Golden Statement on Motion to Vacate Speaker’s Chair

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) issued the following statement ahead of an expected vote on a Motion to Vacate Speaker’s Chair:

“When I first ran for Congress, I called for new leadership. I delivered on that promise when I voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker. This was especially important to me because the leaders of the political establishment in Washington have not just ignored communities like the ones I represent, but have also pushed policies that were actively harmful to them.

Kevin voted for the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal that then-Speaker Pelosi also championed, a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that is no better for Maine than it was before but is plenty good for Silicon Valley. 

In December, when the Maine Delegation and I secured a six-year regulatory freeze to right whale regulations on our fishermen, Kevin voted against them. 

In the last Congress, when I called on Speaker Pelosi to hold a vote on legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stocks while in office, Kevin McCarthy promised that he would ban that practice when he held the gavel. Nine months into his Speakership and he hasn’t kept that promise. Kevin also promised a vote for a bill to create term limits in Congress, something both I and many of my constituents support, but nine months into this Congress and he hasn’t kept that promise. 

Kevin voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law that is now creating jobs and supporting businesses in Maine and will for the next decade. He voted against the semiconductor bill that will advantage American manufacturing over foreign competitors. And Kevin sided with Big Pharma by voting against a new law to cap out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for seniors and force drug companies to negotiate with our government to lower unnecessarily high medication prices. Is this the new leadership that the people of Maine’s Second District are looking for? I don’t think so. 

Last weekend, Speaker McCarthy put a Continuing Resolution up for a vote to avoid a government shutdown and it passed because 209 Democrats voted for it, far more than the number of Republicans who supported it. It was the right thing to do, but it was also just what Congress was supposed to do. There was no need to be on the verge of a shutdown because Congress already had a budget agreement in place since June, but Kevin McCarthy went back on his word in regards to that agreement as well. 

Kevin McCarthy has been in Congress for 17 years. He does not offer new leadership. He offers the same type of leadership that Maine has come to expect from much of the national political establishment of both parties. 

The GOP has control of the House and it is their responsibility to pick their leaders. That decision has nothing to do with me or with any Democrat. But in the interest of answering inquiries to my office about whether or not I would support Kevin McCarthy: he’s not the leader I would choose – he doesn’t have the pulse of the people of Maine’s Second District. Absent any significantly meaningful benefit for Maine’s Second District, I see no reason to vote for him.”  -Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02)

###