OCTOBER 3, 2023

Dear Fourth District Constituent,

I want to update you on what happened on the House Floor today, after a Republican Member of Congress introduced a Motion to Vacate. By a vote of 216 to 210, this motion passed and Speaker McCarthy was removed from his speakership.

I voted yes, and here's why. 

Speaker McCarthy has never asked for my vote, much less offered to listen to our Fourth District priorities, so how could I have voted to enable the ongoing madness and chaos that have consumed the U.S. House since January? The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has a responsibility to rule and govern, not silence and disrespect more than 160 million Americans represented by 212 Democratic Members of Congress.

The reality is that only a handful of votes separate the number of Republicans and Democrats in the House. Yet Republicans cite an oath to a made-up “Hastert Rule” they named after the disgraced former Republican Speaker—wherein a “majority of the majority” get to force their extreme agenda onto Congress and the American people.
 
Let me be clear: Democrats stand united. This is about the Republican conference’s own internal war. They have the majority in the House controlling the speakership and the gavels—it is up to them to be able to find unity of purpose to pass their own bills. If their bills are so extreme they cannot even pass them with Republican votes, that is their own problem and their leadership must recognize that they lack a functional majority with which to govern. They should come together with Democrats to forge a bipartisan path forward that reflects the will and the values of the American people.  

Speaker McCarthy has been at the beck and call of Donald Trump and extreme MAGA Republicans even before assuming the speakership, when he voted against certifying the electoral college vote on January 6th, and as Minority Leader he actively worked to discredit the committee investigating this attack on our Capitol. Since becoming Speaker—after 15 ballots—he has repeatedly failed to govern, pursued baseless attacks against the current President at the behest of the twice-impeached former President, and betrayed his word and his responsibilities to appease the most radical members of his conference, with their anti-LGBT, anti-women, anti-American agenda.

Twice, House Democrats have stood up to be the adults in the room and keep this institution moving forward: on passing both the Fiscal Responsibility Act to avoid a catastrophic default, and the Continuing Resolution to keep the government open—both times, to spare the American people and our economy devastating consequences. Each time, the Speaker disrespected both us and the very institution he wants to lead.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act was his own deal, negotiated with President Biden and passed by Congress. After it was signed into law, Speaker McCarthy promptly went back on his word. Instead of doing the serious work of moving bipartisan funding bills at the agreed upon levels, Speaker McCarthy led his party in the pursuit of devastating cuts to the services the American people rely on. They slashed investments in keeping people and our planet healthy—all while loading up their appropriations bills with toxic culture war provisions.

Our budgets reflect our values, and this Speaker advanced funding bills that betrayed our common values: honoring our responsibilities, caring for our neighbors, and respecting one another.

And when Speaker McCarthy was unable to move these extreme bills with his own majority on the House floor before the end of the fiscal year, he wanted to hold the continued functioning of the American people’s government hostage in exchange for a funding deal with a 30% overall cut to federal funding, containing:

• A 74% cut to our federal investments in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), literally leaving families in the cold that is already settling in back home in Minnesota.
• Slashed nutrition support for Women, Infants, and Children, taking away a lifeline for 3.2 million pregnant women and young families. 
• Kicking 290,000 children out of Head Start, removing access to childcare for 250,000 children, and removing funds for up to 145,000 teachers and staff from classrooms across the nation. 

Just last week, Democrats once again stepped in to rise above the chaos and fulfill our responsibility to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Republicans’ own rules allow for 72 hours to review a bill; we asked for 90 minutes and were met with a refusal. We asked for an hour, and were again refused. In order to give our caucus time to read the bill, Leader Jeffries stepped up and spoke eloquently on the House Floor about the Democratic commitment to put country over party and people over politics. In the end, 90 Republican members voted against the Continuing Resolution, and without Democratic votes, the government would have shut down on Speaker McCarthy’s watch.  

This latest Republican crisis is about their own failed leadership. Speaker McCarthy disrespected this institution, lied about his commitment to a bipartisan funding agreement, and then ignored or blamed Democrats for coming to his rescue. Enough! Democrats continue to put our nation’s families and communities first, and will not willingly continue the madness. The American people deserve better.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance with a federal agency or to voice your policy opinion. Thank you for being an informed and engaged constituent.

Sincerely,

Betty McCollum
Member of Congress