The chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield as much time as he may consume to my colleague from virginia, mr. Good. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. Before the gentleman speaks, i would remind the parties that all need to be heard. Please clear the well and clear the aisles and any extraneous conversations need to be taken from the floor. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Good thank you, mr. Speaker. Like so many others, i deeply regret that we are here in what was a totally avoidable situation. I must take you back to january, however, which for many of us was about not repeating the failures of the past and letting Republican Voters across the country down once again, when in the past for many years when republicans have had majorities in this chamber, weve passed our major spending bills predominantly with democrat votes, something the other side of the house has never and would never do with majority control. Back in january, i expressed my concern that the previous two years during my first term here in the house, we had not used every tool at our disposal to fight against the harmful, radical democrat agenda that is destroying the country, bankrupting the country, and under which the American People are suffering. But most in here wouldnt know that i helped persuade my five colleagues who comprised the remaining resistance in the wee Morning Hours of january 7 to switch our votes to present to let mr. Mccarthy become speaker. And i went to him on this very floor to tell him that he was finally going to become speaker on the next vote. In that moment, it was clear to me that i or we could have asked for anything in exchange for switching our votes to present, but i and we asked for nothing. The very next week, i requested and had a meeting with Speaker Mccarthy to tell him he had my full support and that i wanted him to be successful because the country needed him to be successful. In the ensuing months, i helped him narrowly pass the parents bill of rights and the limits they grow bill, and i think both of those by one or two votes, helping persuade some of my most conservative colleagues to come along despite some of the concerns they had with those bills. And we remain united as a other conservative fiscal reforms. Unfortunately, however, that unity and that commitment to significant year one cuts and spending reforms were discarded in the fail responsibility act i call it which passed overwhelmingly once again with a majority of democrat votes, validating the concern many of us had in january. Many of us had begged the speaker repeatedly to utilize the debt ceiling, to leverage spending cuts and reforms but instead he negotiated an unlimited increase to the debt ceiling through january 2025. As much as we can come together and gleefully spend through january of 2025 with no significant wins in the failed responsibility act for the American People. But the speaker said we would use appropriations to bring the fight and finally reduce our spending. He said the levels of the f. R. A. Were the ceiling and not the floor and committed, recommitted multiple times to go back to the 1. 714 trillion that were the limit, save, grow levels and historically saving 100 billion and lowering the deficit this year under republican majority from 2. 2 trillion to 2. 1 trillion. Thats what were asking the Republican House to do to go to 2. 1 trillion. Meanwhile, the speaker had committed to bring with a balanced budget vote to this floor, something thats still not happened despite the work thats been done in our Budget Committee to mark it up and have it ready to come to the floor. He also promised that we would bring all 12 appropriation bills well before the september 30 fiscal deadline. We did not. We simply as republicans needed the speaker to cast the vision, request the support of the entire conference, all of whom voted for the limit, save, grow levels except for four who wanted to go even further, to lead us in joining him, sticking with him, supporting him and sending the most conservative spending bills with the most conservative cuts possible to the senate as the best starting position for negotiations with the senate. Many of us begged and pleaded with the speaker to do that over the past five months. When the speaker failed us to pass our spending bills, bringing only one of 12 to the floor before the august district work period, members began to negotiate among themselves without the speaker to find compromise i was among those who reluctantly agreed to split the limit, save, grow and reluctantly decided to go to 1. 526 to pass our bills to the senate and we essentially forced the speaker with the pressure of the calendar the shutdown threat of the calendar to bring those four bills to the floor last week, all of which i voted for despite some of them not cutting the levels wed agreed to and other concerns i had with the bill. I reluctantly voted for the continuing resolution because it cut an additional 10 billion in the month of october, going back to the precovid 1. 47 for the nondiscretionary and it had Border Security. I voted for that. However, when that vote failed the speaker in the republican Conference Meeting made it abundantly clear he was willing to do anything to avoid the temporary discomfort and the pressure of a pause and the 15 of the nonessential federal Government Operations which would guarantee we would lose to the Senate Democrats and the white house. If youre not willing to say no, youre guaranteed to lose. That was confirmed with the passage of the unconditional 45day c. R. This past soured. Once again with 209 democrat votes. The republican bill 2091 democrats, 510 on the senate side. The speaker fought through 15 votes in january to become speaker but was only willing to fight through one failed c. R. Before surrendering to the democrats on saturday. We need a speaker who will fight for something, anything besides just staying or becoming speaker. If there was ever a time to fight with 33 trillion in national debt, a 2 trillion deficit this year, 40year high inflation, 20year high interest rates, a downgraded credit rating, and for the first time in modern history, the polls showing despite all the help of the media, blaming republicans in the house, the polls showed the republic was blaming biden and the democrats for a immeant shutdown. If not fight now, when would we fight . Now is and was the time. With the democrats driving the fiscal bus off the cliff at 100 miles per hour, we cannot simply contend to be the party that slows it down to 95 just so we can sit in the front seat and wear the captains hat. Our current debt and spending trajectory is unsustainable. We need a speaker, ideally somebody who doesnt want to be speaker, and hasnt pursued that at all costs for his entire adult life who will meet the moment and do Everything Possible to fight for the country, a red line was crossed for me, i regret on saturday, and a regret i must vote against the motion to table as i did and to vote to vacate the chair and i yield back. Mr. Gaetz i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida reserves his time. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I share one thing in common with my colleague, this is a sad day and not a day i expected to live through. Broadly speaking as i look across this floor you can divide members in three groups. Im very happy to be in the first group, the overwhelming majority of my Party Supports the speaker that we elected. Were proud of the leadership hes shown. Were proud of the manner in which hes been willing to work with everybody in our conference, and i believe in this chamber. Theres a second group, a small group, honestly theyre willing to plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for reasons that only they really understand. I certainly dont. And then there are friends on the other side, i mean friends, honestly with great sincerity, i have a lot of friends over there. I recognize that my friends on the other side have a very complex set of partisan, personal, and political calculations to make. And i certainly wouldnt presume to give them any advice about that. But i would say, think long and hard before you plunge us into chaos, because thats where were headed if we vacate the speakership. You know, i personally think theres really three reasons why weve come to this point, and thats because at each three of these critical minutes, the speaker did the right thing. First there was a speaker vote. You know, he got 85 of the vote in our conference, 90 of the vote from republicans on this floor, yet we had a small group that decided no, they would dictate what they want. He didnt let that happen. He fought. Now, he fought for himself but he fought for 90 of us, too, that wanted him to be the speaker. And i appreciate that. Then of course we had the debt ceiling deal. Nobody here thought he could pass a bill. Nobody in america thought he could pass a bill. He did what speakers are supposed to do. He passed the bill. Then he sat down and negotiated with a Democratic Senate and a democratic president and came back with a good deal. A deal that would limit spending. He did the right thing. Finally last saturday on this floor, we were on the verge of a Government Shutdown, a Government Shutdown that the vast majority of members in this chamber did not want, a substantial majority on my side, an overwhelming majority on the democrat side. He put his political neck on the line knowing this day was coming to do the right thing, the right thing for the country without a doubt, my friends and i agree on that whether or not we agree on the speaker. He did the right thing. He did the right thing i think for this institution. He showed it could function in a time of crisis. And finally, i think he did the right thing for our party. He made sure that we could continue to negotiate and achieve some of the very objectives my friend from virginia laid out. and and achieve them in a divided government which requires some give and take. Im proud of this speaker. Im proud to stand mind him. Tomorrow morning, win or lose, ill be proud of the people i fight with and the person i fought for, the speaker of the hogs, Kevin Mccarthy. With that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserve. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz mr. Speaker, my friend from oklahoma says that my colleagues and i who dont support Kevin Mccarthy would plunge the house and the country into chaos. Chaos is Speaker Mccarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word. The one thing that the white house, house democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican Caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common, Kevin Mccarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didnt really mean and never intended to live up to. I dont think voting against Kevin Mccarthy is chaos. I think 33 trillion in debt is chaos. I think that facing a 2. 2 trillion annual deficit is chaos. Thing not passing single subject spending bills is chaos. I think the fact that we have been governed in this country since the mid 1990s by continuing resolution and omnibus is chaos. And the way to liberate ourselves from that is a series of reforms to this body that i would hope would outlast Speaker Mccarthys time here, would outlast my time here and would outlast either of our majorities. Reforms i have heard some of the most conservative members of the body fight for and some of the reforms we have been battling for what ive even heard those in the democrat caucus say would be worth beyond and helpful to the house like open amendments. Like understanding what the budget. Is we have been out of compliance with budget laws for most of my life. Most of many of your lives. And think by the way if we did those thing, if we had single subject bill, if we had an understanding on the top line, if we had open amendment, if we had trust and honesty and understand, there would be times when my conservative colleagues and i would lose, might be a few times when hed win, thered be times when we might form partnerships that might otherwise not be really predictable in the american body politic, but the American People would see us legislating. These last few days we have so spended the momentum we had established a week earlier where we are bringing bill to the floor, voting on them. Staying late at night working hard. Thats what the American People expect. Its something Speaker Mccarthy hasnt deliver. Thats why i moved to vacate the chair. I reserve. The chair the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole i yield two minutes to my very good friend, mr. Emmer of minnesota. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Emmer thank you. Kevin mccarthy has earned. This under Speaker Mccarthys leadership our House Republican majority has defied all odds and overperformed expectations again and again and again. It all started with the speakers race when our speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, showed the American People how he would never give up. It carried over into the speaker spearheading a rules package to create the most transparent, memberdriven legislative process that ive ever seen since ive been here. And since then, Speaker Mccarthys republican majority has been successful in bringing common sense back to our Nations Capital by passing legislation to affirm to affirm a parents right to be involved in their childs education, bolster American Energy production, fully fund veterans care and benefits. Fight back against the regulatory state. And continue delivering on our promise to rein in democrats reckless spend big passing fiscally responsible Appropriations Bills. Weve also achieved historic conservative wins like passing the strongest Border Security legislation in history. Passing the first republicanonly ndaa in history. And passing the first republican only state and foreign operations appropriations bill. So Many Americans are better off because of Kevin Mccarthys leadership. American family, job creators, entrepreneur, service member, Law Enforcement officers and the list goes on and on. These are just a few of our House Republican majority successes. But make no mistake. We need Kevin Mccarthy to remain speaker if were going to stay focused on our mission of delivering commonsense wins for the American People. Weve shown americans what success looks like when we come together as a team. Now its time for us to stand together stronger than ever so we can get back to the work our majority was elected to do. Im proud to support the speaker as we continue championing conservative priorities that will put our country on a better path. Thank you, Speaker Mccarthy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Gaetz the opening line of my colleagues speech was that Speaker Mccarthy always overperforms expectations but after tweeting bring it and after engaging in profanelaced tirades at house conference, he just lost a motion to table. So i wouldnt necessarily consider that overperforming expectations. Time and again ive heard my colleagues say, he deserves it because he went through a tough speaker contest. Let me let everyone know, he prevailed in ha speaker contest because he made an agreement to fulfill certain commitments to make this an open and honest process and he has failed to meet those commitments and thats why we are here. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves his time they feel gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Cole. Mr. Cole thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield three minutes to my good friend, mr. Jordan of ohio. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Jordan i thank the gentleman for yielding. On january 3rbg we said the 118th congress is about three things. Pass the bills that need passed. Do the oversight work that needs to be done. And stop the inevitable omnibus that comes from the United States senate right before the holidays. Kevin mccarthy has been rock solid on all three. We have passed the bills we told the american pee would pass. 87,000 i. R. S. Agent, that bill passed. Parents bill of right that bill passed. Border security, Immigration Enforcement legislation, the strongest bill ever to pass the Congress Passed earlier this year. We have done what we told them we were going to do. We cant help if the senate wont take up those good, commonsense bills. Theyll have to answer to the American People come election day. Oversight. We have done the oversight that were supposed to do because of our oversight we know that parents were targeted by the department of justice. Because of our oversight we know 51 former intel officials misled the country weeks before the most important election we have. Because of our oversight the disinformation governance board at the department of Homeland Security is gone. Because of our oversight, the meme