After four days of voting, the U.S. House of Representatives elected Kevin McCarthy as speaker Friday night in one of the longest speaker contests in American history.
With that vote completed, the House can now move on to other legislative tasks.
Congressman Tom Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district, said he hopes to serve again on the judiciary and natural resources committees.
One of his top priorities is working toward energy independence.
“Making sure pipelines, like we have in northern Wisconsin in the 7th congressional district, that they are functioning and that they are modernized, making sure that we have infrastructure to be able to deliver affordable energy here in America,” he said. “We need to get back to energy independence.”
Aside from that, Tiffany said he’s also focused on access to public lands.
On the judiciary committee, he’s turning an eye toward the regulation of social media.
“We are seeing now, as a result of the Twitter files that have come out, how the FBI has weaponized the social media companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google and others,” he said. “They have weaponized them, denying people their First Amendment rights to free speech. That is fundamental to the freedoms we have here in our country.”
Tiffany was one of the many Republicans who consistently voted for Kevin McCarthy during last week’s contest for House Speaker.
He said while the debate for speaker was unprecedented in the modern era, he believes the conversation could result in a more open forum for lawmaking.
“This could be the dawning of a new era where we have a more open House of Representatives,” he said.
