House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has big plans for Congress so that trust among the American people can be restored in the federal government.
In a series of interviews with Politico, the California Republican explained what is currently wrong with Washington and is causing Americans to view Congress with skepticism.
McCarthy said that a primary cause for the gridlock in Washington is the “structure [that] holds us back.”
“The ideas are great,” McCarthy continued. “But what stops the ideas from becoming law? Some of the archaic things we do.”
In McCarthy’s opinion, one such thing is the way Congress develops its budget. He made the case for the budget to be done every two years as opposed to annually.
“The budget act is the Budget Act of 1974,” said the majority leader, who succeeded Eric Cantor in August. “Does the world look like it did in ’74?”
Come January, McCarthy wants to kick off the new Congress with a joint retreat for House and Senate Republicans to get everyone familiar with one another.
“You have a lot of new people over there and don’t instinctively like the Senate to start with, which I get,” he explained. “In the House, it’s a dynamic where you really have to work it. And we’re trying to do a better job of that.”
“My belief is you have one chance to make a first impression,” McCarthy continued. “From the very first day after the election, we should be laying out to the American public what the expectations are. Why make two different agendas?”
In private, McCarthy told donors in Long Island, New York, that the GOP has a 75 percent chance of taking the Senate and House in the midterm elections. He also told the group that Republicans have to “prove” their governing ability once they secure their seats in Congress.
“I do know this. If we don’t capture the House stronger, and the Senate, and prove we could govern, there won’t be a Republican president in 2016,” he explained to the donors.
Though many lawmakers are likely interested in engaging with the new majority leader, one person who isn’t is President Obama.
Obama has not tried to speak with McCarthy since he took over Cantor’s role in the House.
And, McCarthy doesn’t seem to think much of Obama, who he described to Politico as having trouble “coming to an agreement.” He dealt a further blow to the president by adding that Vice President Biden can accomplish “more in 36 hours than [Obama] did in three months.”
