House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that he’ll spearhead a House select committee on China if he’s elected Speaker when the new Congress convenes next year.
“They never once in this majority had a hearing [on] where COVID originated from … They have never stood up to China,” McCarthy said of Democrats in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“When I become Speaker, I’m going to have a select committee on China,” McCarthy said, confirming long-expected plans.
Republicans are readying for majority power after winning the House by a slim margin in this month’s midterms, with plans to investigate the U.S.-Mexico border, allegations against President Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the origins of COVID-19.
“China is the No. 1 country when it comes to intellectual property theft. All the other nations combined, China steals more than them. We will put a stop to this and no longer allow the administration to sit back and let China do what they are doing to America,” McCarthy said Sunday.
He has long tried to get investigations into China off the ground, kick-starting a GOP-led task force, led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, to probe China’s information disclosure during the outbreak.
The minority leader won the House GOP nomination to be Speaker in a secret-ballot vote last week — and now faces a public vote on the floor on the first day of the next Congress to secure the top leadership spot via a majority of all House members.
Among McCarthy’s plans for his possible Speakership, he has promised to remove Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) from their committee posts.