Global Courant
As conservatives continue to grunt on the House floor in protest, centrists take their turn to pressure Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Behind closed doors on Wednesday, McCarthy’s Nos. 2 and No. 3 briefed about a dozen Republicans—mostly members on the battlefield—about their plan to run two bills next week: Rep. Andrew Clyde‘s (R-Ga.) bid to scrap a gun regulation from the Biden administration and a separate bill to strengthen limits on taxpayer funding for abortion.
The meeting did not go smoothly.
“Why the hell are we doing this?” representative Nancy Mace (RS.C.) asked Majority Leader Steve Scalis (R-La.) and Majority Whip Tom Bucket (R-Minn.), said two House Republicans familiar with the meeting.
Things got even more heated from there, the two Republicans added: Rep. Michelle Fishbach (R-Minn.) confronted Mace for going on TV and berating other Republicans for their views on abortion. Mace responded that the party is losing the battle for public opinion on this issue, arguing that tacking further to the right would hurt the centrists who gave the GOP the majority.
The spat between two rank-and-file Republicans illustrates the immense pressure McCarthy and his top delegates are under as they push through conservative policies with a five-seat majority. Conservative hardliners have drawn attention by paralyzing the House floor and venting their anger at leaders over perceived broken promises, but centrists can wield similar power their own way if frustrated enough.
In fact, the same tactics conservative hardliners used this week could convince centrists to join Democrats in stopping floor action next week with another secretive tactic. Losing ground on more agenda items could add to the embarrassment party leaders have faced in recent days.
As they are drawn by both ideological ends of their conference, the personal friction between senior GOP leaders begins to show – despite the top trio’s public efforts to form a united front. During this week’s Conservative uprising, McCarthy and Scalise began openly accusing each other of causing the outrage.
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“They’re two good guys. Let’s stick together,” Rep. said. don bacon (R-Neb.) urged his fellow members on Thursday. “Cannot be divided.”
But that blame game could continue if centrists push back against the abortion bill, which would make abortion limits permanent, often abbreviated as the Hyde Amendment. It also extends funding restrictions to all federal funds, rather than specific agencies.
Some Republicans speculate privately that their centrists could spark their own rebellion by joining the Democrats in delaying a final vote on the abortion bill — exploiting a maneuver the minority party in the House almost always tries in vain. Any kerfuffle that results might not happen next week: In a turn of events, the abortion funding bill was not on the GOP’s list of bills for the next week.
It’s a huge shift from the House’s first six months or so under McCarthy, when his leadership team mostly managed to put down on paper the deep divisions within their conference.
But after a relatively easy victory over a utility bill and a much bigger victory — the conservative debt measure that Democrats didn’t expect the House to actually pass — the GOP’s fragile peace appears to be broken.
At the heart of the discontent is conservative unease over McCarthy’s deal with President Joe Biden to cut debt. representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who leads the Trump-aligned Freedom Caucus, said Thursday its members feel McCarthy’s promises to the January speaker election were “significantly violated” during the speaker’s talks with Biden.
Yet critics on the right are often reluctant to explain exactly how McCarthy betrayed their trust. And when asked whether frustrated conservatives blame McCarthy or Scalise, Perry said eloquently, “There are clearly multiple issues here that need to be resolved.”
In addition to the general fear, the debt struggle revealed cracks in McCarthy’s leadership firmament. The speaker raised his eyebrows when he chose his own allies, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee Patrick MacHenry (RN.C.) and Rep. Garrett Graves (R-La.), to take the lead in negotiations with the Biden administration.
Scalise and Emmer were largely sidelined until the closing hours of the talks, which eventually led to frustrations.
It’s all renewed long-running questions about the tension between McCarthy and Scalise, who viewed openly the gavel. The duo were willing to erase their fraught past if November’s midterms had delivered the “red wave” the GOP was hoping for, but the disappointing results and McCarthy’s 15-vote speaker battle renewed mistrust between the men.
Then, after McCarthy’s debt deal received support from two-thirds of the House GOP, hard-right opposition this week expanded into a floor riot. Compounding most of the conference is that about a dozen hardliners successfully castrate their own party leaders.
“You got the dog’s tail wagging. You have a small group of people who are pissed off and keep the House of Representatives from functioning,” said a visibly frustrated representative. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said Wednesday.
“I think the leadership will have to deal with it,” he added.
But exactly how McCarthy’s team might do that remains unclear. After hours of failing to come to a resolution with conservatives, McCarthy had to send lawmakers home for the weekend on Wednesday — buying time but building frustration.
Leaders continue to talk to their opponents, but even McCarthy complained Wednesday that their demands were not clear.
“Some of these members don’t know what to ask. There’s a lot of different things they’re frustrated about,” McCarthy said. “We have a small majority. There’s a little chaos going on… We’re just going to go through the agenda and get everything done.
The House will return on Monday and Scalise has vowed that Clyde’s gun bill would be voted on the next day, though he acknowledged that the vote was still short.
And with Republicans especially eager to show voters they can govern after a lackluster midterm election performance, any action on the floor when members return next week is bound to cause a spike in House GOP blood pressure.
“Of course I’m frustrated,” said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) said. “In my opinion, a Conservative should be in favor of advancing Conservative legislation. And that is not happening now.”
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
