McCarthy declines to answer questions about Speakership

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday declined to answer questions about whether he’ll run for Speaker after delivering a previously scheduled foreign policy address.

{mosads}While McCarthy hasn’t officially launched a bid for the speakership, he’s widely seen as the heir apparent to John Boehner (R-Ohio), who on Friday announced he would resign from the speakership.

While McCarthy hasn’t officially launched a bid for the speakership, he’s widely seen as the heir apparent to John Boehner (R-Ohio), who on Friday announced he is resigning from Congress at the end of October.

When reporters asked McCarthy about running for Speaker Monday, he said he would make sure to tell them when there’s an announcement, before being shuffled into an SUV and driven away.

McCarthy’s address was in honor of a book launch by the John Hay Initiative, a group of Republican foreign policy advisors.

Throughout the speech, McCarthy slammed the Obama administration as weak, which he said has contributed to the current state of foreign affairs.
 
“When it comes to dictators and terrorists, strength and the threat of force are the only language they understand,” McCarthy said.
 
Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advances in Ukraine as the “greatest threat to European security since World War II,” McCarthy called for providing Ukrainian forces with weapons.
 
He also advocated for placing sanctions directly on Putin, rather than on senior officials, as has been the U.S. policy thus far.
 
McCarthy’s comments on Russia and Ukraine come the same day Obama is meeting with Putin at the United Nations. It is the first meeting between the two leaders in more than a year.
 
“The president’s response to Putin’s aggression should not be to sit down and talk,” McCarthy said.
 
Turning to Iran, McCarthy criticized the recently sealed nuclear deal, saying it was worse than having no deal at all. He urged the next president not to follow it and said the United States should keep sanctions on Iran to prevent it from funding terrorist groups.
 
In Iraq and Syria, McCarthy said, the United States needs a completely new policy.

To fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, he advocated for a limited number of U.S. troops on the ground. And to help with the refugee crisis, he suggested America and its allies set up a no-fly zone in northern Syria where refugees could find safety.
 
“The world is safer when America leads,” McCarthy said. “Strength and resolve are the best recipe for peace and security.”

— This story should be updated at 3:29 p.m.