We Need to Talk About Kevin McCarthy
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2023
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kevin McCarthy has always had his eyes on one job - Speaker of the House. But after Republicans won Congress’s lower chamber by a razor thin majority, the party’s right wing extracted major concessions before handing over the gavel. When the GOP accepted a deal with the Biden administration to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, House hardliners felt betrayed. Now McCarthy faces renewed attacks on his leadership from within his own party. With important legislation that still needs to be passed, and little wiggle room for dissent, how does McCarthy hang on?
Guest: Rachael Bade, POLITICO Senior Washington Correspondent
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, quick heads up that there is a four-letter word in this episode. |
| 0:10.4 | But it is a quote from a member of Congress. |
| 0:12.2 | In any case, you've been warned. |
| 0:17.4 | There's a funny kind of competition happening on the House floor these days. |
| 0:21.4 | A competition to see who can appear more conservative and who can be the most flashy about |
| 0:27.7 | it. |
| 0:32.3 | Last week, you could get a feel for what this competition looks like when House Speaker |
| 0:36.3 | Kevin McCarthy presided over the censure of Democratic Representative Adam Schiff. |
| 0:49.2 | You'll remember that Adam Schiff presided over Donald Trump's impeachment. |
| 0:53.3 | That is the main reason he was targeted. |
| 0:55.8 | Will Representative Schiff present himself in the well? |
| 1:03.1 | But as Speaker McCarthy needed out his punishment, he could barely get in a word eduase. |
| 1:09.4 | Democrats hooded and cheered. |
| 1:12.2 | By it as adoption of House Resolution 521, the House has resolved that the House of Representatives |
| 1:17.9 | censures Adam Schiff, Representative of the 30th Congressional District of California. |
| 1:26.9 | In short, what happened here? |
| 1:29.2 | It did not look the way Congress normally looks. |
| 1:33.5 | One word comes to mind, chaos. |
| 1:36.1 | I mean, McCarthy is starting to really lose control of the floor right now. |
| 1:42.4 | I mean, that's rare for a Speaker. |
| 1:44.6 | Rachel Bade reports on Congress over at Politico. |
| 1:47.8 | She says, last week's censure was not even the weirdest part of this ongoing conservative |
... |
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