In fact, the specter of such a vote dogged the previous two Republican speakers, helping right-wing lawmakers to push out John A. “So why would it cut mine? It’d only be a weaker speaker if I was afraid of it.” “Has it undercut the power of all the other speakers?” he shot back, after a reporter asked him this week whether allowing for a snap vote for his removal would weaken him. McCarthy rejected the notion that he was doing damage to the speakership or to the House’s ability to function. “Obviously we’re concerned about it,” he said, adding, “I’m not thrilled with the direction it’s going.” Representative David Valadao, Republican of California and a McCarthy ally, said this week that more moderate members of the conference were growing concerned that the deals being cut would give too much leverage to the far right. And spending bills would have to be considered under so-called open rules, allowing any member to put to a vote an unlimited number of changes that could gut or scuttle the legislation altogether. The hard right would get approval power over some plum committee assignments, including a third of the members on the influential Rules Committee, which controls what legislation reaches the floor and in what form. McCarthy had initially offered as a compromise, according to people familiar with the negotiations who described them on condition of anonymity. A single lawmaker could move to oust the speaker, instead of the five Mr.
McCarthy also privately agreed to even more concessions that could disrupt the normal operations of the House and diminish his ability to control it, embracing measures that he had previously refused to countenance. primaries in safe Republican districts, another demand of the conservatives who have bristled at his efforts to box out hard-right candidates in favor of more mainstream ones.Īnd on Thursday, Mr. McCarthy agreed to limit its role in G.O.P. On Wednesday, a major political action committee aligned with Mr. McCarthy had offered some key concessions, including a return to a rule that would allow rank-and-file lawmakers to force a snap vote on ousting the speaker. A Freshman Republican on the Road: As Representative Josh Brecheen travels his district in eastern Oklahoma, his pitch to constituents reflects how the party has intertwined its spending fight with cultural battles.Īhead of the first speaker vote, Mr.
#The hostage house code#
Crime Law: The Senate voted overwhelmingly to block a new criminal code for the District of Columbia, with Democrats bowing to Republican pressure to take a hard line on crime. Surveillance: The revelation by Representative Darin LaHood, Republican of Illinois, that he was the target of surveillance material searches conducted by the F.B.I. put a twist on a murky incident that has loomed over a debate on reauthorizing an expiring surveillance law. Commissioner: The Senate voted to confirm Daniel Werfel to be the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, filling a critical position at the agency as it starts an $80 billion overhaul. McCarthy, a California Republican, promised concessions to the hard-right group that would substantially weaken the speakership, effectively giving them new tools for disrupting business in the House - and the ability to hold him hostage to their demands.Ī Divided Congress The 118th Congress is underway, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding the Senate.
Without a speaker, lawmakers were unable to pass bills, form committees or even get sworn in. The speaker fight ground the House to a halt before it even began, rendering the body essentially useless. McCarthy tried and failed repeatedly to win the speakership before prevailing, has left little doubt that Congress as an entity would struggle to carry out even its most basic duties in the coming two years, such as funding the government, including the military, or avoiding a catastrophic federal debt default. The recipe for the chaos already existed: A toxic combination of the Republicans’ slim governing majority, an unyielding hard-right flank that disdains the normal operations of government and a candidate for speaker who has repeatedly bowed to that flank in his quest for power.īut to see it play out repeatedly on the House floor this week, as Mr. WASHINGTON - Representative Kevin McCarthy’s historically long slog to become speaker of the House has made one thing abundantly clear: The United States should brace for the likelihood of a Congress in perpetual disarray for the next two years.
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