Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) stated on the House floor Thursday that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is a “different” type of politician from former Speaker Paul Ryan, former Speaker John Boehner, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Mast, speaking to nominate McCarthy for speaker of the House for the eighth time, tried to draw a contrast between McCarthy and former and current establishment Republican leaders.
“I’m proud to say that Kevin McCarthy is different,” Mast argued. “He is different. That is why for those I was speaking to earlier, the process is where it is today. He is different. He’s not Paul Ryan. He’s not going to tell you, ‘You’ll get a term limits bill,’ and then you won’t.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., meets with reporters to answer questions (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite).
“He is not Mitch McConnell,” Mast continued. “[McCarthy] fought against the $1.7 trillion wasteful spending package that was sent to us on New Year’s Eve Eve.”
“He isn’t John Boehner. He didn’t say, ‘I don’t want to hear from you or listen to you,'” Mast said.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015 (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke).
Mast said he is willing to vouch for McCarthy, noting the nominee’s promise to allow a vote on a term limits bill. A part of a four-part concession, McCarthy conceded Wednesday evening that he would bring a term limits bill to the floor.
“He will give us that opportunity to make sure we don’t have endless terms here in the House of Representatives,” Mast said.
“I couldn’t be more proud than to stand here today and vouch for you, my friend,” Mast said to McCarthy. “I vouched to my community that Kevin will do as he has promised. He will give us the opportunity to right the course.”
Over the past weeks, McCarthy has conceded more than 15 requests from the conservative holdouts. The last four concessions include allowing one member motion threshold needed to force a vote ousting a speaker, instead of five; allowing more House Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee (two seats); pledging to hold votes on lawmaker term limit and border security bills; and permitting major changes to the appropriations process to prevent another omnibus bill by allowing any lawmaker to offer floor amendments.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.