Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) tore into House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and GOP-backed legislation on Monday during a Rules Committee meeting to advance legislation on gas stoves and firearm stabilizing braces to the House floor.
McGovern took aim at the firearm stabilizing braces law, written by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), that would halt a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rule from January regulating the stabilizing braces, which are mounted on pistols so they can be shot more easily with one hand. Biden has vowed to veto the bill should it pass as the White House has noted the device has been used in mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and Boulder, Colorado.
McGovern’s comments came the same day that McCarthy struck a deal with GOP House hardliners who had shut down the House in protest of the debt ceiling deal struck between President Joe Biden and McCarthy. Hardliners announced Monday they had struck a “power sharing” agreement with McCarthy and the firearm brace bill advancing was a key component of the deal.
McGovern, the ranking member on the Rules Committee, used his speaking time to denounce the legislation and called out Rep. Clyde for having a conflict of interest in authoring the bill. “I get it. The bill’s author owns a gun shop and makes millions from selling guns and gun accessories, including stabilizing braces,” McGovern said, adding:
Sure sounds like a conflict of interest to me, but we are considering it because Speaker McCarthy is trying to put down a far-right rebellion. So we will vote on a bill to make it easier to kill people. He has given away everything to a small group of radical Republicans who will continue to demand more and more from him, apparently now, including letting them dictate exactly what bills come to the floor.
Later in the meeting, McGovern expressed his frustration with the House’s lack of action on combatting gun violence and called Congress “all screwed up.”
“I’ve been studying town hall meetings in my district. And, you know, people a lot of people who wouldn’t even agree with me, never even vote for me, come to these meetings and they talk about the epidemic of gun violence,” he said, adding:
That they’re afraid for the kids to go to a movie or go to a baseball game or go to the theater or go to, you know, to any event where there are lots of people present. And on top of that, in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s recent indictment, you hear some of his supporters saying some of the most incendiary things, even invoking the fact that a lot of his supporters are members of the NRA.
I guess we all know what that person is trying to to get to. I mean. You know, with all that’s going on in this country, people are worried. It’s not just Democrats. It’s not just people who live in urban areas. It’s people who live in suburban areas and live in rural areas. And what really bothers them is that in the aftermath of massacres. They don’t get the sense that there’s any outrage by the people who are pushing things like this.
And again, I just point out, again, for the record, the guy who is the author of this bill. I think, he has a conflict of interest. I mean, he sells these things. And he’s the one who’s pushing it. So, you know, I mean, I know this place is all screwed up, in my opinion right now. They have the votes to get this to the floor. I don’t know where they have the votes to pass it. I hope not. But at some point, enough has to be enough.
Watch the clip above.
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