During a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) spoke about Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) being active on X while missing votes.
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00:00Mr. Chairman, where's Kevin Kiley?
00:05I'm a little worried about him.
00:07We've been going since 2 o'clock.
00:11I think we've had, Mr. Raskin, you could help me, probably 10 amendment votes?
00:17More?
00:18How many amendment votes have we had, guys?
00:2215?
00:22Now, Mr. Chairman, your members have not spoken on anything, and we can take their silence as an admission that it's wrong to deport U.S. citizens and it's wrong to deport kids with cancer.
00:42But Mr. Kiley has missed every single vote that we've taken, and I think it's fair to do a welfare check on Mr. Kiley.
00:49He's tweeting. He's been tweeting during this hearing, but he's not voting.
00:56So, I just, for the good of the committee, where's Kevin?
01:06Does anyone on your side know? Have you seen him?
01:11Is he in the room?
01:12Just a wave? Or like a hey?
01:14Proof of life for Kevin Kiley, because these are pretty important votes.
01:20Deporting U.S. citizens, firing veterans, deporting kids with cancer.
01:27I would expect that my neighbor to the north would want to be here, but he hasn't voted on any of this.
01:33So, if anyone has seen Kevin Kiley, hey, just tell him there's a hearing going on, and his constituents want to know how he would vote on any of this.
01:41Maybe if he wants to tweet at me that he's okay, I would accept that.
01:46I'd yield.
01:47Do you want to suggest that maybe Mr. Van Drew go look for Kevin Kiley?
01:56So, we don't know where Mr. Kiley is.
02:00Will the gentleman yield for a question?
02:01Yes.
02:01I want to follow up for a moment on your sort of silence, what the silence of our Republican colleagues means.
02:12Because you are correct that we've been here since 2 o'clock, and not a single Republican on this committee has spoken on any amendment,
02:24and they have uniformly and unanimously voted down every single amendment, including, as you mentioned, deporting U.S. citizens.
02:35Apparently, that is okay.
02:38But my question for you, though, is, you know, our job in Congress here is to vote, right?
02:46Our job, we can say whatever you want to say, but ultimately, you are judged on your votes.
02:55So, I guess my question to you is, is it better to say that their silence means that they agree with our amendments,
03:03or their vote against our amendments means that they disagree with all of them?
03:10How would you know?
03:14I don't know.
03:15We could only know if they were here to defend it.
03:17So, we'll let their constituents draw a conclusion.
03:19But, Mr. Kiley, the reason I bring him up is, under the Republican budget plan,
03:24the 32,000 people who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act in Kevin Kiley's district
03:29would see their average premium go up by $3,000 a year.
03:34That's a 121% increase.
03:36And many families would face an even steeper consequence.
03:40A 60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 in Folsom, the heart of Mr. Kiley's district,
03:46would see their health insurance increase by $22,560 a year, a 312% increase in premiums.
03:55So, with all seriousness, where's Kevin Kiley?
03:58He's missed every single vote.
04:00I stepped out to talk to my kids to miss, I think, maybe one or two amendment votes.
04:03That's fine.
04:06People have things come up.
04:07But he hasn't been here all day.
04:09So, if you're his friends, go find him.
04:12Or, Kevin, just tweet at us and tell us you're okay.
04:15And with that, maybe tell your constituents how you'd vote on these important amendments.
04:20I yield back.
04:20The gentleman yields back.
04:21I yield back.