Rep. Steve Scalise on GOP battle over House speakership: 'Coming to a head for a long time'
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise joined 'Fox & Friends Weekend' to discuss how the GOP will get to work after electing Kevin McCarthy as House speaker and the upcoming vote on the new House rules package.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have faced fierce scrutiny in recent days over the party's battle over the speakership, but, despite the criticism, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise argued the GOP's clashes have been unavoidable.
The newly-sworn in House Majority Leader joined "Fox & Friends Weekend" to discuss the Republicans' priorities days after Kevin McCarthy was elected as the House speaker.
"This has been coming to a head for a long time, and it's really over the way that Congress has been run for four years," Scalise told co-hosts Pete Hegseth and Emily Compagno Sunday. "What Pelosi has done over the last four years has been the worst, but at some point in time, there was going to have to be a confrontation about changing the way that Washington works."
"A lot of us as conservatives have been frustrated with that," he continued. "The American people, by the way, are very frustrated with it, too, and we are going to make those changes starting in the rules package."
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McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House early Saturday morning, during the 15th round of voting, after making concessions to 20 Republicans who opposed his leadership as they pushed for stringent reforms in the lower chamber.
McCarthy agreed to allow a single lawmaker to make a motion to elect a new speaker, returning to the way the House ran for decades before that practice was eliminated under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He agreed to votes on term limits and the adoption of a budget resolution that balances the budget in 10 years, and a cap on fiscal year 2024 spending at FY 2022 levels.
McCarthy agreed to reject any negotiations on spending with the Senate until the Senate passes its own spending bills. He agreed not to increase the debt limit without spending cuts or other fiscal reforms, to set up a committee to examine the weaponization of government against U.S. citizens, and to ensure no bills are brought up on the floor until at least 72 hours passed.
Scalise noted one procedural issue is when lawmakers are tasked to vote on a bill - sometimes thousands of pages in length - only mere hours after it is formally proposed. Scalise said it doesn't allow for adequate time to assess the legislation.
"Congress has done this for years where they just jam everybody… the Senate jams the House," Scalise said. "This game has got to end, and those were the discussions we've had. And I think that's healthy, by the way, that we took a few days to make sure that we can set up a Congress that can work for the American people."
"I wish that had happened years ago," he continued.
The House is set to vote on the new rules package this week, and Scalise said he is confident it will pass so lawmakers can "tackle" issues that American families are struggling with.
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One of the most notable issues plaguing many communities is the border crisis, alongside inflation, crime, and energy costs.
"We're also going to be working to tackle inflation, to lower the cost of things for families, look at energy, we need to become energy independent again," Scalise said. "We know how to do it just like we know how to secure the border. There are things that Biden could do today to secure the border. He just doesn't want to. There are things President Biden could do today to lower energy costs. He doesn't want to.
"We've got to get control over all of these problems and help those hardworking families who are struggling because of that failed far-left Biden and Pelosi agenda," he continued. "It's no longer Pelosi; it's Kevin McCarthy… he's our speaker."
Fox News' Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.
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