Debbie Dooley, a cofounder of the national Tea Party movement, spoke with Breitbart News about how the House of Representatives is “truly the people’s house under a Kevin McCarthy speakership” and praised several of McCarthy’s commitments to the American people.
Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle opened the interview by asking Dooley to talk about why Kevin McCarthy is the right choice for speaker of the House.
Dooley compared McCarthy to former President Donald Trump because they both faced accusations of being a liberal.
“I just think Kevin was the right guy for the job and there was never going to be anyone else,” Dooley said.
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“I think Kevin McCarthy has done a great job. And as you said, I’ve been with Donald Trump from, 2015, and I see similarities because when I came out and endorsing Donald Trump, my friends and longtime allies that were backing Ted Cruz accuse me of supporting a liberal, they called Donald Trump a pro-choice Hillary Clinton liberal,” Dooley said.
“They were wrong about Donald Trump, and they are wrong about Kevin McCarthy.”
Speaking about the 15 votes it took to secure McCarthy’s speakership, Dooley said:
It was messy. The speaker fight was exceptionally messy. I draw the analogy; it’s like when a woman giving birth to a baby, she goes through extreme labor pains. But at the end of the day, it’s all worth it when you hold that baby in your arms. And I think what the rules package that Kevin McCarthy and the folks that were holding out the 20 is transformational. This is going to be the most conservative House in history.
In addition to praising McCarthy for the rules package, she also praised McCarthy’s pledge to institute Church-style committee hearings to investigate the intelligence community.
“The Church report caused wholesale changes to the way our intelligence communities operate. Look at our intelligence communities today, we need to have these hearings,” Dooley said. “Thomas Massie will be on the committee, and this committee will not just have hearings, they have investigative and subpoena powers. And this is good for the American people. This is a win for all sides except Democrats.”
Incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California receives the gavel from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York on the House floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, early Saturday, January 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Boyle then highlighted McCarthy’s pledge to create a select committee to investigate the Chinese Communist Party.
“But we’re also going to get one of the things that I think, and I’ve talked with McCarthy about this in many interviews, I think it’s really extremely important is we’re gonna get a select committee to investigate the Chinese Communist Party,” Boyle said. “Not just COVID, but more broadly, their influence operations, their broader national plan. We haven’t seen a body of Congress take on the CCP in a way that is significant.”
Dooley also lauded McCarthy for promising to end omnibus spending packages and putting three House Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee.
“And something else positive is McCarthy agreed there will be no more omnibus bills,” she said.
“There’s just a whole litany he agreed to bring to the floor. Legislation advocating for term limits, border security, and here’s something else that’s really, really good, he is putting three members of the House Freedom Caucus on the Rules Committee,” Dooley said.
Georgia Tea Party Patriots State Coordinator Debbie Dooley speaks during a tea party rally at the Georgia State Capitol, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)
“I don’t believe any other speaker would have done this. Kevin McCarthy gave up power that he had, that Nancy Pelosi had, and that other speakers have had, and ceded that power to the people’s representatives in the House,” Dooley said.
Dooley also noted the McCarthy-affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), agreed to stay out of open-seat Republican primaries in safely red districts.
Dooley told Boyle, “So conservatives, we have to get organized, we have to push. And just like you said, we’re slowly changing things to where we actually elect conservatives. And Kevin McCarthy, one of the concessions he gave is he said, ‘Hey, my PAC will no longer be involved. Nor will we give money to any PAC that is involved in a contested primary in a safe Republican seat.’ There was a lot of criticism leveled at McCarthy, because, you know, in California, some of these seats, his PAC got involved. And you know that is something we don’t have to worry about.”
“We need to stop complaining, we need to call your your representative in the house, tell them to vote for this rule package,” Dooley added.
