"Face the Nation:" Kevin McCarthy Interview
Interview
"Yes.
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Well, that's nothing new. He's tried to do that from the moment I ran for office.
Look
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Yes, I will survive.
You know, this is personal with Matt. Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border, secure our border. He's more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something. He wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district, with all the military people there who would not be paid, only because he wants to take this motion.
So be it. Bring it on. Let's get over with it and let's start governing. If he's upset because he tried to push us in a shutdown, and I made sure government didn't shut down, then let's have that fight.
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No, he hasn't said
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He hasn't said anything about what he's going to do. Look
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Yeah, he -- he
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Look, Gaetz is trying to work with Democrats. He's reached out to Swalwell, to AOC and others.
But if that's the way we're going to govern, I don't think America is going to be successful. Look, at the end of the day, think of everything we've been able to accomplish so far, parents Bill of Rights. We passed the most conservative bill to protect our border, make America energy-independent.
We've been able to cut $2 trillion, and the debt ceiling, get work requirements back in. The hard part we have right now
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is, the Senate has not passed one appropriation bill. Each body is supposed to pass 12. We've passed more than 70 percent of the discretionary spending already.
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I thought it was appropriate
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Well, you said that
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You said that same thing when we -- when we stopped the D.C. from decriminalizing everything. You said the same thing when we said we're going to stop the pandemic
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Well, no
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you and many the press would -- do think, why pass it? Because the Senate won't take it up and won't sign it.
Most in the press probably thought we would have shut down yesterday too. But, no, we did not.
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I was confident I could get something on the floor to make sure the option that we would not.
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But our military
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Well -- well, I wasn't sure it was going to pass. You want to know why?
Because the Democrats tried to do everything they can not to let it pass. They did dilatory
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Did you -- did you watch -- did you watch it?
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Did you watch the floor yesterday?
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OK, then
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OK, so let's walk -- let's walk through what actually happened.
First of all, the Democrats stood up and did dilatory actions, asked to adjourn. So, was that supporting to adjourn? Then they used the magic minute. They went as far as pulling the fire alarm not to try to get the bill to come up.
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Look, Democrats stick together, but they did not want the bill. They did not -- they -- they were willing to let government shut down, for our military not to be paid.
No, I wasn't. We were going to make sure we keep it open while we finish the job we're supposed to do.
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That's right.
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Well, technically 47, but
(LAUGHTER)
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Well, it all comes down to the Senate. The Senate hasn't done one thing.
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No, because the House is doing their work.
We've already done more than 70 percent of it. So compare this to the Senate. The Senate hasn't passed one bill. The Senate didn't pass anything about the shutdown. The Senate hasn't passed anything about securing the border. The Senate hasn't passed anything about $100 a barrel.
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Yes, we have.
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Be -- that's your opinion.
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who told people to go somewhere else.
The New York City mayor literally says it's destroying a city.
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No, let me answer -- let me answer your questions
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since you said we wouldn't do something.
Do you know the governor of Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency? This is one of the number one crisis
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as far from the border as you can see. This is killing Americans every single day.
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Well, no. No, but that's not fair to just say that. Let's under
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OK.
Well, let's -- let's
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Let's -- let's educate the viewers why there wasn't, because, the day before, there was.
But Matt Gaetz and others
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denied that and voted no. So, we could have had border security.
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I went all the way through everything we could until the last moment.
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And you know what? We're going to be able to win that.
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Look, the priority for me is America and our borders.
Now, I support being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need.
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But I firmly support the border first. So we've got to find a way that we can do this together.
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They have more -- they have more than 3 -- they have more than $3 billion right now to be able to help them get through it.
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If they have some challenge, we can sit down, and we can talk about that. But the American border matters.
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More Americans are dying on our border than Americans are dying in Ukraine.
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I'm telling -- I'm telling
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I'm telling you that the American border matters. And that is our priority to make sure we secure that.
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I'm going to make sure that the weapons are provided for Ukraine, but they're not going to get some big package if the border is not secure.
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We will work with people in need. But the one thing the White House has to understand, they better be prepared to secure American border. It matters.
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Well, the -- the bill you think that won't go anywhere could easily do it, H.R.2, remain in Mexico, finish the wall. You've got to change asylum to be able to secure this border.
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Yes, not want.
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Not that I -- not that I want it passed. It is passed. And the Senate has done nothing. So, let's see where the Senate can go.
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OK, so -- OK, so not to be -- but how it works is, the House passes a bill, the Senate passes a bill, and you go to conference.
The House has already done their job.
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The Senate -- and we've done this in Approps. The Senate has done nothing.
So what I am saying is, when you saw government funding, there is a need for Ukraine. I support being able to provide the weapons to Ukraine.
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But America comes first.
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Yes. Yes.
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Well
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Look, I think -- I think President Trump's going to be our nominee and President Trump's going to win, because President Trump's policies made America stronger. We didn't have inflation. We had a secure border.
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We didn't -- we didn't have $100 barrel oil.
So what I totally find is, the president is going to be our nominee, the president is going to win reelection, President Trump, for the basis that we want to make America stronger. And the other thing too is, look what's happening in foreign policy today. You've got five American embassies that had to be evacuated.
You've got this new axis of power growing against. You've got a challenge when you -- our own allies are now turning towards China.
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It's a lack of leadership, not just in foreign policy within our border and everywhere else.
This president has been in elected office for 50 years. Do you know he has spent more dinners with Hunter Biden's business associates than he has visiting the border?
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Yes, don't you think that's important, then? One time in 50 years.
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Do you know how many people will die today from fentanyl coming across our border?
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It's the equivalent of an airliner crashing every single day in America.
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And they refuse to even visit it or do something about it. So, we are going to make sure this border becomes secure.
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Thank you.
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