U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) was one of several hold-out Republicans to flip on Friday and vote in favor of Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) to be Speaker of the House, paving the way for McCarthy’s late Friday win after a week of falling short by about 20 votes.
“My fight has never been about personalities — it has always been about restoring the People’s voice in the People’s House,” Clyde explained in a Friday social media statement. “I voted for Kevin McCarthy based on an agreement to a framework that creates significant historic institutional change. I look forward to helping implement these changes, which will hold the Speaker accountable to the People.”
Clyde and some other members of the House Freedom Caucus had pushed for McCarthy to commit to rules changes that would weaken leadership and empower individual members, eventually winning a number of key concessions.
On Saturday, Clyde summarized key wins in a social media graphic, including allowing a single House member to move to remove the Speaker, a “committee to investigate the weaponization of government agencies, such as the FBI, against the American people,” a vote on a Texas border plan, a vote on term limits, and ending “all COVID-19 mandates and funding.”
Clyde highlighted the commitment to keep discretionary spending in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget at FY 2022 levels and changes to legislative procedure on Spicer and Co., calling the concessions “fundamental, significant changes.”
“I’m really excited that we got them, and so that’s why I switched my vote because you know, I’m okay with Kevin McCarthy as speaker as long as we have the conservative guardrails in place that can keep the speaker accountable to the American people,” he said.
“We fought for those things that are just logical in my mind, like being able to read a bill 72 hours before it’s actually, you know, introduced on the floor. That would prevent a speaker like Nancy Pelosi from bringing an omnibus to the floor that gives us less than 24 hours to read a 4,000-page bill. That’s just insanity, and that’s why people think Washington is broken. Things like being able to, you know, have regular order, which means a bill has to go through a committee process, so we all get to read it and debate it before it goes to the House floor. That’s common sense,” he said.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andrew Clyde” by United States Congress. Photo “Kevin McCarthy” by Kevin McCarthy. Background Photo “” by Paula Nardini.
