Election of Speaker

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I rise to nominate Jim Jordan for the Speaker of the House.

I have listened to the speeches this week, and I can already tell you what my friends on the other side will say, using their poll-tested phrases, but let me correct the record. Jim Jordan is an effective legislator.

To legislate is about more than the name on the bill. It is about reaching compromise and working long hours behind the scenes to get the job done.

When you are the chairman of a committee, you are responsible for dozens of bills passing the House and being signed into law.

Let me tell you a few facts that don't come out in the polls. As the leader of the Judiciary Committee, Jim has passed more bills through the House in just 3 years than the entire Democrat leadership team that has a collective 28 years in Congress.

Mr. Aguilar has a whopping one whole bill signed into law; a post office in San Bernardino. I guess that is good enough to be Caucus chair. Jim Jordan, on the other hand, had a hand in drafting bills like the REINS Act to curb unaccountable bureaucrats. He helped negotiate and pass H.R. 2, the strongest border security bill this House has ever passed.

Many of you know because you were in the room watching Jim find compromise, watching Jim listen to your positions and finding a bill that can pass.

Let's put this in reality. We have had large majorities, but we never could pass a border security bill. That takes leadership.

They are going to get upset by it. Why? Because every single Democrat voted against securing our border. Democrats are attacking Jim because they don't want the American people to remember that they voted against securing and keeping a wide-open border.

They may not want the American public to know the number of people we catch on the terrorist watch list. They may not want people to know what the future holds for the security of our Nation based upon their policies.

Name me one bill Democrats passed that would secure our border. I am waiting. You can't because they haven't.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, the truth is, if we measure lawmakers by how many bills have their names on it, we are using the wrong measuring stick.

Some of the Members I know with the most bills to their name are the most selfish. Jim Jordan, on the other hand, is one of the most selfless Members I know.

I have known Jim a long time, and I wanted to do something different. I actually called the freshmen members on his committee and asked them: What do you think of your chairman?

Here are just a few examples of what they said: Jim empowers every member of the Judiciary Committee to pursue what interests them.

Here is another: He lets each of us take the lead on the issues that are important to us, even letting freshmen and junior members take important roles.

Here is another: He trusts our judgment on how we handle issues and witnesses and always seeks our input on key issues.

Here is another: As a freshman, he had me lead off a hearing that related to my subject matter expertise, and he goes out of his way to highlight members' successes.

He is straightforward, honest, and reliable. That is who Jim Jordan is, and that is what being a Speaker is all about.

Now, some of you might not know this, but Jim and I have a long history. We take our jobs seriously.

I first met Jim as a candidate. I traveled to Ohio. I remember pulling up for breakfast at a Bob Evans in Ohio. There was Jim having a meeting, listening to constituents.

I traveled with him throughout the day from rotary to farm bureau, just listening to people that had concerns, and I watched then the same

Jim Jordan I see today. He was a leader, a listener, and a fighter.

We were actually elected to Congress that same year and became close friends. It was a small class. There were only 13 of us, one of the smallest Republican classes in modern history.

Over time, we took different routes. Jim actually ran against me for leader in 2018. It was a hard-fought battle, but I never once questioned his skills or commitment to this Conference or this country.

After the race, I became leader, and we had an opening for the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight. Jim didn't even apply for the job. I walked into steering; didn't tell steering.

I walked into the other room, and I picked up the phone and I called Jim. I said: I know you are not running for the job, but I believe in what Jim Collins says in the book ``Good to Great.'' You put the right people in the right seats on the bus.

Jim, you and I may have challenged one another, but you were the right person for that seat, and it was right when you took that job.

It was right again when I asked Jim to step up and join the Intel Committee when Democrats put politics over people and turned the Intel Committee into an impeachment committee.

It was right again when we asked Jim to step up and be the right person to lead the Judiciary Committee as chairman. Jim is the right person to take that seat behind me to be our next Speaker of the House.

Mr. Speaker pro tempore, we have an important job to do. The American people expect us to focus on the most pressing issues.

We have watched what a Democrat majority has done by bringing us inflation like we haven't seen since the 1970s.

We have watched what the Democrats have done by opening up our border, bringing in fentanyl that is killing Americans each and every day.

Now we have a war in Israel.

This country is too great for small visions. Trust me: Being Speaker is not an easy job, especially in this Conference, but I've seen Jim spend his entire career fighting for freedom, no matter what, no matter the odds, and I know he is ready for the job.

It is my honor to say as a member of the Republican Conference, I am directed by the vote of that Conference to present for election to the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives the name of my friend, the Honorable Jim Jordan, a Representative from the State of Ohio.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source