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McCarthy Pushes Back Against Boehner's Criticism of GOP: The Party 'Changed for the Better'

June 3, 2018

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) on Sunday pushed back against former House Speaker John Boehner's (R., Ohio) criticism of the Republican Party during the Trump administration, saying he is proud of the party and believes it has "changed for the better."

McCarthy appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" to discuss several issues, including President Donald Trump's most recent pardon of Dinesh D'Souza and economic accomplishments during the Trump administration.

Host Dana Bash played a clip of Boehner from a Thursday night policy conference where he said, "There is no Republican party. There's a Trump party. The Republican party is kind of taking a nap somewhere." Bash asked McCarthy to respond to his comments and say whether he thought the Republican party has "changed for the better."

"Well, I would think it changed for the better because let's first look at the facts, Dana," McCarthy said. "We're at 3.8 percent unemployment. This ties a 50-year low in America. African American and women are at the lowest in unemployment. Unemployment claims are at a 44-year low. The G.I. Bill is now no longer 15 years or you lose it, it's now for a lifetime."

McCarthy continued by listing off other accomplishments dealing with the opioid crisis, the military, and human trafficking.

"One thing we've never even talked about in this discussion, come June 12, North Korea is sitting down talking about dismantling their nuclear weapons," McCarthy said. "You know what? I'm proud of this Republican party. I'm proud of what we've been able to achieve. Two million more jobs in America."

"Yes, we are working hard – exactly what we said we would do. That is a proud Republican party. That is a party that stands on their principles. That is part of what we ran on. That is part of what we said we would do, and you know what? We're accomplishing it," McCarthy added.

The Labor Department released its May jobs report on Friday, announcing that nonfarm payrolls increased by 223,000 jobs last month.