WEBVTT - Explosive Conclusion to the Speaker Fight - What It All Means 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.080 Welcome it as a verdict. With Senator Ted Cruz, Ben 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.800 Ferguson with you. It is a moment that finally happened. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:09.400 Many of you were asleep, but we have a new 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.280 Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. And here's what it 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.040 sounded like. Do you solemnly swear that you will support 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:21.080 and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.040 foreign and domestic, That you will bear true faith and 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:30.000 allegiance to the same, That you take this obligation freely, 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:35.639 without intimental reservation or purpose of evasion, And that you 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:40.040 will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.120 on which you're about to enter. So help your God, Yes, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:49.559 I do. Congratulations and God's speed. That was it happened 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:51.960 late in that way, I should say, technically early in 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:57.200 the morning. Senator, your prediction on this podcast was spot on. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.240 You said you thought they would get a deal done 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.800 on Friday night. It happened Friday night in this Saturday morning. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.600 Pretty spot on. Congratulations for that prediction. Well, I will 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.840 say when we talked about this on Wednesday morning's pod, 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.480 what you and I predicted together. I said that I 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.199 thought the most likely outcome was that Kevin McCarthy would 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.360 cut a deal with the holdouts, and in particular that 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.160 he would cut a deal with Chip Roy. That Chip 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.200 Roy really was the leader of the twenty And the 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.920 reason I thought that is because Chip was focused, I 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.039 think quite rightly on changes to the rules, changes to 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.080 how the House conducts business. On substance, some of the 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:43.160 people involved in this leadership battle, I think had had 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.840 real personal animosity to Kevin McCarthy. I think Chip, to 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.720 his credit, was not motivated by that. He was motivated 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:55.520 by changing the broken way that Washington operates. And what 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.400 you and I talked about Wednesday morning on this podcast 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.240 is I thought the most likely outcome was Kevin and 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.360 Chip would reach a deal. He would make some significant concessions, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.680 and those concessions would be a Nathan McCarthy would be elected. 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.919 Ultimately at about one in the morning, uh, late last night. 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.320 That's exactly what happened. It took It took a few 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.480 more hours than we had predicted, but not much. It 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.959 was about about the same time period. And I will 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:30.600 say what Chip and the other dissenters accomplished was a 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:34.760 really big deal. There was a lot of drama because 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.120 there was a vote at eleven PM where I think 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.840 McCarthy and leadership thought they had the votes, and they 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:45.760 ended up falling just short because many of the dissenters 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.760 dropped off, but there remained a handful who didn't and 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.720 it and it led to it led to some interesting drama. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.519 It led to and and in particular, you also had 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:03.640 during the day too, votes that were missing. One Wesley Hunt, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.079 a new congressman from Houston, actually my congressman, who had 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.400 to fly back to Houston because his wife had just 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.320 delivered a baby, his son who was born prematurely and 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.720 and and they were having to care for his son. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:17.400 He flew back to Houston to be with them and 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.840 then turned around and was there for the late night vote. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.720 His vote was needed at the end, and he was 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:27.200 there for the late night vote. But it it got 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.800 a little wild and woolley and including uh. At one 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.920 point Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama YEA, had to 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.760 be physically restrained from from taking a swing and and 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.600 and coming after Matt Yates that that was I'm not 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.280 sure I've seen the beginnings of an actual bar fight 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.480 on the floor of the House, but it it it 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.840 came pretty close. I was wondering if that was a 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.760 new COVID certified mask for Congress, right the hand over 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.520 the face and restraining. I'm like, maybe that count as 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.480 a new COVID mask. But at the end of the day, 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.920 all of the histrionics about oh, this is terrible, this 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.680 is the end of the republic. Now, the Democrats were, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:13.640 of course crowing. You would expect them to crow. That's 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.880 what they're going to do regardless. The media went on 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:21.160 and on. But I've got to say the agreements that 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.320 they ended up getting were significant. And let me throw 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.200 a caveat that the Rules Package has not yet been 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.000 voted on, that the plan is to vote on that 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.680 on Monday, and so the devil is always in the details, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.640 and it could you know, this is at this point 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.400 what's been publicly reported. But among other things that have 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.960 publicly been reported, here are elements of the deal that 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.080 have been reported in the press. Number one, that the 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:48.800 rules package ends proxy voting, which means members of the 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.159 House actually have to show up and do their damn jobs. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.240 One of the bizarre things Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats did, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.800 and the name of COVID is allowed House members to 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.960 be sitting on the beach thousands of miles away and 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.960 cast votes by proxy. That was always nuts. I believe 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.720 it's unconstitutional. I tell you, the Senate never did it. 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:10.520 Schumer and the Senate never did it. If you're not 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.159 in the Senate, you don't vote. You have to be 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:14.960 on the floor of the Senate. In fact, the way 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.160 the Senate votes is so old school. You literally are 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.240 standing on the floor of the Senate and the clerk 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.080 calls out your name, mister Ferguson, and you say I 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.320 or nay, and they write it down with a pencil 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.760 on a little on a long, skinny card that has 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.599 the names of all one hundred senators on it. Yeah, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.920 voting that way, I think is just there's so much 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.320 history in it. I was at one time when I 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.159 was thirteen years old. Newt Gingrich allowed me to go 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.400 down the flour of the House with Bob Dornan, and 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.120 Bob let me hit after he put his key, you know, 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.920 his card in hit the green button on a vote 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.599 with him when I was thirteen. I'll never forget for 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.719 the rest of my life. I love the old school 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.320 side of that and having people be present. I also 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.320 think it builds camaraderie and conversation over a legislation. And 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.599 let's go through some of what's in play here. But 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.320 before we get to that, I want to tell you 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.760 about our incredible friends over at Patriot Mobile. If you've 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.440 got a cell phone, you need to check out Patriot 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.159 Mobile because every time you use your phone, every time 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.479 you send a text, and every time you pay your bill, 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.400 you will be supporting conservative causes that we believe in. 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.080 We're talking about defending the First and Second Amendment rights, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:35.440 the rights of the unborn, helping with adoptions, funding of 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:41.159 those adoptions. 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But but 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.400 they're also a whole series of additional uh agreements that 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.480 are apparently in the rules package, although as I said, 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.240 the devil's in the detail. One is the single purpose 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.160 rule the House for a long time one real source 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.920 of mischief is cramming a gazillion things into a rule 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.920 into a rule rather than just have it focus on 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:15.040 a single purpose. That's a good thing. Related to that 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.200 is the Germanus Protocol, which is again a requirement that 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:19.840 if things are added to a bill that they be 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.440 germane essentially they'd be relevant to the bill. That you 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:27.400 can't just add completely unrelated matters to a pending bill. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.680 There's another element that is apparently part of it, and 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.120 it's a return of what's called the Holman rule, which 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:39.000 allows reducing spending at agencies and reorganizing agencies. It's an 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.360 appropriation rule the House has had that enables them to 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:47.360 get into the budget of executive agencies. That's significant. Another 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.360 element is the seventy two hour rule that delays anything 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.880 from moving forward seventy two hours that you have time 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.320 to actually read the damn bill before you vote on it. 0:08:56.040 --> 0:09:01.520 That's significant. There is an agreement to have a church 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:06.920 style committee to investigate weaponization of organizations like the FBI 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.319 and the DOJ and Ben You and I have been 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.160 calling for that for a long time. As you know, 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.600 my last book, Justice Corrupted, How the Left has weaponized 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.079 our legal system is entirely about the abuse of power 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.320 at the DOJ and the FBI and the CIA. I 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:24.640 think we very much need a serious church style committee 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.640 investigating it, and that's part of the agreement. And then 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.200 the two that were the biggest deals that were the biggest, 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:37.240 the most hotly contested, were having a motion to vacate 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.760 the chair that one member could bring and that means 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.240 any individual member at any time can go down and 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.520 move to vacate the chair, and you have to have 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.960 two utter eighteen people vote for McCarthy to stay speaker 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.080 that apparently is in there. And then the final one 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:55.560 that is apparently in there is seats for conservatives on 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.440 the Rules Committee, on an other committees. And that's in 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:04.040 order to give real fiscal conservatives leverage to fight against 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.280 another bad omnibus bill, another one point seven trillion dollar 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:13.000 monstrosity that just got rammed through, putting people in positions 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.520 on committees that they can prevent that from happening. All 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.599 of those are a huge, huge deal. At the outset, 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.439 the naysayers said Conservatives couldn't get any of these, and 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.360 I got to say, look, it's a testament to my 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.200 friendship Roy, it's a testament to the other conservatives who 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.600 were standing up and behaving in a principled manner. And 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.000 at the end of the day, it's a testament to 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.480 Kevin McCarthy for reaching an agreement that I think is 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.600 a reasonable, a positive agreement, agreement that's good for the 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:48.000 House and is going to give more power to Republicans, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.880 more power to conservatives, more leverage to the House to 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.599 stand up to Chuck Schumer and to stand up to 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.400 Joe Biden. There was a question that was asked of 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.760 me and it was one that I wanted to ask 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.760 to use. I said, was this worth it? And I 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.480 said yes, and they said wine. I said, just the 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:09.920 transparency will save the American taxpayers countless dollars. How much 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.480 money do you think the American people? Are we in 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.480 the billions of dollars that can be saved just because 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.920 of the way these rules changes and the transparency of 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.240 not being able to cram so much into bill with 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.240 all of this different pork. You know, I'm sorry to 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.240 tell you you're off by an order magnitude it We're 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.240 in the billions of dollars. Before Monday morning, we are 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:37.600 likely in the trillions of dollars. Wow, this is a 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:43.440 big deal. If conservatives have more leverage to force real 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.600 fiscal restraint to stop the out of control spending that 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.960 is bankrupting the country, that is driving record inflation, that 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.840 is put in crushing debt to China on this country, 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.720 that's a big deal. And in the last couple of years, 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.160 the federal government has spent more time than in the 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.480 entire history of the universe. And the only way it's 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:12.000 going to stop is if Republicans have a backbone to 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.200 stand and fight to make it stop. This battle this 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:22.440 week significantly enhance the tools for fiscal conservatives to be 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:27.200 able to stop the radical abuses of the last two years. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:32.120 Talk about tribalism for a moment. The House has a 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.360 lot more members than the Senate does. In the Senate, 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:38.280 I think you guys get to know each other a 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.120 lot faster. You get to work with each other across 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:45.000 party lines. In the House, it's so much bigger, and 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:49.240 there's different fractions within the Democratic Party, the Squad for example, 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.240 AOC and kind of her group. You have the Freedom Caucus, 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.520 and you've had the Tea Party groups, and you've had 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.439 so many different fractions. I actually think one of the 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.280 biggest blessings into sky is it's going to come out 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.280 of this week and these fifteen votes is there were 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.120 a lot of walls and maybe misconceptions about individuals who 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.800 had conversations they would have never had, interactions they would 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.040 have never had, and now moving forward, there may be 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:20.400 a much better line of communication between people because we 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.000 I mean, you were watching it like I was. It 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.240 was really interesting to see people that you would assume 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.440 would never be speaking to each other, that we're talking 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.240 to each other intently. Vote after vote after vote. That 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.320 may be a big blessing. Well, I think it is, 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.720 and I think it's also a blessing to have leadership 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.880 that is responsive to the members. Now, listen, Kevin McCarthy's 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.160 never been speakers, so we'll see what kind of tenure 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.200 he has a speaker. You know, I've told you before 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.800 I like Kevin personally. He and I have a good relationship. 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.360 But there certainly had been speakers in the past who 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.400 were autocratic, who were dictators, who just laid out, this 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.280 is what we're gonna do. Shut up at a bay 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.760 Nancy Pelosi does that. John Bayner did that. It was 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:06.600 one of the things that caused him to be driven 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.880 from the speakership is his members got tired of being 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:17.280 mistreated and him viewing it is as essentially his reign 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:22.200 rather than reflecting the views of the conference. I think 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:28.440 this process is likely to have made Speaker McCarthy significantly 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.880 more responsive to the views and concerns of the conference. 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:34.800 And I think that's healthy. I think that's what leadership 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.120 should do. You're right, The House and Senator very different. Look, 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.160 the House has four hundred and thirty five members right now, 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.040 it has four hundred and thirty four because one member 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:48.120 just recently passed away, a Democrat from Virginia. You know, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.240 you have about two hundred in each party. You compare 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.320 that to the Senate, and the Senate we've got forty 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.960 nine Republicans. Forty nine is not that much. I mean, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.240 we have lunch together. The forty nine of us have 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:04.800 lunched together every Tuesday, every Wednesday, every Thursday. We know 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.600 each other really well. I mean, you forty nine people, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.240 you build relationships, and senators stay there sometimes longer than 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:18.400 you know grant monuments in Washington. So when you've been 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.560 working with people for years and then for decades and 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:26.040 it's a small group, those interpersonal relationships can be one 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.000 of the real keys to getting things accomplished. One of 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:34.080 the one of the reasons why I win a lot 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.800 of the battles that I'm fighting in the Senate is 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.360 at this point, my colleagues know that I don't bluff, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:44.520 that I don't engage in fights based on personalities. I 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.080 don't make it personal, but I focus on substance. I say, 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.920 if you want my vote, I need X. If I 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.000 don't get X, my vote is now. If I get X, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.160 my vote is why One of the reasons. I'm really 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.680 proud of the job Chipped it is. That's exactly how 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.160 he handled negotiating it. He didn't get emotionally, didn't get angry. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.720 He said, if you want my vote, here's what I need. 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.960 At the outset, people said, oh, that's ridiculous. You'll never 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.480 get concessions like that. And at the end of the day, 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.560 math is math, and it turned out they needed his vote, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.040 and getting Chips vote was the critical piece to bringing 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.480 the rest of the group on board and getting McCarthy 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.120 the votes. That responsiveness is important, and you're right, the 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:30.000 relationships between the members, you know, you gotta remember there's 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.040 also always a lot of turnover in the House. The 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.160 House today is a very different house that it was 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.000 five years ago. It's a very different house that it 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.080 was ten years ago. They're just it's a body that 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.800 has significantly more churn. So some of these folks are 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:48.200 brand new. You had three representative elects who'd never been 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.160 congressmen were literally just elected and they finally got sworn 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.480 in last night, who were part of the rebels forcing 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.760 the rule change that will impact the job they do 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.000 go forward. If you're part of that at the outset, 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:08.800 but but the relationships between and across different factions hopefully 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.280 will be positive. Now, there maybe some hurt feelings. People 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.760 were really ratcheted up and pissed off, And so I'm 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:21.080 not being pollyannish and suggesting it'll all be loves and kisses. 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:28.240 But I do think this process it was transparent, it 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.280 was democratic, and at the end of the day, it 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:36.800 substantially increased the tools to stop the reckless spending that 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.840 has fueled the record inflation and that has bankrupted the country. 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.760 I think that is a really good thing. Grabbing agenda 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.680 items that can bring the Republican Party together early on. 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.080 I think it's going to be key to Kevin McCarthy's success. 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:55.080 He announced last night at one twenty am Eastern that 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.440 the first piece of business the House is going to 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.879 bring up is gonna be something that's very important to you. 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.439 You helped expose this. You talked about how big of 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.200 a threat this was to the American people. It deals 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.960 with the IRS Agency eighty seven thousand, and here's what 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.639 the Speaker elects at last night, one twenty am. I 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.200 know the night is late, but when we come back, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.720 our very first bill really peel the funding for eighty 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:30.600 seven thousand, UI, I mean center, if you want to 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.480 get everybody to get together real quick. This was a 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.320 pretty brilliant move by him to say that. It's saying, 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:37.960 I know it's late, I know you're tired, but when 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.679 we come back Monday, get ready. And that was a 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.040 standing ovation you just heard. Yeah, No, that was exactly 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.080 the right thing to do. It was very smart, it 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.080 was very savvy. As you know. It's something that I've 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.320 been calling on the House to do as their first bill. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.080 I said it on the trail campaigning for a lot 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.760 of these guys standing next to you in a number 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.440 of instances, saying, when we went a majority in the House, 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.240 the very first bill the House should take up is 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.440 repealing the funding for the eighty seven thousand new I 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:08.840 R S agents. I'm glad Kevin agreed with what I 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:13.600 and others had called for. That's a strong unifying message. 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.760 It draws a clear contrast with the Democrats. I think 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.359 that's good. I will point out, so you and I 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.119 both stayed up till the whole thing was over. We 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:26.119 were watching it live. We watched the votes, the final votes, 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.840 everyone coming in, all the drama, everyone holding their breath, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.760 everyone knowing how are the last few holdouts going to vote? 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.000 Are they going to vote for McCarthy? Are they going 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.520 to vote present? Are they going to vote for someone else? 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:37.919 And at the end of the day, there were no 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.280 votes for someone else in the last ballot. There were 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.679 a handful that voted present but allowed McCarthy to get in. 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:50.720 After that, you had speeches, you had a pause, and 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:52.560 then you had speeches, and you had a speech from 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.480 Akeem Jeffreys and then a speech from Kevin McCarthy. And 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.439 and I will say, for people that didn't watch Hakeem 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:06.040 Jeffreys speech last night, it was consequential. I don't know 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.080 how Keem Jeffries. I have not not dealt with him. Um, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.560 I haven't really seen him give a speech until last night. 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:27.360 Watching it. His tone, his rhythm, his speaking pattern, his 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:33.920 way of communicating is eerily reminiscent of Barack Obama. It 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:35.639 is I would think the same thing as I was 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.520 watching him, going wow, this is Barack Obama two point zero. Um. 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:45.120 You know, someone on Twitter tweeted out if Barack Obama 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.159 and Martin Luther King had a son, he'd be a 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.640 Keem Jeffries. Now that that may be a bit much. 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.479 I actually put doctor King in a whole different class. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:21:00.680 But Barack Obama is a very talented communicator and it 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.600 led to eight years in the White House as a 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.760 result of it. There were more than a few Democrats. 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:10.440 There are more than a few Democrats in the Democratic 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:15.080 presidential field who watched that speech last night and said, 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:23.360 oh crap, that that was. That speech last night reminded 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.480 me of Obama's speech at the Democratic National Committee where 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.800 he talked about there there are not red states and 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.720 blue states. We are the United States of America. The 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:40.359 messages and themes that he was echoing were really powerful, 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.480 and he also he gave a long speech. He gave 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.480 a speech to Democrats that was, look at all the 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.639 great things we did destroying our country the last two years, 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:52.439 and if you're a radical social issue would have been 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.520 cheering like crazy. But he gave a speech saying we're 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:01.040 great and the guys that are taking over they suck. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:05.000 I mean, it was it was. It was not gracious, 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.960 given that he was literally introducing Kevin McCarthy and handing 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:14.080 the gabble to him. There was no graciousness whatsoever. It 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.919 was a partisan speech. But what made it dangerous is 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:21.879 it was a partisan speech that was very eloquent and 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:26.800 and and basic planned. I mean they planned that. Oh yeah, no, no, 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:29.080 that that was a written speech. He was not talking 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.760 off the cuff, and and basically he hijacked the night. 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:36.520 It was impressive. You know, McCarthy wasn't happy, but there's 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:38.480 not really much you can do. You can't walk up 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.600 and shut him up. But Jeffreys basically hijack the night. Now, 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:44.639 it was late enough at night. I don't know how 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:51.119 many people listened to it, but there were millions of 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:53.440 people across the country that looked at this guy and said, 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.840 this guy is a force to be reckoned with. When 0:22:55.920 --> 0:23:00.280 when you look at moving forward now next week, what 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.879 advice do you have for these new members as they 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:08.200 try to, you know, get their rhythm, get their feet 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:11.640 under them. I mean the way that they got baptism 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.159 by fire in this last week. Yeah, they're going to 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:16.199 take a lot from that. But now we're going to 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.720 the regular order and kind of a normal cycle and 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:23.360 feel here. What advice do you have to new members 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:25.680 of Congress? What do you wish somebody would have said 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:28.480 to you when you were first elected? If you could 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:31.399 go back and do it all over again. Well, the 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:34.439 advice that I consistently give to new members, either in 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:38.439 the House or the Senate, is really simple. Do what 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:42.080 you said you would do, whatever you promise the voters 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:46.119 on the trail to do, follow through on that commitment. 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:50.600 And a component of that is don't just listen blindly 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:55.600 to leadership. You don't work in the House for Kevin McCarthy. 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:00.119 I don't work in the Senate for Mitch McConnell. Your 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:04.000 boss is the men and women who elected you. My 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:07.080 boss are the thirty million Texans. Ben, you're my boss. 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.760 You're a Texan. I work for you. And so new 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:14.480