emerged that Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to impeach Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in the event that they retake the majority in November’s midterm elections.

According to Axios, plans to impeach Mayorkas are already being laid out by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest conservative coalition in the House, with over 150 members. On Monday, an open letter was sent to Mayorkas that was signed by 133 members of the RSC, including Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.), and Brian Babin (R-Texas.), co-chair of the Border Security Caucus; although the letter did not mention impeachment, it nevertheless made the case by listing a number of complaints that the group has about Mayorkas’ open-borders and mass amnesty approach to immigration.

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Still Teflon: The Trump Comeback No One’s Talking About

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump now enjoys the highest favorability rating among the seven U.S. political leaders tracked in the RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average, marking a striking political transformation from where he was 15 months ago while leaving office.

Trump has a favorability rating of 45.8%, more than three points higher than President Joe Biden’s rating of 42.6%, according to the RCP average.

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Republican Leaders Slam Biden After Jobs Report Shows ‘Massive Miss’

Virginia Star Staff

Republican leaders slammed President Joe Biden after December’s jobs report released Friday reported numbers well below economists’ projections, highlighting the report as another example of how the president mishandled the post-pandemic recovery.

The U.S. economy added only 199,000 jobs in December while unemployment dipped to 3.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected that the economy would add 422,000 jobs in December and that unemployment to fall to 4.1%.

“Our economy should be soaring right now, but the policies of this administration continue to stifle growth and hold back American businesses and workers,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement.

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Tea Party Patriots Action Calls on McCarthy to Strip Cheney, Kinzinger of Conference Memberships

Virginia Star Staff

Tea Party Patriots Action — the political action arm of the populist conservative movement that sprang up in 2009 — is calling upon House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to strip GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of their conference memberships.

“As members of the January 6 committee, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have become willing agents of Speaker Pelosi’s war on President Trump, Trump administration officials and Trump supporters,” says Jenny Beth Martin, an honorary chairperson for the group and an early member of the grassroots Tea Party movement.

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Producer Price Index Grows the Fastest It Ever Has

Virginia Star Staff

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, soared 9.6% year-over-year as of November, growing at the fastest rate ever measured, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Tuesday.

BLS reported that the PPI, which measures inflation before it hits consumers, grew 0.8% in November. As of October, the measure grew just 8.6% on a year-over-year basis and just 0.6% in that month alone, meaning wholesale prices grew more and to a worse yearly figure in November than they did in October.

Economists projected a year-over-year increase of the core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, to be 7.2% year-over-year and a 0.4% increase from October, according to CNBC. Demand for goods was the biggest driver for the surge in producer prices, increasing 1.2% in November, slightly down from October’s 1.3% figure. Final demand services inflation increased 0.7% in November, much faster than October’s 0.2%.

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Law Professor John Eastman on Steve Bannon’s War Room Explains Why Pelosi’s January 6 Select Committee is Not Legitimate

Julie Carr

  Stephen K. Bannon welcomed Conservative attorney, legal scholar, and professor of law John Eastman on Monday’s War Room: Pandemic to explain his attorney’s letter to Congress citing the illegitimacy of his subpoena regarding the January 6 committee hearings. Bannon: I’m going to start with John Eastman. God do I…

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Trump: 13 GOP Incumbents Targeted for Party Challenge in 2022 Congressional Races

Virginia Star Staff

There are thirteen House and Senate races targeted so far by former President Donald Trump’s revenge tour to unseat GOP incumbents who voted to impeach him in January or to support Biden administration policies.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) voted to impeach President Trump after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

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Commentary: Establishment Republicans Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory Yet Again with the ‘Infrastructure’ Boondoggle

Virginia Star Staff
Adam Kinzinger

Having been in the D.C. area for over 20 years now, I’ve come to live by the maxim, “Always bank on the GOP snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” I was proved right again this last week when 13 Republicans in the House helped pass the $1.2 trillion “Gateway to the Green New Deal” otherwise masquerading as an infrastructure bill. 

As I wrote back in August, only 23 percent of this bill is really for infrastructure. The other 77 percent is for things like the $213 billion “allocated for retrofitting two million homes and buildings to make them more “sustainable,” whatever that means. Or the $20 billion for racial equity and environmental justice. Or the mileage tax, as in yes, they want to explore taxing you for every mile you drive in your car.

In the wake of an absolutely stunning clean sweep for Republicans in Virginia from governor to House of Delegates—in a state Republicans hadn’t won statewide in a dozen years and where they’ve lost the last four presidentials—Republicans in D.C. just couldn’t find the nerve to simply say “No.” They couldn’t “Just say no,” kids. It is one of the most beautiful and underused words in the English language, but Republicans appear simply incapable of using it. 

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Commentary: The Left Destroys Everything It Touches

Admin

What was the purpose for the insane opposition of the Left between 2017 and 2021? To usher in a planned nihilism, an incompetent chaos, a honed anarchy to wreck the country in less than a year?

No sooner had Donald Trump entered office than scores of House Democrats filed motions for impeachment, apparently for thought crimes that he might, some day, in theory, could possibly commit.

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The John Fredericks Show: Former President Trump Talks Infrastructure, Mitch McConnell, and the 2024 Election

Julie Carr

Wednesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks talked with former President Donald Trump about exorbitant infrastructure spending, Mitch McConnell’s future, and running in 2024.

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Commentary: Republicans Will Defend Their Corporate Friends but Not Their Voters

Virginia Star Staff

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has so many problems to solve right now. A crime wave leaves hundreds of Americans dead and has turned our cities into war zones. A border crisis allows hundreds of thousands of illegals to enter our country. A domestic war on terror threatens basic civil liberties. 

But none of these crises have persuaded Graham to go to war. No, the civilizational question that demands his full zeal has to do with . . .  a fast-food chain. 

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Commentary: Republicans Troll Themselves into Accepting the Left’s War on Our Heritage

Virginia Star Staff

The House of Representatives voted last week to remove all Confederate-related statues from public view. Only 120 lawmakers—all Republicans—voted against the measure. One defender of the move was House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). He said it was a good idea because all the banished figures were Democrats.

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McCarthy: Maybe Cheney Is ‘Closer’ to Pelosi Than GOP Conference After Joining January 6 Committee

Virginia Star Staff

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that Republican Rep. Liz Cheney accepting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nomination to the Jan. 6 Select Committee is “unprecedented” and “shocking,” suggesting that the Wyoming congresswoman might be “closer” to Pelosi than the GOP conference at this point.

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Commentary: Asking the Wrong Question About Liz Cheney

Virginia Star Staff

To the delight of actual conservatives everywhere, it appears that U.S. Representaative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will soon finally be out of the GOP leadership, rectifying a huge mistake made less than three months ago by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House GOP leadership when they steadfastly supported her against a groundswell of calls from voters for her removal.

At that time, McCarthy passionately defended her presence in leadership ahead of a secret ballot vote, with many describing his contribution as decisive in turning the tide toward keeping Cheney as House GOP conference chairman. That McCarthy would be forced to reverse himself just a few months later shows that his judgment as a leader is fatally flawed.

The question conservatives should be asking now is not why we need to oust Liz Cheney but how she ever got into leadership in the first place?

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Virginia Representative Spanberger Calls for New Leadership, Does Not Vote for Pelosi as Speaker

Eric Burk

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) was one of just five House of Representative Democrats who did not vote for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) to continue as Speaker of the House in the 117th Congress.

“In a time marked by historically low trust in our government, new voices are necessary to moving forward and achieving real progress,” Spanberger said in a press release. “Last Congress, I kept my promise to vote for new leadership upon my swearing-in – and in this Congress, I remain consistent in my commitment to ushering in new leadership. Accordingly, I did not vote for Speaker Pelosi.”

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Virginia Representative Spanberger Calls for New Leadership, Does Not Vote for Pelosi as Speaker

Eric Burk

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) was one of just five House of Representative Democrats who did not vote for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) to continue as Speaker of the House in the 117th Congress.

“In a time marked by historically low trust in our government, new voices are necessary to moving forward and achieving real progress,” Spanberger said in a press release. “Last Congress, I kept my promise to vote for new leadership upon my swearing-in – and in this Congress, I remain consistent in my commitment to ushering in new leadership. Accordingly, I did not vote for Speaker Pelosi.”

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Kevin McCarthy Rolls Out Bill to Fully Fund Trump’s Border Wall, Cut Off Sanctuary Cities

Admin

by Will Racke   House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy formally introduced Friday a bill that would set aside more than $23 billion to build President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, drawing attention to a key concern of Republican voters ahead of the November midterm elections. The proposal, known as the…

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