Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy keeps as his pinned tweet footage of then Sen. Joe Biden speaking decades ago to congressional colleagues about freezing government spending and including in that freeze “social security, medicaid” and more.
“Hey Siri, what does hypocrisy look like?” pic.twitter.com/F3geCMplG1
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 10, 2023
McCarthy snarkily captions the post, “Siri, what does hypocrisy look like?”
So right at the top of the Speaker’s Twitter is a signal of a deep distrust in the executive branch’s current occupant — and the content below takes the same critical stance, pledging suspicion and disruption of the status quo, even where Biden and McCarthy essentially agree.
Citizens have been waiting for McCarthy to announce the House’s priorities since he assumed the Speakership, a process that saw McCarthy make multiple concessions to hardline rightwing legislators during an historic 15-vote confirmation process.
You deserve to know the origins of COVID.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 22, 2023
You deserve to know why the DOJ went after parents.
You deserve to know why American lives were lost in Afghanistan.
Your Republican majority is in pursuit of the truth and will hold this administration accountable.
Today McCarthy revealed on Twitter a bullet-point list of his presumed priorities for the Republican majority under his leadership, Surprisingly to some, McCarthy’s list did not include mention of the economy, securing the border, Russia/Ukraine, China, or racism/woke-ism — issues that dominate the media.
Nor does McCarthy’s list speak to Americans’ immediate concerns according to recent polls tracking how Americans rank issues that need fixing. Those priorities are the economy, affordable healthcare, terrorism, money in politics, Medicare, crime, education, illegal drugs, immigration, energy systems overhaul, jobs, poverty and the environment.
Reducing the budget deficit is now a higher priority for the public than in recent years (57% today vs. 45% a year ago) and dealing with the coronavirus outbreak is now one of the lowest priorities for Americans (26% currently say this should be a top priority). pic.twitter.com/cvSSzyrdUW
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 6, 2023
McCarthy promises that “Your Republican majority is in pursuit of the truth and will hold this administration accountable.”
McCarthy’s 3-point list (reproduced below) comprises the top issues he believes he has been elected to congressional leadership to address and which he believes his constituents prioritize.
- You deserve to know the origins of COVID.
- You deserve to know why the DOJ went after parents.
- You deserve to know why American lives were lost in Afghanistan.
