State of the Union 2015: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy reflects on address
In the months, weeks and even days leading up to President Obama's State of the Union address, the commander in chief issued numerous warnings threatening to veto bills proposed by the Republican House and Senate. Since the start of the year, Mr. Obama has already threatened to veto seven bills.
His State of the Union address reflected a similar message. Mr. Obama said he would veto anything that involves putting "the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street or refighting past battles on immigration."
While the president may have his pen ready to write off GOP proposals, he'll need the cooperation of Republicans, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, to make the progress he wants in 2015.
"If the president wants to work with us -- we've only been here two-and-a-half weeks and he's put seven veto threats -- I think that's probably not the best start," McCarthy said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning." "Let us work the legislation before you decide something's going to be vetoed."
McCarthy said that, historically, a divided government has been a productive one. In 1983, Republican President Ronald Reagan famously compromised with Democratic House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill to reform the tax code and raise revenues. Just over a decade later, a government shutdown hit Washington spanning 27 days between 1995 and 1996. President Clinton and Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich also disputed over the budget but eventually reached compromise.
"Historically we're at the right place to be able to conquer a lot of our big challenges, and I think the opportunity is we should get down - if someone's willing to work, we work with them," McCarthy said. "And we're going to have different philosophical approaches, but our government's divided that no one gets 100 percent of what they want."
If it's up to the president, Republicans may never get the Keystone XL pipeline they want. Earlier this month, White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that the president would veto legislation aimed to fast-track the proposal. While the State Department's review last year revealed the project would not pose "significant" environmental danger, the administration extended indefinitely the amount of time it has to review the project.
"We've studied Keystone for five years," McCarthy said. " ... I think this is an easy place that we can find common ground, put people to work and actually make us more energy independent for the entire North America."
But not everything coming from the administration is expected to increase tensions with Republicans. McCarthy said issues like employment for veterans could be an opportunity for compromise, citing the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015 that recently passed in the House.
"There's a lot of places that we can start with common ground now," McCarthy said. "And I think if that becomes law, it'll show that, one, we're competent, second, that the country can move forward, and we can start tackling."