Happy Monday everyone!

Last week was supposed to be a productive week in Washington - a new year, a new Congress and a new legislative agenda working to improve the lives of every South Carolinian. We were supposed to start tackling inflation, the IRS, illegal immigration, the supply chain, national security and a number of other issues facing our nation.

We’re grateful, in the early morning hours Saturday, a small group who’ve been holding up the important business of the people finally decided to find common ground and come together. 

In part, the stalemate this week was about the Rules governing how the House operates. But the truth is the Rules package was negotiated months ago and includes some of the most open, fair and fiscally conservative rules offered by either party in the past 30 years. 

Some of the highlights everyone will like, regardless of your political affiliation, include:

• Any bill on the floor must be made available for at least 3 days before a vote. This is so all Members have time to read the bills they’re actually voting on! 
• Budget bills can be amended on the floor, for the first time in a long time too. 
• Prohibits a bill from coming to the floor that increases mandatory spending without offsetting the spending somewhere else.
• Requires a 3/5th majority on any bill that increases taxes. Please note, I have never voted to raise taxes, not as a state lawmaker or federal lawmaker.
• Provides a path to balancing the budget in 10 years. 
• The end of proxy voting, meaning, you must be physically present to vote.  

This is the rules package crafted by Kevin McCarthy and this is the same rules package we have today even after 4 days of stalling the Speaker’s vote. The only difference today from Tuesday, when we started this process, is on the motion to vacate. The motion to vacate was reduced from 5 Members of Congress down to 1 as the threshold for which a Member or Congress can call for a vote for the Speaker to vacate his or her position.

The agenda was set, the rules were agreed to, and Republicans were set to govern. 

What we saw this week is goalposts being moved, constantly. Certain Members of Congress were also trying to jump to the front of the line to be placed on committees they didn’t earn, and dictate what bills should be considered on the floor without input from any of the other 200 Republican members of Congress.

One member in particular, sent out fundraising emails and texts every time he voted against McCarthy; taking what was supposed to be a constitutional process and making it political for monetary gain. 

One of the members holding up the Speaker vote even said they didn’t care if Hakeem Jeffries became Speaker. This sort of flippant attitude about the way Congress operates doesn’t put the American people first. 

Some sort of deal was hashed out for the majority of the 20 to vote for McCarthy for Speaker. But this deal was crafted in private, behind closed doors. We can’t think of anything more “swampy” than a Member of Congress who tells the American people they’re holding up the Speaker vote because they’re “fighting” the “swamp” only to broker some backroom deal, hidden away from the American people. That is the very definition of swamp. 

Asking for something for nothing is what the far left does. We believe you should work hard and earn your assignments, just like everyone else. 

So, despite all of this, we finally have a Speaker of the House. And it is past time to get on with the business of the people in the House with the most fiscally conservative agenda in decades.

Sincerely,

Nancy