Representative Chuy García responds to my concerns “about the recent Speaker election and the historic chaos caused by divisions in the Republican Conference”

Back on October 4, I sent a letter, electronically, to my member of Congress, the U.S. Representative for the 4th District of Illinois. I was essentially concerned that every single Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representative García, had actively sided with radical MAGA Republicans and had effectively allowed themselves to be manipulated into helping shut down the House after then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy had compromised to keep the U.S. Federal Government from shutting down. Whereas Speaker McCarthy and most House Republicans had ultimately worked with Democrats to keep the Government open, House Democrats then turned around and worked with Representative Matt Gaetz and others in his minority faction to close the People’s House—and Democrats did so without gaining any clear advantage or indeed seeming to have any plan. I asked what the plan was and what the Democrats were going to do to get the House back to work.

Representative García emailed me his response this morning.

This is what he wrote:

November 15, 2023

Dear Mr. Dunlevy,

Thank you for contacting me about the recent Speaker election and the historic chaos caused by divisions in the Republican Conference. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

As you know, members of Congress have the important role of selecting a Speaker of the House that sets the legislative priorities for the session. After House Democrats worked with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert a government shutdown, he was ultimately removed from the office of Speaker. My Democratic colleagues and I refused to bail out Representative McCarthy after he had caved to the most fringe conservative members on unpopular and divisive pieces of legislation.

The Republican Conference failed three times to elect Representative Jim Jordan who has served in Congress for 16 years without passing a single bill and supports federally criminalizing abortion. After caving to the most conservative members of their conference, Republicans elected Representative Mike Johnson, who has a long record of extreme policies and has supported policies that would end marriage equality, criminalize abortion nationwide, and gut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Along with the rest of my Democratic colleagues, I voted to remove Speaker McCarthy and in favor of Representative Hakeem Jeffries, to ensure that the House has a Speaker focused on the real issues facing our communities

Important Updates

Thank you again for writing to me. Your emails help inform my policy decisions, so I appreciate you keeping in touch. Please subscribe to our newsletter and follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates on our work to represent the people of the 4th Congressional District of Illinois.

Sincerely,

Chuy García
Member of Congress