McCarthy: Mr. President, Leader Reid, We Can't Wait to Act on the Forgotten Fifteen

Washington D.C. – House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) gave the following remarks at a House Republican press conference regarding the ‘Forgotten Fifteen” – fifteen bills from the House Republican Plan for Job Creators which have all passed the House and lay dormant in the Senate:

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“We are focused on our plan for job creators, but this isn’t something that is just happening today.  If you look on the back and you read it, it is the forgotten 15. But it’s more than just the forgotten 15 bills; these 15 bills have faces. From the energy producer in Morgan City, Louisiana, to the new start-up in California, to maybe the farmer in Illinois; these are the faces of the forgotten 15.  The Senate continues not to act, but when you think about the statistics of what has transpired in the last year alone, 2.6 million Americans slipped into poverty.  They slipped into poverty while these bills continue to sit.  We are at our highest level since the census has been taken in a 52 years of 46.2 million people living in poverty. 

“The President says he can’t wait, well, I personally can’t wait till he gets off the campaign trail. I can’t wait till Harry Reid stops ignoring bills that are sitting in his chambers and put the faces on it that actually take it to the floor for a debate.  The founding fathers crafted what we all believe is the greatest form of government that the idea can win at the end of the day.  But if the idea can never be debated those faces will continue to wait.  So, we call on the Senate, we call on the President, we call on Harry Reid - don’t forget the 15, and definitely stop forgetting about America.”