Via the Washington Reporter: “Be Present and Engage”: House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain on How Republicans Can Build on 2024’s Successes
Last week, House Budget Committee member Lisa McClain (R-MI) was elected to serve as House Republican Conference Chairwoman for the 119th Congress, leading the charge to return to an ‘America First’ agenda.
Voters gave President Trump and Congressional Republicans a mandate to govern. America is now back on a path to fiscal sustainability set forth by our leadership. As James Madison once said, “A public debt is a public curse.”
Matthew Foldi with the Washington Reporter wrote in a recent release highlighting the optimistic outlook Rep. McClain has for the GOP Conference ahead of the start of the next Congress, including igniting the American dream once again through less government regulation, incentives for business, and pro-growth policies.
Chairman Arrington Statement:
House Budget Committee Chairman Arrington (R-TX) praised the new Chairwoman:
“Congratulations to my friend and Budget Committee colleague on her election as Conference Chair. Lisa is a strong leader who brings a boatload of business acumen and common sense to our Conference. I’ve worked closely with Lisa over the years, and I can assure the American people that Chairwoman McClain has an unrivaled passion and unwavering commitment to reining-in Washington, restoring fiscal sanity and prosperity, and fighting for working families across our great land.”
Word on the Street:
Matthew Foldi, Via the Washington Reporter:
- “[Rep. Lisa McClain] spoke with the Washington Reporter shortly after her election as the House GOP Chairwoman for the next Congress, and laid out her goals, which include “helping get people what they want, putting the right people on the right bus at the right time.”
- “For now, she wants to highlight Trump’s success in expanding the GOP’s base by showcasing the party’s diversity.”
- “If you look at our conference, we have a really diverse conference, and we need to take advantage of that and let those members go to the forefront…We have to figure out how to take advantage of our diversity in the Republican conference and really build upon that, McClain said.”
- “What we found, and what I found, is they care about traditional American values. They care about being able to live in freedom. They care about having opportunities. They care about having peace in their homeland, McClain continued.”
- “McClain saw similar successes with Republican outreach to working class communities in her state, which is home to much of America’s auto industry. Republicans need to “be present in the district and listen to the constituents, not overlay our beliefs on them, but listen to the constituents in terms of what are their issues?” she said.”
- “If Republicans keep listening to Americans, McClain sees opportunity, not danger, in the 2026 midterms for the GOP across the country. McClain wants Rep. Jack Bergman on the steering committee.”
- “If you look at my background from where I came from, I started a company, built it from scratch. I managed a 700-person organization with about $13 billion in assets, so for me, I’m used to being at the leadership table. I’m used to leading. I’m used to being in charge, and this is just a natural progression. I can’t imagine doing anything different. I love to lead. I love to promote the people underneath me, to make them better. It’s just kind of who I am and what I’ve done.”
- “As it pertains to the conference, what I think was interesting about this last election was that President Trump was able to reach very unique coalitions that Republicans hadn’t been able to reach in a long time, whether it be Arab Americans, whether it be Latinos, whether it be African Americans. He really overperformed in a lot of those areas.”
- “I think the biggest thing we have to do is be present in the district and listen to the constituents, not overlay our beliefs on them, but listen to the constituents in terms of what are their issues?”
- “We have to provide vision for that path of growth, whether that’s less regulation, whether that’s more incentives for businesses, we need to begin to incentivize American businesses, as opposed to foreign businesses. We don’t need to be giving tax incentives to a Gotion plant, which is a Chinese-owned company. We need to be giving tax incentives, if we’re going to be giving tax incentives at all, to American companies.”
- “Continue to promote traditional Republican, conservative, American values. I think we have the right message. I think we have the right game plan, and all we need to do is get to work, getting our message out, and communicating with our constituents.”
