On Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) nominated Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05) for speaker of the House of Representatives. A copy of Rep. Roy’s prepared remarks is below:
I rise in support of my friend and colleague from Arizona to serve as Speaker of the House. Andy Biggs is a proven leader who has demonstrated leadership here in D.C. as well as serving as President of the Arizona State Senate in a slim two seat majority. He is a committed conservative and a good man.
Andy’s candidacy is not an attack on Kevin – with whom a number of us have been engaging and will continue to in good faith…
Andy’s candidacy is about his courage to stand here today, willing to take the arrows… the courage to offer a debate rather than a coronation…
…the courage to say perhaps we should consider changing the way we do things in this broken Congress… in this broken town…
…a town to which our constituents sent us specifically to change it.
…While there are many factors impacting last Tuesday’s elections, the outcome is not so much murky as convicting.
Our voters expected a reckoning… and in so doing, they gave us nearly 5 million more Republicans voting in congressional elections than Democrats…
…YES, redistricting can explain why we only a gained a few seats… but it’s not enough.
What did we run on?
…In the 90’s we ran specifically on crime and a bold agenda to transform Congress.
…In 2010/2012, we ran specifically on Cutting Spending
Meanwhile… this year…
…Bold conservative leadership outside of this city was affirmed enthusiastically by voters…
…No one better represents that than Governor Ron DeSantis’ overwhelming dominance in Florida.
…But we also saw Governor Lee in Tennessee… Governor Kemp in Georgia… Governor Reynolds in Iowa… Governor Abbott in Texas…
And we saw Lee Zeldin’s powerful run for governor in New York, where he fell short but helped flip 4 seats…
… because Lee ran on something… crime & the rule of law.
DeSantis ran on something… fighting COVID tyranny and wokeism…
Abbott ran on something – securing the border.
Meanwhile in a mid-term election… against the most radical leftist and dangerous White House in American history… we left the Senate in Democrat hands… and we’re looking at a 3-5 seat majority in the House.
So – what do we do?
I hear a lot about unity.
Amen. But it has to be REAL unity.
If we just “say” we are unified – it will not do a thing if the rules committee jams a disastrous immigration and border security bill – like happened in July of 2018…
Or, consider that – to the best of my knowledge… the House Freedom Caucus, which represents about 20% of this body… has ONE member of the Steering Committee… and ONE of 20 standing Committee Chairs…
Or respectfully – PACS broadly associated with leadership spent millions of dollars, admittedly undefined degrees removed from anyone in here, against Mary Miller in favor of Rodney Davis – where there were two incumbents… one very much part of the leadership circle…
But it’s not about any one person or group. it’s about empowerment of the whole GOP conference… not just a select few…
We say we are for limited government. But, how do you expect to de-centralize the power of Washington if we can’t even de-centralize our own leadership structure?
Our republic is on the edge. Americans and their families are being crushed by weaponized government, radical wokeness, vaccine mandates, open borders, crime, inflation…
Voters don’t understand how Democrats, who have championed such destruction, still hold so much power and largely avoided the reckoning. We talk a lot about accountability. I ask everyone in this room, “How can we hold them accountable if we cannot hold ourselves accountable when we come up short?”
Today’s voting date is an arbitrary date… rushed… in an environment where many of our voters believe the system is rigged against them.
A vote for Andy is a vote to shout STOP… and to stand athwart the status quo. It’s a vote to pause & debate. It’s a vote to empower every one of us to have a say and to have the ability to use our election certificate to its fullest…
It’s not a vote against Kevin… but a vote to force us ALL to the table to figure out HOW – not if – HOW we will come together as a party… to re-shape the conference rules, re-think the make-up of steering and the very structure and operation of the rules committee… and most of all… lay out a specific agreed-to agenda and battle plan around which we can unify… and to inspire and win the minds and hearts of Americans.
