Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivered his farewell speech in the House chamber on Thursday, reflecting on his 17-year tenure in Congress and, particularly, his nine-month stint with the gavel.
McCarthy zeroed in on his historic ouster in October — specifically, his decision to put a “clean” stopgap bill on the floor in September, which triggered his ejection — saying he would not have done things differently.
“One thing I think we must quite understand, and if there’s advice I can give: Do not be fearful if you believe your philosophy brings people more freedom. Do not be fearful that you could lose your job over it,” McCarthy said. “I knew the day we decided to make sure to choose to pay our troops while war was breaking out, instead of shutting down, was the right decision. I also knew a few would make a motion.”
“Somehow they disagreed with that decision. Do it anyways,” he continued. “I would do it all again.”
He delivered a similar message at the end of the speech.
“We should never allow this body to stop for doing what is right. So if you come across that question of whether you should do what’s right out of fear of losing your job, do it anyways ‘cause it’s the right thing to do and this is what the nation requires,” he said. “I think putting people before politics is always the right answer.”
McCarthy delivered the speech to a largely empty House chamber, with just a handful of Republicans sitting on the floor to listen to his remarks. After he completed the speech, Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and French Hill (R-Ark.) — two of his allies — hugged him.
McCarthy’s final floor speech came roughly one week after the California Republican announced that he would depart the House at the end of this year, putting a bookend on his career in Congress that took him through the leadership ranks to the highest position, Speaker, before being ousted from the role by eight Republicans and Democrats in a stunning fashion.
The Bakersfield native first came to Congress in 2007, serving stints as majority leader, minority leader, majority whip and House GOP conference chair before winning the Speaker’s gavel in January.
McCarthy touched on some of the accomplishments House Republicans notched during his tenure as Speaker, including passing a sweeping energy bill, establishing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, striking a deal to increase the debt limit and getting President Biden to flip on legislation that overturned Washington, D.C.’s, crime bill.
He also touched on the changing demographics of the House GOP conference. He said that when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won the Speaker’s gavel, making him minority leader, he thought Democrats “looked like America” and Republicans “looked like one of the most restrictive country clubs in America” when the chamber was full during a State of the Union address.
“And I thought at that moment, I could be the leader of a declining party or I could focus on what I know brought me to this party. Conceived in liberty, dedicated proposition that we are all equal,” McCarthy said on the House floor.
He later noted that the House GOP conference had changed.
“I look at our party today, it doesn’t look like it did five years ago,” he said. “We are winning in places you haven’t seen before. When I look to the future, I think it’s much brighter.”