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House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-CT) tells CNN's Jake Tapper that Republicans are trying to distract the American public away from their legislative agenda under new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

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Interview available HERE. 

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) on Sunday said “the keys have been handed over to extremists” after the House elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to the Speakership.

“It is exactly the American people and the solutions they need to meet the challenges that were completely left out of the Speaker’s chaos we saw this week. It not only endangered our country’s national security, but it also showed that the keys have been handed over to extremists,” Clark told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 

Clark underlined the unity of Democrats in their agenda after the party banded together to vote for Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) in the successive contests with McCarthy.

The Republican won the top House leadership slot early Saturday after flipping a number of holdouts who had stalled any candidate from getting the needed majority of votes, making concessions to hard-liners in negotiations on the rules package.

Pressed Sunday on whether Democrats could find some common ground with the GOP in some of the concessions, like tweaks to the amending process for legislation proposals, Clark said the matter was a “smoke screen.”

“When they talk about process, that is a smoke screen,” Clark said.

“All the talk about process and amendments and germaneness, that is cover for what they’re really trying to do, which is dismantle the equities of our economy. And to make sure that their billionaire buddies continue to thrive at the expense of hard working American families,” the new House minority whip added.

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Original story HERE.

The dramatic fight to secure the U.S. House speakership for California’s Rep. Kevin McCarthy is far from the final conflict that will face the newly sworn in Congress, according to its Democratic minority whip.

“When they talk about process, that is a smoke screen,” U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday. “They’ve already put this out there. This is their written agenda that they had put forward during the midterms: that they are going to use the debt ceiling as leverage to take American seniors hostage. This is their plan.”

The congresswoman was speaking to Tapper about the many concessions McCarthy reportedly made to secure the 218 voters required to replace outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the podium.

Among them, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican and member of the so-called far-right Freedom Caucus told Tapper, was a promise to not raise the debt ceiling without first coming up with a way to reduce spending.

According to Roy, his party has no intention of touching “the benefits” going to those on Medicare or Social Security, “but we all have to be honest about sitting at the table and figuring out how we’re going to make those work and how we’re to deal with defense spending and how we’re going to deal with non-defense spending.”

Clark said Republicans have been telling a different story for months: that Medicare and Social Security are very much at risk under the leadership of McCarthy and considering the arrangements he had to make in order to hold the speaker’s gavel.

“They voted to raise the debt ceiling three times under the Trump administration. This is all about forcing us to make cuts to Social Security where the hard earned earnings of Americans reside and Medicare so that they can, you know, enact that in the middle of a crisis,” she said.

“That is taking our seniors hostage, we have to be clear about this,” she continued. “All the talk about process, and amendments and germaneness, that is cover for what they really want to do and which is to dismantle the equities of our economy and to make sure that their billionaire buddies continue to thrive at the expense of hardworking families.”

Concerns over the future of Social Security and Medicare seemed to be in the forefront of President Joe Biden’s mind this week as well. In a Saturday release congratulating McCarthy on his successful election to the speakership, Biden noted that the American people expect the government to actually get some work done and that the economy has been improving.

“It’s imperative that we continue that economic progress, not set it back. It is imperative that we protect Social Security and Medicare, not slash them. It is imperative that we defend our national security, not defund it. These are some of the choices before us,” Biden said.

The debt ceiling must be raised after July 1 if the federal government is going to meet its financial obligations. It will need to fund federal agencies and programs as of October 1.

A similar fight in 2011 resulted in a reduction in the country’s credit rating by Standard & Poor, the first ever such downgrade, despite the fact former President Barack Obama managed to end the stalemate by agreeing to a $2 trillion deficit reduction over 10 years.

Current projections show the debt will rise by at about $1 trillion per year for the next 10 years. The country’s debt currently totals over $31 trillion.

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Original story HERE. 

Massachusetts Representative Katherine Clark took several jabs at House Republicans Thursday amid the continued chaos surrounding the party and its discord about whether to elect Representative Kevin McCarthy to the speakership.

Following two days of consecutive losses for the post, due to a group of vocal party dissidents, McCarthy continued to seek the position Thursday. He reportedly made concessions to the hard-right group in the process, in a bid to lock down a deal.

But as the eighth vote for speaker got underway in the afternoon, Clark — not for the first time that day — highlighted the lack of unity among Republicans, reading out on the House floor the number of consistent votes New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries received from Democrats during previous rounds.

The same, she pointed out, could not be said for McCarthy.

“212. 212. 212. 212. 212. 212,” she said. “And today, 212.”

Clark then ticked off a number of proposals that Democrats have supported, from equal pay for women to universal child care. After each item, she noted how Republicans responded to the measures: “They said no.”

Eventually, others in the chamber joined in, repeating the mantra.

“It is our job, and our responsibility, to elect a speaker who stands with [the American people],” she said. “And with great pride, I nominate Hakeem Jeffries.”

During a press conference earlier in the day, Clark highlighted how the party’s disconnect is paralyzing Congress, referring to the third day of votes being cast — a historic deadlock roiling Republicans — as “Groundhog Day.”

While House Democrats are united behind Jeffries as minority leader, and their agenda for the term, “House Republicans are in historic turmoil,” said Clark, who was elected as the new Democratic whip in November.

She cast attention on the rebels — many of them members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who have rallied behind former president Donald Trump — for handing McCarthy a series of humiliating defeats in recent days.

“Unable to organize, unable to govern, unable to lead,” Clark said. “Years of blindly pursuing power, currying the favor of special interests, and bowing to election deniers has left the GOP in shambles.”

On the other hand, Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) said on ABC’s “This Week” that the debate on display last week is “what a healthy democracy actually requires” and is a good sign for the new Congress.  

“I understand the American people’s concern with the delay in electing a Speaker. Certainly it’s going to be a challenge to have a conference full of independent thinkers with a thin majority. But not only did the Framers of our Constitution expect us to debate the operations of the House … that’s what a healthy democracy actually requires,” Barr said. 

And Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on “State of the Union” said Congress needs conflict in order to get lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to the debate table.  

McCarthy, who has failed to secure the votes needed to become speaker, essentially blocking the chamber from performing its work, wasn’t spared by Clark. She said the California Republican is “being held hostage to his own ambitions by the dangerous members that he’s enabled.”

“Let’s look at the extremists who have taken over,” Clark said. “[Colorado Representative] Lauren Boebert is whipping votes, MTG [Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene] is their spokesperson, and [Florida Representative] Matt Gaetz is negotiating the rules.”

Boebert, who has repeatedly voted against McCarthy for speaker and rejected Trump’s call to support him for the post, made headlines alongside fellow hardline Republicans in recent days for their vocal opposition.

On the House floor Wednesday, she continued to voice opposition and urged Trump to tell McCarthy to drop out of the race.

“Let’s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us, even having my favorite president call us and tell us ‘We need to knock this off,’” she said. “I think it actually needs to be reversed.”

She continued her argument during television appearances Wednesday night, interviews that frustrated both MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle and Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who said he felt like he was “getting an answer from a liberal” over her tactics.

But, Clark said during the press conference, the mark left by the former president — despite him appearing to lose control of his supporters — remains, as evidenced by the divided vote for speaker.

“Some on the other side of the aisle have campaigned to standing up to the crazy in their party, but their deference at this point to MAGA Republicans — their outreach to try and get power for Kevin McCarthy at any expense — is paving the way for the policies that directly assault American families,” said Clark, who listed a national abortion ban as one example.

She ended her brief speech by touching on the deadly attack on the Capitol two years ago.

“Tomorrow is the second anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. It is a dark day for our country, but the pinnacle of what has become the Republican Party,” Clark said. “Our message to the American people is that House Democrats stand together with you. We will stand together to fight for progress, to put your voice back in the halls of Congress, and for our democracy.”

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Original story HERE.