Afternoons house debate overous ing Kevin Mccarthy as speaker of the house. Mr. Gaetz thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield as much time as he may consume to my colleague from virginia, mr. Good. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. Before the gentleman speaks, i would remind the parties that all need to be heard. Please clear the well and clear the aisles and any extraneous conversations need to be taken from the floor. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Good thank you, mr. Speaker. Like so many others, i deeply regret that we are here in what was a totally avoidable situation. I must take you back to january, however, which for many of us was about not repeating the failures of the past and letting Republican Voters across the country down once again, when in the past for many years when republicans have had majorities in this chamber, weve passed our major spending bills predominantly with democrat votes, something the other side of the house has never and would never do with majority control. Back in january, i expressed my concern that the previous two years during my first term here in the house, we had not used every tool at our disposal to fight against the harmful, radical democrat agenda that is destroying the country, bankrupting the country, and under which the American People are suffering. But most in here wouldnt know that i helped persuade my five colleagues who comprised the remaining resistance in the wee Morning Hours of january 7 to switch our votes to present to let mr. Mccarthy become speaker. And i went to him on this very floor to tell him that he was finally going to become speaker on the next vote. In that moment, it was clear to me that i or we could have asked for anything in exchange for switching our votes to present, but i and we asked for nothing. The very next week, i requested and had a meeting with Speaker Mccarthy to tell him he had my full support and that i wanted him to be successful because the country needed him to be successful. In the ensuing months, i helped him narrowly pass the parents bill of rights and the limits they grow bill, and i think both of those by one or two votes, helping persuade some of my most conservative colleagues to come along despite some of the concerns they had with those bills. And we remain united as a other conservative fiscal reforms. Unfortunately, however, that unity and that commitment to significant year one cuts and spending reforms were discarded in the fail responsibility act i call it which passed overwhelmingly once again with a majority of democrat votes, validating the concern many of us had in january. Many of us had begged the speaker repeatedly to utilize the debt ceiling, to leverage spending cuts and reforms but instead he negotiated an unlimited increase to the debt ceiling through january 2025. As much as we can come together and gleefully spend through january of 2025 with no significant wins in the failed responsibility act for the American People. But the speaker said we would use appropriations to bring the fight and finally reduce our spending. He said the levels of the f. R. A. Were the ceiling and not the floor and committed, recommitted multiple times to go back to the 1. 714 trillion that were the limit, save, grow levels and historically saving 100 billion and lowering the deficit this year under republican majority from 2. 2 trillion to 2. 1 trillion. Thats what were asking the Republican House to do to go to 2. 1 trillion. Meanwhile, the speaker had committed to bring with a balanced budget vote to this floor, something thats still not happened despite the work thats been done in our Budget Committee to mark it up and have it ready to come to the floor. He also promised that we would bring all 12 appropriation bills well before the september 30 fiscal deadline. We did not. We simply as republicans needed the speaker to cast the vision, request the support of the entire conference, all of whom voted for the limit, save, grow levels except for four who wanted to go even further, to lead us in joining him, sticking with him, supporting him and sending the most conservative spending bills with the most conservative cuts possible to the senate as the best starting position for negotiations with the senate. Many of us begged and pleaded with the speaker to do that over the past five months. When the speaker failed us to pass our spending bills, bringing only one of 12 to the floor before the august district work period, members began to negotiate among themselves without the speaker to find compromise i was among those who reluctantly agreed to split the limit, save, grow and reluctantly decided to go to 1. 526 to pass our bills to the senate and we essentially forced the speaker with the pressure of the calendar the shutdown threat of the calendar to bring those four bills to the floor last week, all of which i voted for despite some of them not cutting the levels wed agreed to and other concerns i had with the bill. I reluctantly voted for the continuing resolution because it cut an additional 10 billion in the month of october, going back to the precovid 1. 47 for the nondiscretionary and it had Border Security. I voted for that. However, when that vote failed the speaker in the republican Conference Meeting made it abundantly clear he was willing to do anything to avoid the temporary discomfort and the pressure of a pause and the 15 of the nonessential federal Government Operations which would guarantee we would lose to the Senate Democrats and the white house. If youre not willing to say no, youre guaranteed to lose. That was confirmed with the passage of the unconditional 45day c. R. This past soured. Once again with 209 democrat votes. The republican bill 2091 democrats, 510 on the senate side. The speaker fought through 15 votes in january to become speaker but was only willing to fight through one failed c. R. Before surrendering to the democrats on saturday. We need a speaker who will fight for something, anything besides just staying or becoming speaker. If there was ever a time to fight with 33 trillion in national debt, a 2 trillion deficit this year, 40year high inflation, 20year high interest rates, a downgraded credit rating, and for the first time in modern history, the polls showing despite all the help of the media, blaming republicans in the house, the polls showed the republic was blaming biden and the democrats for a immeant shutdown. If not fight now, when would we fight . Now is and was the time. With the democrats driving the fiscal bus off the cliff at 100 miles per hour, we cannot simply contend to be the party that slows it down to 95 just so we can sit in the front seat and wear the captains hat. Our current debt and spending trajectory is unsustainable. We need a speaker, ideally somebody who doesnt want to be speaker, and hasnt pursued that at all costs for his entire adult life who will meet the moment and do Everything Possible to fight for the country, a red line was crossed for me, i regret on saturday, and a regret i must vote against the motion to table as i did and to vote to vacate the chair and i yield back. Mr. Gaetz i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida reserves his time. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I share one thing in common with my colleague, this is a sad day and not a day i expected to live through. Broadly speaking as i look across this floor you can divide members in three groups. Im very happy to be in the first group, the overwhelming majority of my Party Supports the speaker that we elected. Were proud of the leadership hes shown. Were proud of the manner in which hes been willing to work with everybody in our conference, and i believe in this chamber. Theres a second group, a small group, honestly theyre willing to plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for reasons that only they really understand. I certainly dont. And then there are friends on the other side, i mean friends, honestly with great sincerity, i have a lot of friends over there. I recognize that my friends on the other side have a very complex set of partisan, personal, and political calculations to make. And i certainly wouldnt presume to give them any advice about that. But i would say, think long and hard before you plunge us into chaos, because thats where were headed if we vacate the speakership. You know, i personally think theres really three reasons why weve come to this point, and thats because at each three of these critical minutes, the speaker did the right thing. First there was a speaker vote. You know, he got 85 of the vote in our conference, 90 of the vote from republicans on this floor, yet we had a small group that decided no, they would dictate what they want. He didnt let that happen. He fought. Now, he fought for himself but he fought for 90 of us, too, that wanted him to be the speaker. And i appreciate that. Then of course we had the debt ceiling deal. Nobody here thought he could pass a bill. Nobody in america thought he could pass a bill. He did what speakers are supposed to do. He passed the bill. Then he sat down and negotiated with a Democratic Senate and a democratic president and came back with a good deal. A deal that would limit spending. He did the right thing. Finally last saturday on this floor, we were on the verge of a Government Shutdown, a Government Shutdown that the vast majority of members in this chamber did not want, a substantial majority on my side, an overwhelming majority on the democrat side. He put his political neck on the line knowing this day was coming to do the right thing, the right thing for the country without a doubt, my friends and i agree on that whether or not we agree on the speaker. He did the right thing. He did the right thing i think for this institution. He showed it could function in a time of crisis. And finally, i think he did the right thing for our party. He made sure that we could continue to negotiate and achieve some of the very objectives my friend from virginia laid out. and and achieve them in a divided government which requires some give and take. Im proud of this speaker. Im proud to stand mind him. Tomorrow morning, win or lose, ill be proud of the people i fight with and the person i fought for, the speaker of the hogs, Kevin Mccarthy. With that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserve. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz mr. Speaker, my friend from oklahoma says that my colleagues and i who dont support Kevin Mccarthy would plunge the house and the country into chaos. Chaos is Speaker Mccarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word. The one thing that the white house, house democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican Caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common, Kevin Mccarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didnt really mean and never intended to live up to. I dont think voting against Kevin Mccarthy is chaos. I think 33 trillion in debt is chaos. I think that facing a 2. 2 trillion annual deficit is chaos. Thing not passing single subject spending bills is chaos. I think the fact that we have been governed in this country since the mid 1990s by continuing resolution and omnibus is chaos. And the way to liberate ourselves from that is a series of reforms to this body that i would hope would outlast Speaker Mccarthys time here, would outlast my time here and would outlast either of our majorities. Reforms i have heard some of the most conservative members of the body fight for and some of the reforms we have been battling for what ive even heard those in the democrat caucus say would be worth beyond and helpful to the house like open amendments. Like understanding what the budget. Is we have been out of compliance with budget laws for most of my life. Most of many of your lives. And think by the way if we did those thing, if we had single subject bill, if we had an understanding on the top line, if we had open amendment, if we had trust and honesty and understand, there would be times when my conservative colleagues and i would lose, might be a few times when hed win, thered be times when we might form partnerships that might otherwise not be really predictable in the american body politic, but the American People would see us legislating. These last few days we have so spended the momentum we had established a week earlier where we are bringing bill to the floor, voting on them. Staying late at night working hard. Thats what the American People expect. Its something Speaker Mccarthy hasnt deliver. Thats why i moved to vacate the chair. I reserve. The chair the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole i yield two minutes to my very good friend, mr. Emmer of minnesota. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Emmer thank you. Kevin mccarthy has earned. This under Speaker Mccarthys leadership our House Republican majority has defied all odds and overperformed expectations again and again and again. It all started with the speakers race when our speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, showed the American People how he would never give up. It carried over into the speaker spearheading a rules package to create the most transparent, memberdriven legislative process that ive ever seen since ive been here. And since then, Speaker Mccarthys republican majority has been successful in bringing common sense back to our Nations Capital by passing legislation to affirm to affirm a parents right to be involved in their childs education, bolster American Energy production, fully fund veterans care and benefits. Fight back against the regulatory state. And continue delivering on our promise to rein in democrats reckless spend big passing fiscally responsible Appropriations Bills. Weve also achieved historic conservative wins like passing the strongest Border Security legislation in history. Passing the first republicanonly ndaa in history. And passing the first republican only state and foreign operations appropriations bill. So Many Americans are better off because of Kevin Mccarthys leadership. American family, job creators, entrepreneur, service member, Law Enforcement officers and the list goes on and on. These are just a few of our House Republican majority successes. But make no mistake. We need Kevin Mccarthy to remain speaker if were going to stay focused on our mission of delivering commonsense wins for the American People. Weve shown americans what success looks like when we come together as a team. Now its time for us to stand together stronger than ever so we can get back to the work our majority was elected to do. Im proud to support the speaker as we continue championing conservative priorities that will put our country on a better path. Thank you, Speaker Mccarthy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz the opening line of my colleagues speech was that Speaker Mccarthy always overperforms expectations but after tweeting bring it and after engaging in profanelaced tirades at house conference, he just lost a motion to table. So i wouldnt necessarily consider that overperforming expectations. Time and again ive heard my colleagues say, he deserves it because he went through a tough speaker contest. Let me let everyone know, he prevailed in ha speaker contest because he made an agreement to fulfill certain commitments to make this an open and honest process and he has failed to meet those commitments and thats why we are here. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves his time they feel gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield three minutes to my good friend, mr. Jordan of ohio. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Jordan i thank the gentleman for yielding. On january 3rbg we said the 118th congress is about three things. Pass the bills that need passed. Do the oversight work that needs to be done. And stop the inevitable omnibus that comes from the United States senate right before the holidays. Kevin mccarthy has been rock solid on all three. We have passed the bills we told the american pee would pass. 87,000 i. R. S. Agent, that bill passed. Parents bill of right that bill passed. Border security, Immigration Enforcement legislation, the strongest bill ever to pass the Congress Passed earlier this year. We have done what we told them we were going to do. We cant help if the senate wont take up those good, commonsense bills. Theyll have to answer to the American People come election day. Oversight. We have done the oversight that were supposed to do because of our oversight we know that parents were targeted by the department of justice. Because of our oversight we know 51 former intel officials misled the country weeks before the most important election we have. Because of our oversight the disinformation governance board at the department of Homeland Security is gone. Because of our oversight, the meme toe moe attacking prolife catholics have been rescinded. Because of our oversight unannounced visits to americans homes by i. R. S. Agents has stopped. That happened that happened under Speaker Mccarthy. We know theres a big old ugly bill coming at the end of the year. All kinds of garbage in it. Were still in that fight. We dont know how that one will shake out. But we do know. This on saturday, we didnt take the senates bill. They tried to send over and shove it down our throats on saturday. We didnt take that bill. And it was a tough position he was in. That were five options on the table last week. Option one was send a longterm c. R. Over there that would have leveraged the 1 cut, something a bunch of us voted for, both parties. Couldnt get the votes for that one. Second option, focus on the one option the country is now completely focused on, the border issue. We couldnt get votes for that one either. When the senate tried to send us that bill he said no to it. I think the speaker has kept his word. I know my colleagues and friends are saying different. I think he has kept his word. On those three things we talked about on january 3 and that entire week. He has kept his word. I think we should keep him as speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Gaetz the problem with my friend from ohios argument is many of the bill he is referenced as having past are not law. We are on a fast track to an omnibus bill and it is difficult to champion oversight when House Republicans havent even sent a subpoena to hunter biden. Its hard to make the argument that oversight is the reason to continue when it sort of looks like failure theater. I yield such time to my colleague from arizona, mr. Biggs. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognize how much time . Mr. Gaetz what he can consume. The speaker pro tempore so much as he may consume. Mr. Biggs thank you, mr. Speaker. This is a serious time. And my mind immediately goes to the young deputy from cochise county who two nights ago, while trying to apprehend a runaway vehicle smuggling humans across the border, suffered major injuries, transported to pima county, where hes in a tucson hospital fighting for his life. Im talking about a border that remains wide open. Where drugs come through. Tucson sector, the most gotaways, known and unknown, of any sector along the bored. Terrorists coming. In people conducting criminal conduct coming. In criminal gang members. Human smugglers. Sex traffickers. They come across our bored. To the tune of hundreds of thousands every month. Now. I appreciate my colleagues and their position. But i would suggest something. I dont think you can just skip to last weekend and a and say oh my goodness. A c. R. Came out last weekend on saturday. I think we need to go back. To january. Ill say this. This body came together on the republican side and we passed a good Border Security piece of legislation. H. R. 2. Thats good. Then last week we passed the d. H. S. Bill and the d. O. D. Bills, which had funding for our c. B. P. , i. C. E. , military leaders, military men and women. But why did we why were we successful in doing that . What happened to motivate us to get there . Well for one thing, we didnt bostonner to pass the 12 Appropriations Bills as required under the budget control and impounds law of 1974. We didnt do it. You know how many times thats not been done . 25 years in a row. And you know how many c. R. s this body has passed in that same period of time . 130. You know what that gets you . A 2 trillionplus structural deficit. Like we had in fiscal year 2023. You know what that leads you to . A 33 trillion national debt, which is where we sit today. Leads you to somewhere north of 700 billion in interest payments. And you know why that happened . Because this body is entrenched in a suboptimal path and refuses to leave it. Refuses to leave that path. You cannot change if youre unwilling to change. We had every opportunity to change. We were promised change. We were promised we were going to go ahead, we were going to get those 12 bills done, and if we got those 12 bills done, do you know why you do 12 bills . Because it allows you to reduce spending, get rid of wasteful, duplicative programs. It allows you to set and agenda to restore fiscal sanity. We chose to not do it again. We were promised wed do it. Thats why at the end some people said, well vote present. Go ahead. Were going to put our trust in mr. Mccarthy to become speaker. That didnt happen. I suspected that would be the case. That was my struggle. That was my struggle last november and december. I it rated it to this body, our conference, anyway. When we got to the debt ceiling, again that seemed to spring upon everybody like a surprise. And when that happened, i was in there for some of those negotiations on where that number would be. And i was astonished how that 1. 5 trillion number was negotiated. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. But i will tell you this. To his credit, the speaker told us one thing that i believe to be true. He said that is basically the poker game, he can sit down at the table. I told my colleagues who supported that 1. 5 trillion in eight months that youre willing to raise the debt ceiling, thats the opening marker. And indeed it was. Now projections are many trillions of dollars above that. Yes, i think its time to make a change. Im not the only one. And thus it is somber. But what have we failed to accomplish . Why didnt we get this stuff done . When were campaigning, were talking about an extension of the debt ceiling to january of 2025. Were talking about additional ukraine funding. Maybe thats good in your districts, maybe its not. But that moneys not offset. Were not paying for it. We havent designated how were going to pay for that. The same with the disaster package. The i. R. S. Remains 80 increased. I would tell you, i could go down the list but ill tell you why this happens. When you dont do your 12 budget bills and you rely ultimately on a c. R. Ill get to the calendar in a second. What happens is you cannot leverage this administration to actually enforce the border laws you need to have enforced. This is a lawless biden regime. They will not enforce border laws. And we can pass them until were blue in the face. But until you leverage the budget and the spending, you will not see enforcement by this administration. Look at the calendar that we were just provided last week. Were supposed to finish by november 3 our 12 bills. By november 17, thats when were supposed to see that the conference committees have come together, both sides, and weve resolved this. I dont believe that thats going to happen. It wasnt going to happen before. You were betting on it to come again i urge you to bet on the come and bet on the reality and why i cant support the speaker any longer and vote for the motion to vacate and reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. Members are advised to direct your comments to the chair, please. The gentleman from oklahoma. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield to my very good friend from arkansas, mr. Westerman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from arkansas is recognized. Mr. Westerman selch. This is a signal to those reading psalms to take a break before you move on. The psalmist used it to emphasize the statement. King david said blessed be the lord who daily bears our burden and the god who is our foundation. That is a prefound statement with huge implications and deserves more than a cursory consideration. Within the next hour, this house will vote yea or nay to vacate the speakers chair, a profound action with huge implications. This was last tried in 1910. Joseph cannon won the vote, 113 years later my office is in the Cannon Office building and uncle joe cannons statue sits outside this chamber. No living human has taken the vote were about to take it. It deserves that we pause and reflect, that we consider deeply the ramification of our actions. To my fellow republicans who would consider voting yes to removing our republican speaker, please pause and ask yourself two questions, will your yes vote make america stronger . Will your yes vote strengthen conservative policies . If you believe yes is the right vote, please stand before this body and the American People and articulate your plan, not your grievances or your wishes, your plan. Convince the mass majority of the republican conference that strongly disagrees with you to follow you. If you cannot do that, which you have failed to do so far, then voting yes is, at the least, a disruptive overreaction and it is selfish and bad for conservative policies and bad for america. Thats why i strongly support speaker Kevin Mccarthy and why, without hesitation or reservation, i will vote no on this disastrous resolution. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz theres nothing selfish about wanting a speaker of the house who tells the truth. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves his time. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to my very good friend from kentucky and fellow member of the rules committee, mr. Massie. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Massie, is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Massie as the only still serving of the motion to vacate Speaker Boehner, this motion to vacate is a terrible idea. As the only member who is serving here who took every chance to vote against Speaker Boehner and vote against speaker ryan, i can tell you this chamber has been run better, more conservatively and more transparently under mr. Mccarthy than any other speaker that ive served under. As a member of the rules committee, one of three conservatives who were placed there out of trust, the speaker gave us a blocking position by putting three of us on there to keep an eye on the rules committee to make sure the process was fair and even. I can tell you its been fair and even. None of us are voting against the speaker today. Regular order is at odds with predetermined outcomes, yet the speaker is being accused of not holding to regular order and predetermined outcomes at the same time. It is not possible. You cannot be for both at the same time. I was a party to the january agreement and i can tell you that there were promises in there but there was never a promise for an outcome. There was never a promise you could force joe biden to sign something. There was only the promise that we would try, and try we have. We have tried in the rules committee. We have tried on the floor. Weve been trying this since this summer. Theres enough blame to go around why we dont have 12 bills. Part of it was a relitigation of the debt limit deal. By the way, there was no promise on the debt limit deal, no conditions on that in january, zero whatsoever. I was in the room for that. So the 12 bills were delayed over, what, 100 billion. Thats a lot of money. But its nothing compared to the 2 trillion i came here to object to with Speaker Pelosi and President Trump pushed that bill through. Weve had over 500 amendments. Listen, this is a referendum on this institution. We have tried regular order. Speaker mccarthy has tried regular order. If regular order fails today and you vacate the speaker, nobody will try again, this institution will fail. Please do not vacate the speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida reserves his time. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thanks very much, mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my very good friend from california, mr. Mcclintock. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Mcclintock mr. Speaker, if ever there was a time for sobriety, wisdom, and caution in this house, it is right now. If this motion carries, the house will be paralyzed. We can expect week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be conducted. The democrats will revel in republican dysfunction and the public will rightly be repulsed. It will end when the democrats are able to enlist a caucus of republicans to join the coalition to end the impasse. This house will shift dramatically to the left and will effectively end Republican House majority that the voters elected in 2022, and this in turn will neutralize the only counterweight in our elected government to the woke lefts control of the senate and the white house at a time when their policies are destroying our economy and have opened our borders to invasion. There are turning points in history whose significance is only realized by the events they unleash. This is one of those times. We are at the precipice. There are only minutes left to come to our senses and realize the grave danger our country is in at this moment. Dear god, grant us the wisdom to see it and to save our country from it. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz mr. Speaker, there is nothing sober, wise or cautious about the path we are on. We are on a path to financial rouen if this house does ruin if this house does not take a different posture, a different procedure and yield to different outcomes and a better future. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from reserves his time. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield 1 1 2 minutes to mr. Jimenez from florida. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Mr. Jimenez i stand before my colleagues as a great representative of the state of florida and truly am beyond blessed to represent the Miamidade County and the florida keys and im proud to represent my community before this congress, to stand with a leader who consistently has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our country and principles that define us as americans, Kevin Mccarthy. This is historic, the first time in over 100 years this has been attempted but also because were part of a congress with historically tight majorities, for the republics in the house and the democratic white house, divided government, thats what we have. The need to negotiate and find solutions to the issues facing this country. Thats a reflection of the principles that are uniquely american. Principles that make this country exceptional and principles that allowed me in exile to come here fleeing communist cuba to serve in this very institution. You see, i wasnt born here but everything that i am, everything that i ever will be is thanks to america. The best part about it, the story of the community im proud to represent is the story of many in this body is that we are not the exception in america, we are the rule. Thats the america Kevin Mccarthy fought for his entire year. Kevin mccarthy is a champion of the American Dream and proved it. Thomas jefferson said i predict future happiness for americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the guise of taking care of them. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Gimenez lets keep Kevin Mccarthy, a great man, a great leader. I thank you and yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida, mr. Gaetz. Mr. Gaetz may i inquire of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida has 9 and 3 4 remaining. Mr. Gaetz i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oklahoma. Mr. Cole i yield to the gentlelady from iowa. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Mrs. Hinson i rise in support of our speaker, Kevin Mccarthy. Lets be very clear here, we would not have a House Republican majority without the relentless efforts of this man, our speaker. Under his leadership, joe bidens policies have had a check and balance. His policies have created a horrific border crisis. 10,000 Illegal Immigrants a day surging across our border. Under Speaker Mccarthy, republicans have passed legislation to secure our border. Joe biden has done everything to cash American Energy, selling our oil reserves to china. Under Speaker Mccarthy, republicans have passed legislation to unleash American Energy dominance. Joe biden has spent taxpayer dollars like theres no tomorrow. Under Speaker Mccarthy, we have returned to passing single subject Appropriations Bills and ending the status quo of omnibus spending. One of the most valuable pieces of advice i received was from Kevin Mccarthy when i got here to d. C. He told me to separate the signal from the noise. The noise is those who are causing chaos for their own personal benefit while ignoring the needs of their constituents and this country, grinding our work here to a halt. The signal is the many accomplishments that weve delivered for the American People with Speaker Mccarthy at the helm, the signal is the failures coming out of the white house time and time again, the signal is the work that we must do today and Going Forward to save our country for my kids and yours. My colleagues today here have a choice, be a chaos agent or get back to work, so i call on my colleagues, lets separate the signal from the noise. Lets support our speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, so we can get back to work for the American People. Thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida, mr. Gaetz. Mr. Gaetz thank you, mr. Speaker. I think ive caught the signal, too. The signal is 22 trillion in debt facing 2 trillion of annual deficits. Our fellow americans may be watching thinking, how does it happen . How does the greatest country in the world have a process so broken it would be laughed out of the rooms in the halls of the state legislatures where many of us come from . Heres how it works. The law says were supposed to have the very single subject spending bills my colleague referenced in the summer, that were supposed to have that and move it. But theres a dirty little secret in this town. And that is it you delay, if you hold the bills, if that is if you delay if you hold the bill, if you make multiple contradictory policies as Speaker Mccarthy has done and you back everybody up, no one wants to shut the government down, of course when people are backed up against shutdown politics, the decision calculus changes. So year after year, decades after decade after decade, we break the law and do the same thing. We pass the continuing resolution, then we pass another continuing resolution and then its either another continuing resolution or an omnibus bill or a series of mini buses that lump these disparate things together. The American People want all of us to take votes on single subject matters. They dont want to see these things all mushed together and log rolled. It was concerning to me to hear of news of a secret deal on ukraine funding that would have log rolled more money with ukraine with our southern border. Now how offensive is that to our customs and Border Patrol . To our i. C. E. , to people suffering as a consequence of our border, that some of our klees are only willing to stand up and fight our border if they can send billions to ukraine to protect their border too. Thats why i brought this motion to vacate. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you, i yield one minute to the majority leader, mr. Scalise. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Scalise i thank my friend from oklahoma for yielding. When we go back to january, as many people have, we knew that it was going to be a narrow majority. We also knew that it wasnt going to be easy. How many of us came here because we thought this job was going to be easy . How many of us thought the task ahead of us to i address the problems in this country was going to be easy . One thing we did know is that if we were going to finally start confronting problems that had been ignored for years and years and year we had to change the way that this place worked. And one thing Speaker Mccarthy embraced from day one is to start making those kind of changes to this institution. Opening up the process. Allowing members to be more engaged. Having amendments come to the floor. Single subject bills. Doing Appropriations Bills. Yes, making that happen overnight is not something that happens automatically. But it started to to happen. And we are now seeing the fruits of it. Just last week, we had four different Appropriations Bills on this house floor. Four different ones. Now those bills took weeks and weeks to finally get to the floor. Going through an open committee process. Hundreds of amendments. Each one of them. Where republicans, demings, could bring their ideas. We debated those boinls the floor. Some until after midnight. Where members could actually participate in the process. This has been a broken process for a long time. But its a process where we, if were going to confront the problems that families are facing, because right now we need to resolve our differences inside this house chamber. Before we can then go and fight for those families who are struggling. But every single day across america, families are struggling with real problems that were going to have to get back to solving. And those problems are real for them. Its inflation. Its the economy. Its high energy costs. Its an open southern border that doesnt just affect the border states. Its affecting every state. Republican districts, democrat districts, Everybody Knows it. And it can be ignored by the white house but this house is the only body that started to take action. When we with h. R. 2 and then with the border bill last week and with the action we took last week over 70 of government funding passed out of the house. However everybody voted, republican or democrat, this house passed funding for over 70 of the federal governments operation and its sitting over in the senate where they passed zero. Were going to beat up each other and talk about our internal processes and we need to get our internal processes working better. But you know what . So does that other body over there and so does the white house. Everybody in this town needs to be engaged in addressing these problems. To but if we dont start here and if we dont focus these next 45 days because thats what weve got in front of us, weve got two bills this week, weve got two more Appropriations Bills next week, and if were going to be confronting those weve got to stay focused on our mission. What the other side does, lets continue to put pressure on them. But we also need to put pressure on ourselves to do our job. And Speaker Mccarthy has been leading at the top of the level to make sure that we have the tools to do our jobs in a different way than the house has done it before. This house is going to have to continue to make those changes. But the American People sent us here to confront those problems. Were finally starting to. This isnt the time to slow that process down. We need to keep doing our work. We need to keep fighting for those families who are struggling. But so does the senate and so does the white house as well. Lets keep doing the work we were sent here to do. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized with 7 3 4 minutes remaining. Mr. Cole commands 12 1 2 minutes left in this debate. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz i agree with everything the majority leader said in those remarks except one thing. It is astonishing to hear any colleague give Speaker Mccarthy credit for moving on to the single subject Appropriations Bills. As you heard my colleague mr. Biggs said that was never the plan from Speaker Mccarthy. The week before we moved on to the single subject appropriations bill, the plan was another c. R. He pitched a c. R. They tried to get us to vote for a c. R. And only when a brave few said we are done governing by continuing resolution, we are here to eulogize the era of continuing resolution. We will not do it. We will in the pass it. These bills can go. The spend make rise and fall as the years pass. But the motion that were going to lump in the department of education and the department of labor with our military and our troops and our Border Patrol is fundamentally unserious and i would suggest chaotic. We cannot do that. It was only because we forced that to happen and by the way if we continue with Speaker Mccarthy, the appropriations process will go right back to what he wanted it to go back to. Just a sideshow. Just as pickup truck show. Something to keep just a puppet show. Just something to keep the ham sthoarns hamster wheel. Continue to back people up to the calendar, centralized power work the lobbyist and special interests that move money through the leadership. Thats how they get their way and thats why the American People have been getting screwed decade after decade and im not going to tolerate it anymore without a fight. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The jment the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole i yield two minutes to my good friend, a member of the appropriations committee, mr. Garcia. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Garcia i want to recalibrate our minds on what is actually happening here today. This proceeding looks important, it feels consequential. But lets look at what else is happening across america. Today about 300 americans will die from fentanyl poisoning. Today about 11,000 people will illegally penetrate our borders. Todays debt is approaching 34 trillion. Todays Mortgage Rates just hit a 25year high now approaching 8 . Our Energy Prices are again at backbreaking highs with gas approaching 8 a gallon in my district. Today china and the c. C. P. Grow strong we are an intent to go to war by 2027. And our military is experiencing record low retention and record low recruitment. This is the reality of today for 335 million americans under president joe biden. Its a dark and scary reality. This republican majority here today in the house is the only firewall against the damaging for a left poll sthoifs biden administration. The single subject appropriation bills that we were supposed to be voting on this week will literally fight to reverse the darkness of these realities and fight inflation, cut spend, secure our border while enhancing our nations security and investing in our soldiers at a meaningful level. But today this body filled with people in fancy suit, led by a few republicans who are running with scissors and supported by democrats who have personal issues with the speaker have uncertain intentions and even more uncertain goals and theyve decided to make today about drama. Not about solving problems and helping our constituents, but about drama. We need to be the nodrama option for america. This party this majority, and i fear that this selfinflicted drama of today jeopardizes our majority and by definition removes the last layer of defense protecting american from this biden administration. Lets dispense with the drama, do our jobs, and move on with defending this beautiful country. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz im here to solve problemstoo but we have decade after decade of history showing us that you dont solve any problems with continuing resolutions and omnibus bills that. Creates more problems, more debt, more inflation, more pain for american families. So the way to solve problems is to break the fever dream of governing by continuing resolution and omnibus bill and instead return to the very single subject spending bills well only get if my resolution passes to via chalet Speaker Mccarthy. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to my very good friend from north carolina, mr. Mchenry. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from north carolina, mr. Mchenry is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Mchenry thank you, mr. Speaker. Every step of the way, Speaker Mccarthy has been doubted. After the first speaker vote he was mocked, right . And after 15, they called him speaker. And even then it was the media and the left that mocked him. With the narrowest republican majority in a generation what did we achieve . We brought the president to the table when he stubbornly said for 100 days he would not negotiate on the debt ceiling. I took him at his word. The speaker said no, well get him to the table. Sure enough, we did. The result . The most conservative spending package weve seen in generations. Largest spending cuts year other year that any congress has passed. Conservative outcomes. So i understand your position on the left. I understand that. But my friends on the right . Why . This past weekend, i understand the frustration on the left, what happened on the continuing resolution. But why would we have conservatives object to that . Why would we have house members object though . We rolled the senate. We never roll the senate as a house. Moreover we never roll the senate to get less spending and we got it this weekend. So i understand why the left is mad. What i dont understand is why some republicans think that thats a bad thing. The frustration for me today, i understand where the liberals are. I know you can support the Constitutional Order except in a moment like this when you are questioned on that. I understand that. You cant be counted on in a moment like this with the state of the speakership. But for republican, why give up a conservative working majority for Better Outcomes and hand the keys over to the democrats . Why would we do that . And furthermore, with this record of success that weve seen Kevin Mccarthy and a republican majority produce in a washington run by democrats, were going to throw that away, resulting in more liberal outcomes, not more conservative ones. Soy understand why the left is where you are today. You dont like an effective conservative majority and i dont blame you. But on the right . We think the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz it is lovely to hear from the principal architect of mr. Mccarthys debt limit deal but heres the reality. The only republican republican the only republicans in america who believe the debt limit deal was conservative are in this chamber right now. Because all over america, republicans think that when you negotiated that debt limit deal, they took your lunch money. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I yield one and a half minutes to my very good friend from my home state, the gentlelady, mrs. Bice. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one and a half minutes. Mrs. Bice thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of speaker Kevin Mccarthy. Under his leadership and a very small fiveseat majority, House Republicans have achieved, contrary to popular belief, numerous victories. We passed the parents bill of right, the Lower Energy Cost act to lower the cost of gasoline and restore American Energy independence. The fiscal responsibility act which was one of the largest enacted cuts with enforceable spending caps in american history. And h. R. 2, the most conservative southern Border Security bill history in history. All of this while fully funding our military and our nations veterans. Let me be abundantly clear. Attempting to remove Speaker Mccarthy will put this house in a stalemate and paralyze our ability to fight for our constituents and instead create a fight amongst one another. We have 43 days to restore fiscal responsibility and advance conserve servetive appropriations priorities. Which is exactly what my colleagues have asked for. Instead we are threatening any house p proceedings. This is an unnecessary distraction. Working together under the leadership of Speaker Mccarthy is of the utmost importance. I stand in i stand and strongly support Kevin Mccarthy for speaker of the house and encourage my republican colleagues to do the same. The speaker pro tempore mr. Col e continues to reserve his time. He has seven minutes remaining and mr. Gaetz controls 5 1 2 in this onehour debate. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Gaetz ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole i yield two minutes to my very good friend, ms. Stephan he can from new york. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Everyone who knows Kevin Mccarthy, friend or foe, knows Kevin Mccarthy is a happy warrior. He is tireless. He has that uniquely american grit. Under kevins speakership that lasted 15 rounds of him never giving up, this republican majority has exceeded all expectations. We reopened the peoples house and passed the strongest Border Security bill in our nations history and passed a energy plan to release Energy Dominance and passed defense bills to support our troops. Under kevins leadership, hes brought hundreds and hundreds of bipartisan members of congress to israel, our greatest ally. Ms. Stefanik he elected the largest republican class ever with the largest number of republican women in history. This boy from bakersfield feels deeply about his constituents and the American People and also includes every one of his colleagues. Hes been to our districts the speaker pro tempore the gentleman will sus is spend. Ms. Stefanik hes cheered us when we havent believed in ourselves and why we proudly support Speaker Mccarthy and why he is our speaker and yield back. The speaker pro tempore it was not the intent to cut the gentlelady off except we have too much chatter going on in the house chamber. Every member deserves to be heard. So if you have private conversations you need to have, please take them to the floor. The gentlelady may continue. Ms. Stefanik the speaker has been to our districts and toasted at our weddings and celebrated the birth of our children, mourned the loss of our loved ones. Now more than ever the republicans must unify. The stakes are too high. Thats why this conference is strongly supporting Kevin Mccarthy as speaker of the house. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz i would say if this house of representatives has exceeded all expectations, then we definitely need higher expectations. And while its heartwarming and kind the speaker calls people on their birthday and visits their district and congratulations them on their children, please know this isnt a critique of the individual, its a critique of the job. The job hasnt been done. Weve had multiple contradictory promises. Its just quite something for those of you keeping track at home, the last three speakers you heard opposing my resolution all voted for the debt deal. So if you believe that the debt limit deal that Speaker Mccarthy brought into law was a good thing, maybe you agree with their perspective. I think the debt limit deal was a terrible deal and really was the original sin of the mccarthy speakership and one of the reasons i seek to vacate the chair now. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. Mr. Cole of oklahoma. Mr. Cole i yield to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Graves. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Graves thank you. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. Weve been here eight months with one of the tightest majorities in modern history. Yet look at the accomplishments of this conservative majority with the majority of republicans voting for, the strongest Border Security of my lifetime, fighting against this incompensable Energy Policy driving up energy costs 40 , utility and gasoline payments, pushing americans into energy poverty. We passed legislation to unleash Americas Energy resources, pushing back this administrations brainless policies on energy. Weve passed legislation to pull back, to stop spending, 4. 8 trillion i want to make note. My friends that are carrying this motion to vacate opposed. We passed legislation to streamline regulations permitting environmental laws for the first time in 40 years. Again, my friends here oppose. We strengthened work requirements for welfare to get people back into the work force. Again, my friends over here opposed. I keep wondering what is going on . Are we redefining what conservative is . Whats going on in this country today . Whats going on in this body where you have Freedom Works heritage, chip roy and jim jordan Say Something is conservative and these folks say its not and theyre right. All of a sudden my phone keeps sending Text Messages, Text Messages saying hey, give me money. Oh, look at that. Give me money. I filed the motion to vacate. Using official actions, official actions to raise money. Its disgusting. Its whats disgusting about washington. Mr. Speaker, weve watched as these folks right here that have brought up this motion to vacate have refused to pay our military service members, refused to pay them. I want to quote my delegation member, my senator from louisiana, john kennedy. If were not going to pay our service members, if theyre not going to be there to protect us next time someone invades america, call a crackhead and let me know how that works out for you. Mr. Cole i yield the gentleman an additional 340 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is yielded 30 seconds. Mr. Graves i heard them make reference to this january agreement, my friends from arizona and florida. Let me be crystal clear, not a single one of them were in the room. You know what . The speaker didnt meet the targets of that january agreement, he exceeded them. The greatest savings in american history, the greatest savings in american history. Mr. Speaker, this isnt about fundraising, this is about our country. Its about our children and our grandchildren. We need to stand behind the slim majority. Mr. Cole 30 seconds. Mr. Graves we need to stand behind the speaker who delivered the best conservative wins for this country. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz my colleague says we passed the strongest border bills in history. Look at the border right now. We didnt use sufficient leverage in the debt limit or anything to get results on the border. The border is a disaster, really something i dont think youll be campaigning on you fixed the border. Second, you said you streamlined regulations. What the gentleman from louisiana doesnt tell you is that all the Regulatory Reform he was just bragging about is waivable by the stroke of a pen of someone in the biden white house. You really think youve got anything for that . Its a total joke. Finally, the welfare to work the gentleman from louisiana said we got. The welfare programs that they said they streamlined with their welfare to work stuff, theyre actually going to grow, because while they did work requirements, they blew out those programs with expanded eligibility. Im glad you guys didnt put work requirements on medicaid, probably would have resulted in medicaid expansion. When it comes to how those raise money, i take no lecture on asking patriotic americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would gravel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership boo all you want, who have hollowed out this town and borrowed against the future of our future generations. Ill be happy to fund my political operation through the work of hardworking americans 10 and 20 and 30 at a time and you all keep showing up at the lobbyist fundraisers and see how that goes for you. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the chair would admonish those speaking from the floor to direct their comments to the chair. The gentleman from oklahoma. Mr. Cole i would require how much time remains for each side . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oklahoma controls three minutes. The gentleman from florida has three minutes as well. Mr. Cole i would advise the gentleman from florida im prepared to close if he is. Mr. Speaker, i yield the balance of my time to my great friend from north dakota, mr. Armstrong. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from north dakota, mrd with the remaining three minutes. Mr. Armstrong thank you, mr. Speaker. Lets be clear why were here, because the incentive structure in this town is completely broken. We no longer value loyalty, integrity, competence or collaboration but instead have descended to a place where clicks, tv hits, and the neverending quest for the most mediocre taste of celebrity drives decisions and encourages juvenile behavior so far beneath this esteemed body. Kevin mccarthy has done more in nine months to restore the speakers house than any speaker in decades. Weve done regular order. Weve had open amendments. And every Single Member of this chamber has the right, the ability, and the opportunity to be heard on the floor. Its been messy. Its been raucous. And at times its been chaotic. And god bless every minute of it. Because democracy is supposed to be hard. And because the alternative is a closeddoor process where 2,000 page bills come out of the Speakers Office at midnight and are forced to the floor the next morning. Kevin mccarthy has broken that cycle. That alone is enough for him to remain our speaker. But that doesnt deliver his opponents what they crave the most, attention. We shouldnt stand for it. I wont stand for it. I will stand here with our speaker, with our leader, that the overwhelming majority of our conference supports. And you need to look no further than where the opponents are sitting today in this chamber. Theyre not over here, theyre over there. So were going to face these challenges together, and i say bring whatever comes next. Because we believe in the job you have done, mr. Speaker. We believe in your vision. And most importantly, we are proud to call Kevin Mccarthy our friend and our speaker of the house. And with that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. The gentleman from florida is recognized with three minutes remaining. Mr. Gaetz to be clear, i tried to get one of the three podiums on the republican side and yall wouldnt let me have them so you sent me over here. Ill make this argument at any desk in this building from the well, from the chair, ill make it on every Street Corner in this country that washington must change. We have to break the cycle. We have to break the fever. And i would hope, truly, that the reforms we are fighting for are reforms that would last and be embraced and that would democratize power in this institution beyond the privileged few who back us up against shutdown politics and christmases and deadlines in order to achieve their objectives. Mr. Speaker, high inflation is on the verge of bankrupting american families. Our economy is breaking in half. A typical American Family cant afford to buy a house in 99 of u. S. Counties. Inflation is stealing more than 700 a month from working americans, nearly 9,000 a year. Kevin mccarthy is the speaker of the house of representatives, and he has failed to take a stand where it matters. So if he wont, i will. I make no apologies for defending the right of every hardworking american to afford a decent life for themselves and for their families. And we have a greater opportunity to do that and to build coalitions under new leadership. We have to rip off the bandaid. We have to get back on a better course. And mr. Speaker, i dont know how this votes going to go. Usually when a vote comes to this floor, its pretty predetermined and this one im not so sure. But i am sure that weve made the right argument, that this place deserves single subject spending bills, that we should have 72 hours to read a bill, that something that spends more than 100 million shouldnt be put on the suspension agenda such that we cant amend it. And there shouldnt be secret side deals made on a continuing resolution to lump ukraine in with Border Security. That is not right for ukraine or Border Security because it fails to give either of those issues the dignity that they would require. But we can return that dignity to this house and get back on a better path and have single subject appropriation bills and set a budget, a budget top line. We havent had a budget in this place since i was in high school. Lets get a budget. Lets get our act together. Lets get on with it. Announcer some of the debate before a historic hat removed theouse speaker, california representative, k mccarthy, from his position. Matt gates with the motion. 216 yeas and 210 nays. Eight republicans voted to remove Kevin Mccarthy as house speaker, representatives andy biggs, kim buck, tim burchett,