WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the Republican House Leadership stakeout today, Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) highlighted the strength of the economy under President Trump and this Republican Congress. By rolling back Obama-era regulations and cutting taxes for every tax bracket, Americans are better off now with more money in their pockets and more opportunity. Scalise then called on his colleagues and all Americans to restore civility to our national debate, reiterating that there is no place for violence in politics. Finally, he called on everyone in the path of Hurricane Florence to be prepared, listen to their local leaders, and evacuate if necessary.
On staying safe during Hurricane Florence:
“Good morning, everybody.
“My prayers go out to all the people that are in the path of Hurricane Florence. I know too well, representing South Louisiana, just how dangerous these kinds of storms can be.
“And when you see the size of this hurricane, the first thing I would say is, listen to your local leaders. When you hear governors talking about evacuations, please take heed, because it’s important. The most important thing is to keep your family safe. You can shore up your house, take your pets with you, but if you’re in the path of that storm and your local leaders are telling you to evacuate, please take heed. Ultimately, make sure that you’re safe.
“And my office stands ready to help anybody that ultimately has to deal with the consequences. Hopefully, everybody is safe through this tragic storm.”
On the booming economy thanks pro-growth Republican policies:
“I do want to talk about this great economy. When you look at these numbers, seeing middle-class wages at an all-time high, seeing unemployment at an 18-year low, family wages going up. These are great results for the families across this country that we fought for, that President Trump fought for. And it’s working.
“In fact, the economy’s doing so well that now you see Barack Obama trying to take credit for this great economic growth. I’m glad he recognizes that after eight years of a dismal economy, of high unemployment, of people having no opportunity, we have finally been able to reverse so many of the radical regulations that Barack Obama put in place that killed the economy.
“By cutting taxes and reversing all of the Obama tax increases, we’re seeing this great economic growth.
“So I think people out there that are experiencing the positive effects of this growing economy know how it happened. They know it happened because we finally got regulations under control. They know it happened because we worked with President Trump, here in Congress, to cut taxes, to put more money back in their paychecks, through both higher wages and lower taxes.
“That’s why we’re rebuilding our middle class. We want to keep that going. We don’t want to reverse this success.”
On what Democrat leadership in Congress would look like:
“And in fact, when you look at the contrast in this election, Nancy Pelosi’s making it clear what she would do. She said she would reverse the tax cuts. She wants to lead a charge to abolish ICE, the people that keep our community safe.
“You know, when I go around the country, especially when I go to swing districts, those families don’t want Nancy Pelosi to take away their tax cuts. They surely don’t want to abolish ICE, which would make our communities more dangerous. They want to keep those terrorists and those drug dealers and those human traffickers out of our country.
“And so we need to make it clear throughout this what the contrast is.”
On restoring civility to politics:
“And then ultimately, while we’re making this contrast, I think it’s important that we maintain civility in our debate. You saw again, this week, an attack on a candidate for Congress based on his political views. There is no place in our society for violence or inciting violence against people based on their political views or who they work for. And we all need to be calling that out; not just Republican leaders, but Democrat leaders need to be calling it out, as well.
“This is the greatest country in the history of the world, and one of the things that makes it great is that we respect other people’s views. And even if you disagree with somebody’s politics, you resolve those differences at the ballot box. You don’t resort to violence, like we see in Third World countries. And when that happens, we all need to stand against it. There is no place for it in our society.”