HYGONews Week’s Most Popular Stories 1/8/23; Southern border, Kevin McCarthy house speaker

On 1/5/2023, Joe Biden spoke at the White House on new “border security” measures before his trip to El Paso on Sunday. During his remarks, Biden once again called Kamala Harris “President Harris” Biden said, ” I’m not being facetious. Well, President Harris led this effort — led this effort to make things better in the countries from which they are leaving.”

Biden began his speech, refers to his unprecedented border crisis as a “situation on the southwest border”: ” the Vice President and I would like to talk you about how my administration is dealing with our situation in the southwest border. Now, these actions alone that I’m going to announce today aren’t going to fix our entire immigration system, but they can help us a good deal”

As Biden left the room with Harris in tow, CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond called out a question to Biden on whether he was still following the Speaker vote in the House of Representatives. Biden turned to answer but got lost in the middle of his response and asked Harris for help. Harris supplied a word to finish the sentence which Biden then repeated. Jeremy Diamond, “Are you still monitoring the Speaker’s race?”

Joe Biden, “I’m following with great, uh, how do I say it?” Kamala Harris, “Attention.” Biden, “Attention.”

A reporter asked Biden, “Mr. President, why did you decide that now is finally the right time to visit the southern border? Republicans have been calling on you to do this since the beginning of your presidency.”

Biden: Because the Republicans haven’t been serious about this at all. Come on. They haven’t been serious about this at all. I wanted to make sure that I knew what the outcome — at least the near outcome was on Title 42 before I went down. We don’t have that yet, so I had to operate — I don’t like Title 42. But it’s the law now, and I have to operate within it … I wanted to make sure there was a rational way in which we could begin to announce it, but I couldn’t wait once the Supreme Court ruled that they’re not going to make the final decision on Title 42 for some time — you know, for another — who knows? Probably not until June — in that range, although I don’t know that for a fact — to be able to lay this out.

On 1/6/2023, after four days of voting on the House floor for the next speaker, tempers flared when Republican Rep.Mike Rogers of Alabama lunged at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the congressman who’s been leading the effort to prevent Kevin McCarthy from becoming the next Speaker. Chaos ensured on the House floor as the 14th vote for Speaker fell short by one vote for McCarthy. McCarthy immediately walked up to Reps. Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, presumably with the intent of persuading them to change their ‘present’ votes to ‘yes.’ Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama then lunged at Gaetz and had to be held back by Rep. Richard Hudson before an all-out fistfight could break out on the House floor. The Republican lawmaker from Alabama, a member of the House Steering Committee responsible for making committee chair recommendations, recently threatened the holdout Republicans who don’t vote for McCarthy that they will be stripped of committee assignments. A 15th vote tonight is in the works after a motion to adjourn until noon on Monday failed. Matt Gaetz could be seen talking to McCarthy after the scuffle with Rep. Rogers.

On 1/6/2023, Kevin McCarthy gave a speech after winning the Speakership. He said this GOP would be a check on Biden’s policies. Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s opening speech has sparked uproar after he was finally sworn in as Speaker of the House following four days of a chaos and a near-punch up in Congress. “That was easy, huh?” McCarthy began in his victory speech - shortly after Alabama Representative Mike Rogers had to be held back from attacking Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. The two Republicans almost came to blows over Gaetz’s refusal to back McCarthy during the 14th vote, costing him that contest, with the violent clash coming as tempers frayed over the mammoth voting-process.

After his victory in the 15th and final vote, McCarthy lauded: “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. I will never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our Commitment to America.” “Hakeem – I need to warn you: I also won 100 percent of my conference vote on this floor two years ago. So, good luck!” McCarthy jokingly said.

“We pledge to cut the regulatory burden, lower energy costs for families, and create good-paying jobs for workers by unleashing reliable, abundant American-made energy,” McCarthy added. “Our first bill will repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents. Because the government should be here to help you, not go after you.” He said one of the House’s ‘very first hearings’ would be on the U.S.-Mexico border.

HYGONews Week’s Most Popular Stories 1/8/23; Southern border, Kevin McCarthy house speaker