Majority Whip McCarthy expresses optimism about the strength of the House Republican Majority, and the prospects for passing tax reform and immigration reform this year
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) appeared before a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society yesterday morning, delivering a speech in which he expressed optimism not only about the strength of the Republican Majority in Congress, but the likelihood that Congress will pass legislation to reform America’s tax code and immigration system this year.
“I feel better about where we are today than at any time two years ago,” McCarthy stated, referring to the House GOP. “When we ended in the fiscal cliff, we were really broken. Regardless of how you feel about the outcome, internally the conference was broken. We were mad at each other. But when we went away on our retreat, I really think we united. The thing that united us was looking at the schedule and putting some thought into it. Because we knew that over the next three months we had the sequester, the debt ceiling, and the CR. But we also knew the sequester was going to hit at the same time as the debt ceiling, and we thought we were going to walk into one more trap, which was going to be about taxes.
“Our only way to get out of it was actually to change the scheduling of what was there – change the sequence. The vote for the debt ceiling is very tough when you know one side is going to have to carry the weight and it’s just Republicans. We got together and said, ‘Why don’t we move the debt ceiling for ‘No budget no pay.’ Why would we do that? Because it was part of an overall strategy. Why don’t we force the Senate to finally pass a budget? We were frustrated that over the last two years, all of these bills were passed — Keystone, medical device tax – and they just sat there, never to see the light of day, and we got blamed somehow. We produce a product, the Senate does nothing, and we got blamed. Did you realize the last time the Senate did a budget, the iPad hadn’t been introduced yet? That’s how long it’s been. The world changes rapidly, and they have not done one. So we moved it for that purpose.”
McCarthy, who was elected to Congress in 2006 and elected by his colleagues to serve as Majority Whip just four short years later, expressed optimism that the House and Senate would be able to come together on two of the biggest policy issues being debated on Capitol Hill this year.
“I believe we’re going to get immigration reform,” the California lawmaker declared. “Why? Because everybody is ignoring the President, and we’re actually working it out ourselves. If you give us the ability to legislate, we will do it. We don’t run from it — we want to legislate. The Senators want to legislate too. I’m also firm believer we’re going to get tax reform. You may all laugh at me, but when you sit down and listen to Members, it’s the one thing they get excited about.”
The Whip also offered up an opinion about the Executive Branch and the role of the White House in this and other contentious debates.
“I’ve come to the belief that no person should be President without being a Governor first,” he said. “What do Governors do? They pick a Cabinet, they can’t print more money, they have to manage agencies they didn’t create, and they have to focus on what they are doing. They have to make a decision on a bill at the end of the day, and they have to bring people together. It is the best form of training.
“No disrespect to the current President, but I’m a firm believer in divided government achieving big things. Reagan, Tip O’Neill and Rostenkowski — Ways and Means had all the power, right? And what did they do? They reformed the tax code … I do believe that divided government can still achieve things. I’m not one who says we wait for the next election. I do believe, though, dealing with the White House, having not been a governor before, I think that as a state senator and a U.S. Senator, you get too much in the mindset of just politics — that one side has to win, and one side has to lose.”
McCarthy, who started and managed his own delicatessen before the age of 21 to help pay for college, said Congress also needed to do more to help the engine of our nation’s economy – America’s small business owners and entrepreneurs.
“We’re not going to get out of this mess unless we have people who want to take risks,” he observed. “I couldn’t create my deli today. Most Americans don’t want to try. Why? There’s more cash on hand than at any time in America’s history. You’re holding it because of uncertainty — uncertainty about what your healthcare costs are going to be; uncertainty about what regulations are going to be. We can eliminate those. And if we eliminate those, we can have the biggest stimulus with not one dollar ever being borrowed from government. We have a unique opportunity.”
McCarthy began his remarks yesterday morning with an anecdote not about his job as Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, but about how his job is presented on the Netflix original series, House of Cards.
“Before they were making the show,” he stated, “my staff kept coming to me, saying that Kevin Spacey wants to see me because he is going to play this character. I’m thinking — I’m not going to be portrayed very well. I don’t need to do that, right? They kept coming back, and I kept saying I don’t want to do it. Finally, I say alright — let’s do it. We set it up just after last vote. He comes in, and I really like Kevin Spacey. The thing I admire most about this guy is that if he was only making a 100 dollars a week he would still be an actor – he’s doing what he loves.
“So he has all these ideas about what Congress is like, and we’re just talking – I give him a tour and we talk for a long time. He said what do you tell members? I said you vote your conscience, you vote your district, just don’t surprise me. So we end up spending about two hours together. Then, about a month later, he wants to know if he can come see me. I said, ‘Alright, I’ll bring you to a Whip meeting.’ So he comes into the meeting and watches everyone. Then I said, ‘Would you like to go to a Young Guns dinner? I just have to vote first.’ So I take him back to the cloakroom and say ‘Wait here while I vote.’ And he says, “Alright, go vote your conscience, vote your district, just don’t surprise me.’ And he ends up using it in the show.”
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The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.