Announcement By the Clerk

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Madam Clerk, I rise tonight in the spirit of 1923 to address the House.

Madam Clerk, I rise to nominate Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.

Madam Clerk, first let me express my deep appreciation and the appreciation of everybody in this room for the work you are doing.

Our Clerk has stepped up and reflects our House's best tradition of preparation and dedication to this institution, and we are grateful.

From the first Speaker of the House, the Honorable Frederick Muhlenberg, to the one who will be elected next, Kevin McCarthy, the role of Speaker of the House is one of the most beloved in American history.

The Speaker's mission is to carry out the principled goals and objectives of his or her party while at the same time protecting this institution and the traditions of the people's House all the while remaining faithful to that imperative in our preamble of the Constitution to ``promote the general welfare.''

It is a difficult job that takes a special personality with deep affection for the House, robust courage, a sense of humor, and great amounts of humility and patience.

I have watched Kevin McCarthy for longer than my 8 years serving in this Chamber, and I can say without hesitation that Kevin has brought these foundational traits of leadership to bear for the good of this institution and for the good of the American people.

It is said that a nation not in control of her finances cannot control her destiny, and I agree. From our many conversations over many years, I have no doubt that our next Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, agrees.

In the Republican Commitment to America, Leader McCarthy charged our Republican Conference with taking on his two biggest concerns facing this world and this Nation: China and our domestic national debt and deficit.

Over the past 2 years, we have lost our way on spending--printing too much money at our central bank and spending here in Congress like drunken sailors.

This bad policy palooza went into overdrive in the past 2 years with some $5 trillion in new spending demanded by President Biden and now delivered by the House minority--whose own budget chair famously said that there is effectively no limit to what America can print, borrow, and spend.

Of course, this is madness, and it is not anchored in any economic tenet, and there is not a single one of us here who isn't demanding a return to fiscal discipline.

And who can deliver fiscal discipline?

Kevin McCarthy.

On the point of spending, let me show you, Madam Clerk, a list of everyone who has written me in the Second Congressional District who has asked me to cut spending. I am holding up a blank piece of paper.

No one has asked me to cut spending in writing, and there are not many people who get a lot of mail in this House to cut spending and to set spending priorities. In contrast, we get hundreds of letters asking us to increase spending.

But we are at a critical point in this Nation's fiscal health, and there is one person to help see us through it: Kevin McCarthy.

How do I know?

Because he has said it himself, and he has identified how to do it. In 2018 then-Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy brought a balanced budget amendment to the floor of this House. Mr. McCarthy said, by our actions we have shown Washington's spending problem can't be boiled down to a lack of will. It is a problem of structure and process, and everyone knows the process of government funding in Washington is broken.

He went on to say that when you change structure, you change behavior, and that no matter what, we know that if the structure set up by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 has only worked to its successful completion four times in 44 years, then we have nothing to lose by making big changes.

That is your next Speaker on the floor of this House in 2018.

Kevin McCarthy is committed to making big changes. We have heard it in our conference meetings. We have heard it in our rules debates. We know this includes reforming the budget process, fighting to bring all 12 appropriations bills to the floor under regular order and on time, and crafting changes to structurally rein in spending in this House.

These changes will bring sanity back to our fiscal process. I am committed to bringing sanity back to the fiscal process, and I hope every Member on this floor will be and follow Mr. McCarthy's lead.

Much has been said by my friends on the other side of the aisle--my good friends, the so-called popcorn caucus this week, if you will--over the past few days about 1923, and we are having a robust discussion here among House Republicans as to who will be the next Speaker of the House.

Back in 1923 the insurgency among Republicans then was from the center left of the Republican Party. Today, it is from the center right. But there is more to the story in that fight 100 years ago, and I want to remind my friends of that history.

When Fred Gillett was elected Speaker on the ninth ballot in 1923, the outcome was a more robust, more unified Republican Conference, one that would go to work with President Calvin Coolidge, cut government spending, balance the budget, and cut taxes while paying down the debt.

House Republicans 100 years ago unleashed a pro-growth agenda. House Republicans under Speaker Kevin McCarthy will unleash a pro-growth agenda to get this economy moving. That pro-growth agenda benefited families in the 1920s. The McCarthy pro-growth agenda will benefit families across this country today.

A century later, under the next Speaker Kevin McCarthy, mark my words, this party will come together to unleash American energy, make the Trump tax cuts permanent, rein in runaway government spending, and fight for a balanced budget.

So I stand today with unqualified support to nominate my friend, the next Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

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