House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy insisted defense would be his “top” priority if he becomes speaker of the House, in an interview with Hugh Hewitt Tuesday. (RELATED: GOP Congressman Fears Replacing Boehner With ‘Right-Hand Man’)
McCarthy also blasted the EPA suggesting claiming the U.S. doesn’t “need a strong EPA” and “I don’t need to fund a lot of money there.”
Hewitt asked McCarthy if there have been discussions about revoking the citizenship of Americans who joined the jihadists in the Islamic State and McCarthy said that there were discussion as of today with Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul to do just that because “this isn’t… just happening overseas. No, they’re coming here.”
Kevin McCarthy: When America leads, the world is safer.
Hugh Hewitt: So Kevin McCarthy, when you get to be speaker, at what priority do you put the national security issues vis-à-vis the other issues, which are stacked up, and there are many? There’s Obamacare. Obviously, there’s an EPA that’s out of control. There’s entitlement reform that needs to get done. But where does defense come?
McCarthy: Defense comes to me at the top, because you know what, I believe in limited government. You know what? I don’t need a strong EPA. I don’t need to fund a lot of money there. But if we don’t secure ourselves, and if people don’t quite understand where Iran is now getting $150 billion, and we only used to send $16 billion, where are they going to fund this? And who are these little cells that are going to be coming into America? We have to defend America and be strong. Our military is now equal to the 1940s.
Hewitt: I read the New York Times story yesterday that more than 250 Americans have gone to join the jihadists in the Islamic State. Is there any way, Leader McCarthy, that their citizenship can be revoked? I don’t even know if that’s possible via statute. But have you heard it discussed?
McCarthy: Yes, I was actually talking about that today with the Intel Chairman, Chairman McCaul of Homeland Security. You know, there has been, what, 67 arrests in America, too, because they had been working with ISIS. You know, this isn’t, when the people look at the television, think it’s just happening overseas. No, they’re coming here. Think about Paris. Think about London. Think about Washington. We have seen what terror has done. And these radical Islamists, we’ve got to do something about. And if you don’t call them what they are, but if we also don’t talk about who we are, we are exceptional, and America is good for the world.
WATCH:
