It’s been six months since Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was elected speaker of the House after a marathon 15 rounds of voting, the most rounds needed since 1923, when nine votes were needed to confirm the position of President of Massachusetts Fredrick Huntington Gillett. a century ago
From the beginning, the battle for McCarthy’s presidency raised questions about whether he would be able to negotiate a caucus with members who were willing to openly oppose him in the House. With such a slim majority, McCarthy can only lose five votes at any given time, giving some outspoken members great power.
Half a year into his speakership, McCarthy has proven capable of securing victories for the GOP in bipartisan negotiations. The continuing challenge, of course, is making sure he can keep the more volatile members of his party on his side.
What you need to know
Six months into Kevin McCarthy’s tenure as Speaker of the House, he’s faced with a slim majority, a mercurial far-right contingent and the need for bipartisanship to pass legislation through a majority Senate democrat
McCarthy can count the passage of border legislation and debt ceiling legislation, which secured victories for conservative lawmakers, among the feathers in his cap.
But far-right Republicans have been ready to unleash their anger, with at least one calling for his impeachment after the debt ceiling negotiations and subsequent passage of the law.
To outside observers, McCarthy’s ability to secure conservative victories in bipartisan negotiations speaks well of his ability to represent the GOP.
“What you have to do is respect all the different opinions in the conference and bring people together,” McCarthy told Spectrum News in March in an exclusive interview. “So as long as someone has a say, it should be fair. .”
“At the end of the day, you have to make a decision, but as long as you can have input and listen to everybody, it’s easier to bring people together,” he said. “Using your ears never works. you’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
As McCarthy completes six months on the job, he has scored several victories for the Republican conference. He pushed the Secure the Border Act through the House, which he calls “the strongest border security bill to pass Congress in more than 100 years.” He won bipartisan support in his effort to overturn a Washington, D.C. penal code that would have changed sentencing guidelines signed by President Joe Biden and successfully proposed and passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, a project of law to raise the debt ceiling. while reducing spending in the Chamber.
The debt limit crisis is where McCarthy hit the first real hurdle of his leadership: The Limit, Save, Grow Act died on arrival in the Senate and Biden vowed to veto it if necessary. With a default looming on the horizon, McCarthy spent months trying to meet with Biden to broker a deal. Their first meeting in February indicated that there would be further discussions between the two principals.
McCarthy claims it was radio silence for 97 days.
“We have spent more than we have ever spent and we have the highest debt ever. I just don’t think it’s right,” McCarthy told reporters during the debt ceiling negotiations. “I told the president everything else is on the table. He didn’t talk to me for 97 days. So we passed the bill of law. Getting it all on our bill.”
McCarthy’s bill received overwhelming support from Republicans, with members of the House Freedom Caucus applauding the bill and the speaker’s leadership. But once McCarthy began, and then ended, negotiations with the White House on the Fiscal Responsibility Act, members of the far right changed their tune.
“No Republican should vote for this deal, it’s a bad deal,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said at a news conference the day before the bill was considered in the House. “We will continue to fight today, tomorrow, and no matter what happens, there will be a reckoning for what just happened, unless we stop this bill tomorrow.”
The bill, since signed into law by President Biden, established stricter work requirements for government aid recipients, a key Republican priority. The measure ensures that people ages 49 to 54 with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps, would have to meet work requirements if they are able-bodied and have no dependents. Biden was able to get exemptions for veterans and the homeless.
The measure also codifies the end of the August 29, 2023 pause in student loan payments, which, according to a memo obtained by Spectrum News from a Democratic source, Biden planned to do on Sept. 1 of all manners It also makes minor reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act by designating a “single lead agency” to conduct environmental reviews, in an effort to streamline some energy and infrastructure projects.
The bill calls for roughly $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief funds, while preserving measures such as $5 billion in funding for Project Next Gen, the administration’s coronavirus vaccine development program Biden, as well as halting some funds directed to the IRS.
“Is that all I wanted? No,” McCarthy admitted at a news conference after the bill passed the House. “Sitting with a House, with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president who didn’t want to meet with us, I think we did pretty well for the American public.”
The anger grew so strong that at least one member began vocally mulling a motion to vacate the chair. Rep. Dan Bishop, RNC, said he had no confidence in McCarthy’s leadership.
“None. Zero. What basis is there for trust?” asked the bishop. “You cannot lose the tool of republican unity.”
Bishop was one of the dissenters against McCarthy in January and said he would only move on the leave motion along with others. So far, no one has publicly joined Bishop’s calls for impeachment.
“Some of these people who are talking about removing McCarthy are members of the Freedom Caucus, but other members of the caucus are telling them no, don’t do it. I’m not going to support it. It’s not a good idea,” said Matt Green , a Catholic University professor who studies congressional leadership. “I think what they recognize is that McCarthy has support in the party, I think they also realized that not only would he fail, but if he failed, he would weaken the caucus and make this motion seems even less so. effective.”
McCarthy will need to continue to build confidence within the conference as a result of this bipartisan deal.
“Trust was broken in the way of negotiation. This was basically negotiated with a few negotiators for the president and two negotiators for the speaker of the house. These are all people who had a seat at the table,” said Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas. “I think the speaker needs to work to get back to a unified Republican conference.”
“If we have unity in the Republican conference, even with our small majority, we can do great things,” Self added. “There’s no question … we can produce strong bills, if we stick together.”
Some far-right members continued to show their displeasure with the deal this week, halting floor proceedings as a group of 11 Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting a vote on the rules for moving two bills forward. Republican messaging on gas stoves.
It is the first time in 21 years that the majority party forwards a vote on rules.
“We removed the rule because we’re frustrated with the way this place is run,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, told reporters on the Capitol steps after the vote. “We are concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed McCarthy to assume the position of speaker have been violated.”
After postponing votes for the rest of the week and sending members home for a long weekend to let tempers settle, McCarthy met with some of those 11 members Wednesday night to try smooth out some of the frustrations.
“You’ve got to make sure you come together as a family, otherwise we’re not going to be successful for the American people. Who are you here for? Are you here for yourself or are you here for the American public? We want you to have a voice . We want you to have it. You’re not going to get 100 percent of what you want, so you can’t take hostages,” McCarthy said.
Despite the heavy defections, allies like Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-D., say the conference stands squarely behind McCarthy.
“The vast majority of the conference is proud of the work that President McCarthy has done, understands that we have real work to do, and knows that he is the right man to lead us forward,” Johnson said. “I hope that in the next few days, we’ll have everybody on the same page. And we can turn our attention to the appropriations bills to the Farm Bill to the annual defense authorization bill and to the other work we have to do here this year in Congress.”
“Sometimes tempers flare, but at the end of the day, I think in a week, all of that will be ancient history. Most of us are really interested in getting back to work,” Johnson said, downplaying the shutdown of floor of this week “A couple of three days late to deal with important bills is annoying, but we also wouldn’t want to overstate the impact.”
As for Green, who has studied the trials facing Speakers Boehner and Ryan, especially when it came to their own eventual impeachments, he considers the deal McCarthy was able to broker for his party to be “excellent. slow,” considering the hand he was dealt, and considers the argument. of the “extremely unlikely” abandonment motion.
“Not a lot of people inside the girth thought McCarthy was up to it. And he had to pretty much do it himself in the House because the Senate, the Republican leaders in the Senate like Mitch McConnell said we’re not going to get involved , it’s completely up to the speaker,” Green explained.
“McCarthy really demonstrated his ability to sit down, with the president of the opposing party, give a little, get a little, reach a deal. And it’s that kind of success that I think speaks well of McCarthy’s ability to represent their party in the bipartisan negotiations they face.”
