McCarthy: Washington Democrats Have Failed To Live Up To Their Responsibility, Republicans Will Lead PDF Print E-mail

Washington D.C. – Congressman Kevin McCarthy gave the following remarks at a House Republican leadership press conference:

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"Well once again, this Republican Conference will lead.  What I am ashamed of, are the Democrats on the other side not whipping up ideas but whipping just to say no. America is a better place than that. Americans deserve an honest approach. No more tricks, no more accounting gimmicks, no more broken promises."

TRANSCRIPT:

The country is very stark and you have two different types of leadership in this government. You have one in the White House that doesn't know how to lead except from the back – a man that knew that the debt crisis was coming even when he voted against it a number of years ago. He said he has changed his ways, but has never produced a plan. You have a Senate that has never produced a budget in more than 800 days, and only talks about what they can't bring up, but can't produce an idea.

You have a Speaker and a Leader in this House that have sat down with the other party for months to find compromise. When they could not find an end that the other side could agree to, we produced our own bill that would layout a framework of where we could go—Cut, Cap and Balance.  We sent it to the Senate as the way the Constitution tells us to do. The difficulty is not the fact that the Senate never took up bill, but that they never sent back any other ideas. That is contrary to everything we believe as Americans, that's contrary to everything we believe as elected representatives. You have a responsibility to lead, you have a responsibility to join the debate, you have a responsibility to put an idea out when the country is in a time of crisis. Well once again, this Republican Conference will lead.  What I am ashamed of, are the Democrats on the other side not whipping up ideas but whipping just to say no. America is a better place than that. Americans deserve an honest approach. No more tricks, no more accounting gimmicks, no more broken promises.

So, what our Speaker did was sit down over the weekend, with Democrats and Republicans in the room, and found compromise. Republicans don't think this bill is perfect. Why? Because we did compromise. But I will tell you the momentum is moving in our direction. We will put out our ideas and that  include Democrat ideas as well.  We will rise to the occasion one more time. But as the Constitution says, it will have to go to the other house. The responsibility is going to be on their side to make sure it moves forward.