Late on Monday night, Speaker Kevin McCarthy breezed through his first major test as the Republicans approved their rules package for governing House operations, a routine first step that typically occurs on Day One but took until the second week in the new majority’s term to complete. It passed with a party-line vote of 220 to 113 (with one Republican voting no).
After that, the House Republicans quickly and easily passed their first bill, which would reduce funding for programmes that would otherwise strengthen the Internal Revenue Service. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the budget office revealed that their IRS bill would actually increase the deficit by $114 billion, killing any chance of it passing before the vote was scheduled to take place.
Another party-line vote (218-210 this time) sent the bill soaring through the House, despite its virtually nonexistent chances of making it through the Senate, which is currently controlled by the Democrats.
It was a strong beginning to what could have been a period of crisis administration. After last week’s chaotic speaker’s race, which highlighted the difficulties McCarthy faces with a defiant majority and the limitations of President Joe Biden’s remaining agenda on Capitol Hill, It’s to be expected that Republicans will lurch from one confrontation to the next.
The First In A New Series Of Internal Conflicts
It’s the beginning of a new era of potentially crisis governing, with House Republicans lurching from one standoff to the next, highlighting the difficulties McCarthy faces as leader of a defiant majority and the remaining limitations of President Joe Biden’s agenda on Capitol Hill.
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The Republicans are charging headfirst into the uncharted, volatile beginning of the new session with lofty goals for a hard-right conservative agenda but a narrow hold on the majority that allows just a few holdouts to halt proceedings. They want to look into Biden, cut federal spending, and increase competition with China.
But first, McCarthy, who has the support of former President Trump, must demonstrate that the Republican majority is up to speed on the essentials of government.
McCarthy, after being elected speaker, admitted, “You know, it’s a little more difficult when you go into a majority and maybe the margins aren’t high.” “This setback served to strengthen our bonds and teach us how to work together,” the author writes.
Monday morning, as McCarthy gaveled open the House as its new speaker, Republicans began debating the Rules package, a contentious 55-page document that McCarthy negotiated with conservative holdouts to win over their votes.
The Prolonged Debate
Republicans have expanded the number of Freedom Caucus members on the Rules committee, which has significant influence over legislative proceedings. These lawmakers insist on having 72 hours to read legislation before votes and promise more free-flowing debates.
As we saw last week when McCarthy fought for the speaker’s gavel for four days and 14 failed ballots, it’s unclear whether the proposed changes will improve the House’s openness or bring it to a halt.
In one of the longest speaker’s race showdowns in U.S. history, Roy and other Republicans defended the standoff over the speaker’s gavel, which was finally resolved in the post-midnight hours of Saturday morning on the narrowest of votes.
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Gonzales, who said over the weekend that he would vote “no” on the rules package, criticised what he called a “insurgency caucus” that he claimed would reduce military spending and push extremist legislation, including on immigration.
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McCarthy’s Republican Party holds a slim majority in the House of Representatives (222 seats), meaning that if all Democrats vote against his legislation, he can afford to lose support from only four Republicans.
McCarthy’s already difficult job is made much more so by the new regulations. For instance, Republicans are getting rid of proxy voting, which Democrats instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That means McCarthy needs to push for higher levels of participation in every vote, with only the most extreme cases of absence being excused.
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Conclusion
Because of his role as campaign chairman for the House Republican Party, McCarthy was instrumental in recruiting the tea party class and helping them win key elections. When Republican House Speaker John Boehner resigned suddenly in 2015 rather than face a potential vote of his ouster by conservatives, he attempted to assume his position but was unsuccessful.
