MONONGAHELA, Pennsylvania — House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and 30 House Republicans created a town hall to explain how their Commitment to America agenda would help Americans and earn their trust as they strive to gain the House majority.
McCarthy and House Republicans across the GOP conference unveiled their legislative agenda at a metal sheet working plant to explain how their four pillar plan would better the lives of average Americans.
“What it is is it is a plan to put America back on the right track. It is a Commitment to America where for the last year and a half all the Republican members have been in different task forces going out and working on solutions to the problems,” McCarthy said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Thursday.
Rather than have each member give a rehearsed stump speech about their legislative agenda, McCarthy, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Republican Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and the other Republicans answered questions from audience members about how their agenda would solve the crises unfolding two years into Biden’s watch.
The full list of members present at the Commitment to America includes Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Kat Cammack (R-FL), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Carlos Jimenez (R-FL), Tony Gonzales (R-TX), Garret Graves (R-LA), Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Jim Jordan (R-OH), David Joyce (R-OH), John Katko (R-NY), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Julia Letlow (R-LA), Lisa McClain (R-MI), Mike McCaul (R-TX), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Dan Meuser (R-PA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Burgess Owens (R-UT), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Bryan Steil (R-WI), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).
The audience members featured parents who wanted to stop critical race theory (CRT) in classrooms, police officers concerned about crime and the fentanyl crisis, business owners alarmed at rampant inflation and crushing regulation, and Americans who want accountability for China for allegedly unleashing the coronavirus pandemic onto the world.
For instance, when one mom said that the historic levels of inflation under Biden put undue strain on her family, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) said that House Republicans would “rein in” Biden’s reckless spending, and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) said that they would work to keep many of the Trump tax cuts permanent.
When a small business owner demanded that lawmakers hold China accountable for the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the likely next House Judiciary Committee chairman, said that Republicans would be doing an investigation, with subpoena power, on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Another mom, describing herself as a “Mama bear,” wanted to know how Republicans would fight back against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for labeling parents concerned about the coronavirus lockdowns and the teaching of CRT as terrorists.
Republicans said that there would be an investigation into the DOJ’s harassment of parents, and Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) said they would pass a Parents Bill of Rights to ensure parents have a voice in the education of their children.
When James Custer, the sheriff of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, discussed how Washington, DC, is not doing anything to combat the fentanyl crisis, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) said that Republicans would work to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.
After the town hall concluded, Scalise told Breitbart News that he believes that Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are “disconnected” from the average American and that Republicans want to deliver a message to the American people that they have solutions to the crises facing working-class Americans.
Scalise said, “Just hearing people outside of Washington in the real world talking about all of the problems that they’re facing because of the agenda of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, how much it’s hurting them, in order for them to my food for their families to you know, the struggles that they had with their kids who couldn’t go to their football games, and it just seems like the Democrats in Washington are completely disconnected, what the reality is, what their policies are doing to the hardworking people on the ground. That’s what the Commitment to America is about, letting them know that there’s an answer. There’s a better way to address these problems that have been created, and we’re willing to put it down on paper. Go run as a contrast to what the Democrats have gone to show the country what we would do if we had the House.”
Many House Republicans told Breitbart News that the event goes deeper than merely trying to explain their agenda to the American people. It serves as a “checklist” to earn and keep the American people’s trust.
“I think this is the overriding, one of the overriding messages of this election is we need folks who are going to go defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and freedom,” Jordan told Breitbart News.
“If given the authority to run the House of Representatives in particular under the leadership of Kevin McCarthy to actually bring prices down. And I think that would stand as a stark contrast between what we are offering yet, but what has occurred under Democrat control will be such that the American people will entrust us with their vote this November,” Steil explained to Breitbart News.
“Not just a commitment, this is going to be a checklist of bills that you will see come to the House floor. This is going to show you what the first 100 days of a Republican House would look like. Bills that will go through committee feed debated on the House floor, passed over to the Senate, and it’s a mandate so that as bills go to the Senate, I think there’s going to be more people than ever calling their senators getting pressure,” Scalise said.
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) said, “Voters have every right to not necessarily trust Democrats or Republicans. They kind of don’t trust government. We’ve got to do what we say we’re going to do. You know, I was in business for 25 years close to it. I’ve been in the house now for two terms heading into three terms. To me, you build trust by being trustworthy. And in business, you have a saying under promise, over deliver. Government usually works the other way. Over promises and significantly under deliver. Yeah, we need to change that around we need we need a different approach. Committed to America’s the start of it. I think Kevin McCarthy is a strong guy. I think he’s gonna do a great job between him Steve Scalise and some of our other leadership we just want to kick some ass.”
McCarthy teased in his interview with Breitbart News that they plan to continue taking this agenda to the American people so that they could earn their votes and trust to gain the majority.
“We’re going to keep traveling. We’re here in Pittsburgh, Washington County, because we fundamentally believe we need to get out to talk to the American people; you listen to them, then you lead,” he explained. “We’re seeing an opportunity here that we haven’t seen in the past. What we do is we roll out the Commitment to America and then each week we have different themes for the elements of it. We want people to participate. We’re going to have certain days where we have national commitment days where we encourage people to go talk about the crime. Let’s go talk about the border. Let’s talk about how we make a stronger economy. Let’s talk about how we bring that supply chain back and what would it mean in this economy.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
