POLITICS + GOVERNMENT
Voting for house speaker, Utah representative weighs in
Jan 6, 2023, 10:12 AM
Businessman Blake Moore, speaks during the 1st Congressional District Republican debate at the PBS Utah studios in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Credit: Rick Egan
SALT LAKE CITY — As the fourth day of house speaker voting commences, some reps say they could change their mind about Kevin McCarthy.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy serves California’s 23rd district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Most recently, he has brought the house speaker vote to 10 different rounds, one of the longest in history.
Moreover, Utah Congressman Blake Moore feels everyone has a different dog in the fight. Meaning, some politicians won’t change their minds about McCarthy for personal reasons. While others will drag out the vote to leverage more.
Moore, who is voting in favor of McCarthy, said there are a few voters on the fence who could be swayed one way or another.
“We need a speaker of the house…we have to get to business. I want to implement my agenda so I do want a speaker of the house.” said Moore.
There are members of the conference who may not always agree with McCarthy. However, according to Moore, most of them, specifically 90%, realize McCarthy is the best man to lead them.
Moore, who has never been in a government shutdown before said this is just the way these play out.
“There are a few holdouts and they want to use this to get attention which unfortunately is the case for some of these people,” said Moore.
“There are the more sincere people that want to get a couple more things so they are willing to hold out for a little longer and I think we are in that stage right now.”
Moving the vote forward
As of now, there is no passing forward for congress. Moore said his peers need to realize that McCarthy has been in positions of leadership where he prevailed. More specifically, his decrease in discretionary spending.
“It is not like I’ve always agreed with him,” Moore admitted. “But he has earned this position and if people want to make this about fiscal responsibility, candidly, they are up in the night because he has got a solid track record on this”
When it comes to matters like January 6, Moore disagrees with McCarthy, but the main thing he is focused on is the budget. Because $4 trillion of the congress budget is mandatory spending, Moore wants to hear more congressmen addressing this.
Moore feels some of the holdouts have become disingenuous because they haven’t mentioned this budget spending.
Voting will continue today in the 11th round. Congress will continue to vote until they elect a speaker or until enough people vote to adjourn the meeting for a period of time.
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