East Central Reporter

State Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) defended the actions of his wife, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), for holding out on voting for eventual U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

Miller was one of 20 Republican members who pushed the vote for a new speaker to 15 ballots, a modern record. 

“Mr. Speaker. I rise today in response to the speaker's comments yesterday, attacking my wife as well as the Freedom Caucus in Washington for holding firm on their commitments to drain the swamp,” Miller said from the House floor on Jan. 12. “I want to thank the 20 conservative patriots in the U.S. House of Representatives for their efforts to stop reckless spending and debt that is crushing our country. Those 20 members of Congress fought against the status quo to get hard spending caps so that Washington can actually cut spending at a time with record inflation and a $31 trillion debt. In this chamber, on both sides of the aisle, we can learn a lesson from their courage. 

"A broken Congress is a Congress that passes a 4000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that nobody read. Passing it in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve," Miller said. "That is something that cannot happen again thanks to these 20 patriots. I'm proud that the Illinois Freedom Caucus is fighting fiscal sanity here in Springfield, and my constituents appreciate the bold effort of 20 Freedom Caucus members for doing the same thing in Washington, D.C. Thank you very much and God bless.” 

He posted the clip to Facebook with further explanation. “In defense of my wife and the 20 Patriots who stood up in DC to demand a balanced budget, I spoke up on the IL House floor after Speaker Welch tried to insult my wife and the others,” Miller said on Facebook.

Miller’s wife was the only member of the Illinois GOP delegation who voted against McCarthy, East Central Reporter previously reported. The Illinois Freedom Caucus praised the 20 GOP holdouts who demanded concessions before voting for U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The holdouts were represented by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

 “We will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy today,” Gaetz said at a press conference after a series of votes failed to select a Speaker. “Take no joy in this discomfort that this moment has brought, but if you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise. I am a Florida man and I know of what I speak. We offered Kevin McCarthy terms last evening that he rejected. We sought a vote in the first quarter of the 118th Congress on term limits. He refused. We wanted a budget from the Republican Study Committee that balances on the floor in the first quarter. He refused. We wanted the border plan that the Texas delegation put together on the floor. He refused. Time and again, his viewpoints, his positions, they shift like sands underneath you.” 

Gaetz said the only way the group would vote for McCarthy is through a power-sharing agreement in which members of their delegation are given powerful committee chairmanships and only after adopting new rules in the 118th House that will diminish the Speaker’s role. The group was granted concessions before voting eventually voting favorably for McCarthy.