On Tuesday, a group of conservatives in the House launched an unprecedented rebellion against the party leaders. They vented their anger over the recent debate on the debt limit with a surprise demonstration that shook the floor.
The Republican leadership spent an hour trying to resolve the standoff between their right flank and the rest of the party. This slowed down the plans for the party to pass legislation to protect gas stoves against potential government bans. About a dozen conservatives, most of whom are members of the Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus, voted against advancing a bill that they supported.
According to two close people to the leadership, this move was completely unexpected. Some GOP members feared that it was the start of a conservative campaign to undermine Speaker Kevin McCarthy unless McCarthy kept his promises to win the House gavel back in January.
Dan Bishop, a conservative from North Carolina who is frustrated with McCarthy’s critics, told reporters “no decision” had been made by the right-wingers on forcing a vote to remove the speaker.
Bishop said that Republicans who voted against the debt ceiling on Tuesday are still deciding whether or not to remove further votes in order to prove their point: “But, the problem has been precipitated by the speaker’s attitude to the issue.”
No matter how hard McCarthy tries to push through his agenda and move past the debt vote, tensions between the Freedom Caucus and McCarthy will persist. The rebels showed their ability to disrupt the House floor and that members of McCarthy’s right are not ruling out any attempt to remove him.
The Freedom Caucus is led by Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. Perry, who did not join the revolt, said: “There’s a lot.”
McCarthy’s critics who voted no on Tuesday did not provide any further information on the ways in which they felt he violated the terms of his deal with conservatives when he ran for the speakership in January. Bishop claimed that the debt deal violated an agreement that federal spending would remain at fiscal 2022 levels. However, it is not clear whether such a term had ever been agreed.
It is evident that the Freedom Caucus has voted against two bills which would have prevented the Biden Administration from regulating gas cookers. According to rebels, the GOP leaders were not informed of their plan.
The dispute that erupted during Tuesday’s procedural discussion was centered on an accusation made by Rep. Andrew Clyde , R-Ga., that GOP leaders threatened to scuttle his bill repealing a Biden Administration gun regulation unless Clyde supported the passage of last week’s deal.
Steve Scalise , the majority leader (R.-La. ), was adamantly against Clyde’s allegation. The Georgian rebuked the Georgian for his unusual and high-profile response after Clyde denied the allegation. Scalise later appeared in animated conversation with a group of conservatives on the House Floor as they voted against the gas stoves procedural vote in protest.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who joined the revolt warned that using a Republican colleague’s bill as a threat to force him to vote on debt was “demeaning.” He added that: “We are not going to be living in a system that our members will be subjected to this type petty punishment.”
Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., another conservative who voted no on Tuesday in reference to Clyde said: “It was a matter involving a member being threatened.” “So I sent out a clear signal.”
Clyde, after the floor collapse, refused to talk about his conversations with Scalise. However, he said in a short interview that he was “confident” of a vote on his measure next week.
Clyde, when asked if conservatives would try to remove McCarthy using a motion to vacate chair (also known as the motion for McCarthy to leave the seat), called it the “nuclear” option.
“I don’t think we are there… The discussions haven’t taken place.” There’s always the option. Clyde: “Right now, I think that we should work on the issues within the Republican Conference before we discuss the motion to vacate.” “I’d much rather see us resolve things.”
Members of the Freedom Caucus portrayed their Tuesday show of force as retribution after McCarthy’s leadership cut a debt agreement late last month, which sparked harsh criticism from McCarthy’s most ardent opponents. Others suggested that if they failed to pass any more procedural votes they would paint McCarthy as incompetent for running the House.
Ken Buck, R-Colo., asked “How can you rule if you cannot pass a law?” when pressed about a future vote that would topple McCarthy.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the last time that the House overturned a rule of procedure for the debate on legislation was in 2002.
Bishop said that conservatives wanted “to enforce the agreement we made in January, under which Kevin McCarthy was appointed speaker. … As you’re seeing right now. “The majority cannot function without unification.”
Bishop said that “pulling a pin out of a grenade and rolling it under the tent for Republican unity, as was done [last] week on the debt ceiling, is untenable leadership.”
Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz contributed to the report.
