Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House.

The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now.  

As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.  Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.

Today we learned that my plan to build an economy that works from the bottom up and the middle out has achieved the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. And that we made 2021 and 2022 the best years for job growth on record.

It’s imperative that we continue that economic progress, not set it back.  It is imperative that we protect Social Security and Medicare, not slash them.  It is imperative that we defend our national security, not defund it.  These are some of the choices before us.

As the last two years show, we can do profound things for the country when we do them together.

For example, this week I travelled to Kentucky to highlight the growing benefits that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is bringing to communities all over the country.

This is a time to govern responsibly and to ensure that we’re putting the interests of American families first.

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Speaker of the House, Kevin Owen McCarthy was born on January 26, 1965 who is an American politician who is the 55th and current speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving since January 7, 2023.  A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as House Minority Leader from 2019 to 2023, and as House Majority Leader from 2014 to 2019 under Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan. McCarthy is in his ninth House term, serving as the U.S. representative for California's 22nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013, the 23rd district from 2013 to 2023 and the 20th district since 2023.

McCarthy was born in Bakersfield, California. He attended California State University, Bakersfield, while working as a firefighter. McCarthy formerly chaired the California Young Republicans and the Young Republican National Federation. He was a two-term representative in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2006, the last two years as minority leader. He was elected to Congress in 2006. McCarthy was elected to House leadership in his second term as Republican Chief Deputy Whip from 2009 to 2011. When Republicans took control of the House in 2011, he became majority whip from 2011 until August 2014, when he was elected majority leader to replace the outgoing Eric Cantor, who was defeated in his primary election.

In the 2022 House elections, he led the Republican Party in gaining a narrow chamber majority. He was subsequently the Republican nominee for speaker of the House, but he failed to win the speakership until the 15th ballot. It was the first time a speaker had not been elected on the first ballot since 1923, and the first time that the election had taken more than nine ballots since 1859.