House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) accused Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) and Tim Ryan (OH) of being among “the loudest” hecklers who interrupted his recent marathon speech on the House floor, Fox News reported Sunday.
Speaking on this week’s episode of Sunday Morning Futures, McCarthy criticized the congressional Democrats for “trying to shut [him] down” as he spoke in opposition to the Biden-backed Build Back Better Act, a $1.9 trillion spending package that ended up passing the House after an hours-long speech by the minority leader.
“What was so interesting was how bad they were fighting back with every word I would say,” McCarthy told host Maria Bartiromo, according to Fox.
“And I know back home you can’t really hear it or see it, but when you’re on the floor you can,” he added. “It was interesting. It was AOC and Tim Ryan. Those were the ones who would yell the loudest.”
“I’m not there for the Democrats”
Speaking Sunday, McCarthy also said he felt like the progressive Dems were trying to silence him. But he wouldn’t be swayed.
“They would scream from the other side trying to shut me down,” the minority leader told Sunday Morning Futures, as Fox reported.
“And then you’ve watched the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, come and tap every Democrat to leave the chambers thinking I would stop,” he added. “And that’s when I said to the American public, ‘You can leave, it’s OK, I’m not gonna stop.’ Because I’m not there for the Democrats, I was there for the American public.”
“The socialist wing”
McCarthy’s speech, which began around 8:38 p.m. Friday and continued for more than eight hours, according to The New York Times, set a record for the longest speech on the House floor in U.S. history.
In it, McCarthy characterized the spending package as “unnecessary,” USA Today reported, and said:
Enough with Washington waste. Enough with the fraud, Washington abuse, and Washington corruption.
“Personally, I didn’t think I could go this long,” McCarthy quipped near the end of his talk, according to the Times. “With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back,” he declared just after 5 a.m. Saturday.
The episode may have earned him the ire of Dems like AOC, but it doesn’t seem McCarthy has any intentions of backing down.
After McCarthy claimed in his speech that “nobody” elected Joe Biden as president for him to be the next Franklin D. Roosevelt, “AOC screamed, ‘I did!’” the minority leader told Fox on Sunday. “It is the socialist wing of the Democratic Party that has taken over,” he said. What a shame.
The post McCarthy defends hours-long House floor speech, blasts heckling from congressional Dems first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: