Tag: Kevin McCarthy

McCarthy blames Democrats for delaying virus relief they already passed

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says there won’t be a bill ready before the $600 of federal unemployment help ends next week.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is already blaming Democrats for delaying a coronavirus relief bill that has yet to be finalized, even as a relief bill passed by the Democrat-led House is collecting dust in the GOP-led Senate.

“I envision that this bill doesn’t get done by the end of July,” McCarthy said Tuesday morning during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” referring to a different coronavirus relief bill Congress hopes to pass in the coming weeks. Some provisions of the previous relief bill — including an additional $600 in weekly unemployment assistance — expire at the end of the month.

McCarthy alleged that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be a roadblock to legislation moving forward despite the fact that the House passed a new coronavirus relief package in May. As of Tuesday, Republicans in Congress had not unveiled a new coronavirus relief bill, nor had the GOP-led Senate engaged in negotiations over the bill passed by the House. Continue reading.

GOP Leader Berates Reporter Who Asked About ‘Kung Flu’ Racism

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy lashed out at a reporter on Thursday who asked whether the California Republican thought Donald Trump’s use of a racist term “kung-flu” was “an appropriate way to characterize the coronavirus.”

McCarthy exploded in outrage over the questions, saying in response, “Do you think that’s the most pressing issue you have about the coronavirus? … What I’m thinking about is why that is your most pressing issue as a question. When we’ve just seen a spike in coronavirus, you’re concerned about somebody and the way they name it.”

Trump’s use of the racist term for the coronavirus has sparked outrage, especially as many Asian Americans have found themselves the target of hate crimes and violence while Trump and Republicans continue to blame the COVID-19 pandemic on China. Continue reading.

GOP leaders refuse Democrats’ coronavirus demands, won’t negotiate over small-business lending

Washington Post logoMcConnell, McCarthy insist Trump administration’s call to grow program must be met immediately

Top GOP leaders in Congress said Saturday they would not negotiate with Democrats and instead insisted that lawmakers approve more money for a small-business lending program for firms impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) released a joint statement Saturday morning saying they would not agree to any compromise with Democrats that changed their proposal to add $250 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, which is being run by the Small Business Administration.

“Republicans reject Democrats’ reckless threat to continue blocking job-saving funding unless we renegotiate unrelated programs which are not in similar peril,” the joint statement said. “This will not be Congress’s last word on COVID-19, but this crucial program needs funding now. American workers cannot be used as political hostages.” Continue reading.

Did McCarthy Forget GOP Controlled Congress Two Years Ago?

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy complained that House Democrats were providing a check on Donald Trump and suggested that things would be much better if the GOP had total control.

In a Fox News interview on Friday, Rep. McCarthy (R-CA) noted that Trump has recently talked about Middle East peace, signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and agreed to a deal with China, despite being tried in the Senate on two articles of impeachment.

“What if he had a Congress that would work with him?” McCarthy said. “Instead of blaming America first, actually working for America first. That would be a fundamental difference.” Continue reading.

GOP Minority Leader Says Trump Can Kill ‘Bad People’

As President Donald Trump’s violent conflict with Iran became the focal point of Washington debate, Republicans returned to their default attack line in partisan foreign policy debates: calling Democratic critics terrorist sympathizers.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) used this smear on Thursday during a press conference, and then he took his defense of Trump’s actions to an even disturbing level. He directly called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments about the president’s killing of Iranian military leader Qassim Suleimani, which was widely viewed as an extremely provocative action.

“We have no illusions about Iran, no illusions about Soleimani, who was a terrible person,” Pelosi said. “But it’s not about how bad they are, it’s about how good we are, protecting the people in a way that prevents war and will not have us producing again and again generations of veterans who are suffering.” Continue reading.

Minority Leader McCarthy Ignores GOP Problems As He Mocks Democrats

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy mocked the Democratic majority on Monday for having “fewer members than they started with” in 2019. But his own caucus has seen significantly more departures than the Democrats have and will soon face dozens of retirements.

Under the guise of presenting a year-in-review for the House Democratic majority, Rep. McCarthy (R-CA) noted misleadingly that they had “Issued more subpoenas than laws,” claimed they “Have fewer members than they started with,” and opined that they “Jammed though an unpopular impeachment which will cost them their House majority.”

While McCarthy is technically correct that the Democratic caucus is slightly smaller today (232) than at the beginning of the year (235), his own caucus is as well and may get smaller still in the upcoming days. Continue reading

Top House Republican gets slammed for blatantly lying about the FBI investigation of Trump campaign aides

AlterNet logoHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pushed blatantly false allegations about the FBI investigation into four associates of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign over the weekend — lies that were retweeted more than 34,000 times at the time of this writing.

He claimed that the recent Justice Department inspector general report showed that “The FBI broke into President Trump’s campaign, spied on him, then tried to cover it up.” In fact, the report demonstrated clearly that McCarthy’s claim wasn’t true.

In the Fox News video clip accompanying the tweet, McCarthy explained what he meant by saying the FBI “broke into” the campaign: “They broke into his campaign by bringing people into it. They have been trying to cover it up for the whole time.” Continue reading

McCarthy’s Pro-Trump Ad Used Stock Footage From Russia

The top Republican in the House of Representatives this week released an ad defending President Donald Trump which includes footage from Russia.

The ad itself has been widely mocked, but now that CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski has identified the stock footage is from Russia, it’s becoming all the worse for McCarthy. Several years ago McCarthy was caught saying he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is paying Trump.

Here’s the ad from McCarthy:

Kevin McCarthy

✔@GOPLeader

What if I told you…
⇒ He won the election.
⇒ He spoke for millions who didn’t have a voice.
⇒ Despite their obstruction, he is still getting things done for the American people.

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Here’s Kaczynski identifying the Russian footage:

andrew kaczynski🤔

✔@KFILE

A little on the nose the stock footage used here was Russian.

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View the complete November 26 article by David Badash from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

GOP maps out impeachment defense amid messaging stumbles

House Republicans are scrambling to hash out a unified strategy to defend President Donald Trump as the GOP struggles to respond to the rapidly-moving impeachment probe.

With Democrats aggressively pushing ahead with their impeachment inquiry, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) convened a conference call on Monday afternoon where he urged members of his leadership team and GOP committee leaders to get on the same messaging page, according to multiple lawmakers and aides.

McCarthy implored his troops to stay focused on communicating that there is nothing that rises to the level of impeachment in the president’s July phone call with Ukraine, when Trump urged the Ukrainian president to investigate the Biden family.

View the complete September 30 article by Melanie Zanona on the Politico website here.

Kevin McCarthy and the ‘but not impeachable’ defense of Trump

Washington Post logoRepublicans who want to avoid criticizing the president are likely to lean on the wiggle room the Constitution gives Congress.

Republicans in Congress have struggled to explain why President Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president is okay. Witness the top House Republican, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Reporter Scott Pelley asks McCarthy whether what Trump has done is wrong.

McCarthy doesn’t directly answer the question. “You and I have all the information we need,” he says. “The president did nothing in this phone call that’s impeachable.” The exchange is instructive about how Republicans might move forward in this impeachment inquiry: switch the metric Trump is graded on from what’s wrong to what’s an impeachable offense.

This could be where Republicans’ hat will hang throughout this process: Maybe it was wrong (though McCarthy isn’t allowing that much), but it’s not impeachable.

View the complete September 30 article by Amber Phillips on The Washington Post website here.