The House is at a standstill with Republicans deadlocked in a battle to elect a speaker that heads into its second day with Representative Kevin McCarthy fighting a faction of 20 conservative, anti-establishment lawmakers who say the California Republican hasn’t done enough to win their votes.
(Bloomberg) — The House is at a standstill with Republicans deadlocked in a battle to elect a speaker that heads into its second day with Representative Kevin McCarthy fighting a faction of 20 conservative, anti-establishment lawmakers who say the California Republican hasn’t done enough to win their votes.
The spat has turned ugly with both sides taking personal shots. McCarthy, a longtime member of House leadership, and his allies met late Tuesday to try to resolve the impasse, with little success. In the face of united Democratic opposition, McCarthy needs all but four of those dissenters to win the speakership.
What are the options to resolve the fight?
First, McCarthy resolves the disputes with his dissenters by granting them major concessions, which would weaken him as a leader. McCarthy could also drop out, giving room for another Republican to step up. It’s unclear who that person could be and those discussions are difficult to have politically unless McCarthy officially bows out. The last, and least likely option, is that McCarthy is able to convince Democrats to vote present, rather than for the Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. That would lower the number of GOP votes McCarthy needs, making it possible to become speaker without his conservative opponents.
What do these conservatives want?
The 20 Republicans opposing McCarthy want to see their conservative viewpoints more prominently reflected in the chamber’s agenda. Many are members of the House Freedom Caucus, an outgrowth of the Tea Party, which has a long history of feuding with GOP leaders including Eric Cantor, John Boehner and Paul Ryan. Some of the most vocal McCarthy detractors, including Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, say McCarthy hasn’t listened to them and isn’t giving conservative voices enough of a platform in the House.
McCarthy and his allies say his opponents keep moving the goal posts during the negotiations. A few days ahead of the new Congress, McCarthy released a proposal that would allow any five House Republicans to call for the speaker’s removal and allow for more ideological diversity on House panels. Some conservatives have since said they want any single Republican to be able to call to oust the speaker. They’re also asking for specific members to be placed on prime committees, including Ways and Means, which controls tax, trade and health policy, and Appropriations, which allocates federal spending. That request would mean that some conservative members would get priority over other rank-and-file Republicans with more seniority, likely leading to more infighting.
Perry, who leads the House Freedom Caucus, has also said he wants term limits, in addition to votes on right-wing priorities, including a balanced budget, dismantling the current tax system and immigration proposals, that could be politically difficult for moderate Republicans.
Why is electing a speaker so important?
The speaker of the House is the only congressional leadership role outlined in the Constitution. The speaker is second in line to the presidency and controls the House calendar. No House business can be conducted before a speaker is elected, including votes to fund the basic functions of government. Until Republicans can resolve their differences and move forward, the country is effectively without a Congress to authorize federal spending to respond to a natural disaster, terrorist attack or act of war.
Members can’t be sworn in and they can’t establish the rules for the new Congress. McCarthy allies also argue that continuing to debate the speaker selection will delay Republicans from starting the work they have been clamoring to do since winning the majority, including investigating President Joe Biden’s administration and going after “woke” corporations that have embraced liberal social policies.
Who are the alternatives to McCarthy?
There is no obvious heir apparent who is guaranteed to get a majority. Some of the names that have been discussed are House Republican Leader Steve Scalise, who was planning to be McCarthy’s No. 2 in this Congress, or House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry. Both are well-liked members with lots of experience, but the 20 conservatives opposing McCarthy have yet to say if they are viable alternatives.
It’s also unclear whether either of them want the job, which has become an increasingly thankless one in the Republican caucus. McHenry, in particular, risks falling into the same trap as Ryan, whose speakership was marred by divisions. Like Ryan when he ascended to the speakership, McHenry is a forty-something lawmaker with policy bonafides who is eager to hold a committee gavel.
The 20 holdouts have backed House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, but his ultra-conservative views are likely to lose him votes with moderate Republicans, making it unlikely he can win a majority of GOP members. Jordan has steadfastly supported McCarthy.
What do Democrats think about this?
Democrats are pleased, and somewhat amused, by the dysfunction happening on the other side of the aisle. The GOP chaos underscores their mid-term messaging that Republicans aren’t interested in governing effectively. A weakened speaker — and a weakened GOP, generally — gives them more control in a narrowly divided chamber, so Democrats have little incentive to vote “present” rather than vote for Jeffries. Democrats could try to extract massive concessions but those would potentially lose McCarthy votes from more right-leaning Republican members.
What does this mean for Biden’s agenda?
With Republicans winning the House in the midterm elections, Democrats were already bracing for Biden to have scant success pushing bills through Congress. The power of a small group of far-right members in the speaker debate demonstrates that whoever ends up in charge of the House will have to contend with these members on any high-profile vote. That means the likelihood of bipartisan bills and cooperating with the Democratic-controlled Senate are quite low. This also foreshadows major fights over must-pass bills, including government funding legislation and raising the debt ceiling, which could have adverse economic consequences if lawmakers don’t meet deadlines for those issues.
(Adds details on speaker’s role)
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