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CNN
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy kicked off Tuesday morning by appealing to members for a closed-door meeting. Let’s get out of last week’s debate over the debt ceiling and focus on what’s next.
The hardline Republican bloc had a different idea.
Hours later, 10 rebels blocked Republican leadership’s push to pass two bills this week, an unusual move to suspend the national debt ceiling McCarthy and Joe Biden He claimed it was retaliation for a deal he made with the president.
The uprising highlighted the vulnerability of Mr McCarthy’s narrow majority and lingering tensions with the conference’s right over the debt deal. But the protests also showed that lawmakers have yet to decide whether to seek a vote to oust McCarthy from the chair, which would tear House Republicans apart and throw the floor into chaos.
For now, conservatives have settled on a strategy of scrambling McCarthy’s legislative agenda until they believe he will listen to their demand list. And they allege that McCarthy blatantly violated an agreement signed in January to become chairman on Tuesday’s vote, although no details of the deal have been made public and the chairman has He claims he has kept his promise.
Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gates told reporters on the steps of the Capitol, “Today we are repealing this rule because we are unhappy with the way this place is run.” “We stood up in January to end the era of the Empire chairman. We are concerned that we have been violated, and as you know, the answer for us is to reassert the House Conservatives as suitable coalition partners for our leadership, and that they will share a common cause with the Democrats. instead of standing.”
The procedural vote was defeated 206 to 220, effectively defeating a bill that would ban gas stoves and impose new congressional oversight of federal regulations, a rare move in the House that would be embarrassing for leadership. was defeated. Procedural votes known as House rules that set the parameters for debate on the floor are usually passed with majority party support. The last time he failed on the floor was in 2002.
Republican officials said Republican leadership was not informed of the congressional rebellion. The leaders scrambled to resolve the issue in the chamber, and were seen engaging in lively conversations with the resistance for nearly an hour. But the vote ultimately failed, and the leadership was forced to adjourn the House, leaving the Republican legislative agenda up in the air.
It’s unclear how long conservatives intend to continue the protests, or what the next steps will be. They said they want to make sure Mr. McCarthy sees the next funding bill bring domestic funding down to 2022 spending levels, a position that Democrats and some within the party are resisting. And some Republican critics outraged that the leadership appeared to block legislation by Rep. but the leadership denied the charge.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a call last week that if Clyde voted against the debt ceiling rule, he would win Republican votes for the pistol brace resolution, two people familiar with the matter said. He warned that it could be difficult.
Majority leaders are only warning Mr. Clyde that he expects backlash from his colleagues if he opposes the debt ceiling, one of the people said. The official also said the reason Clyde’s resolution wasn’t on the floor this week was because the bill still had the number of whips issue under consideration and leadership wanted to make sure it passed. said.
But Mr Clyde has publicly said that members of his leadership have threatened him with reprisals, which is one of the big reasons why a gang of hardliners ruined Tuesday’s reign, with Mr Scalise, hardliners and others A lively discussion ensued in the chamber among the members of the leadership.
Clyde then huddled with Scalise and told reporters that leadership had promised to bring his bill, a resolution blocking the ATF’s pistol brace rule, to the floor next week. Clyde was not among the 10 Republicans who opposed Tuesday’s rule, but said he was “satisfied” with the outcome.
But when asked about his confidence in McCarthy, Clyde said, “It’s the same as yesterday.”
The ongoing drama tells the tale of growing tensions between Mr McCarthy and his allies, and a small group of hardliners who vow to make Mr McCarthy’s speech even more difficult. With just five Republicans, you can derail a party-driven agenda in a narrowly divided chamber.
The battle unfolded behind closed doors early Tuesday morning, with McCarthy’s allies criticizing colleagues who tried to dampen the rules on the debt-limitation bill last week and threatening to do the same again. The leadership also sought to mend lingering divisions on Tuesday by convening a meeting of the so-called “Five Families,” which includes all the various ideological groups within the Republican Party, according to Republican sources. But tensions were still high on Tuesday.
Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon said, “Despite having a Democratic president and a Democratic-run Senate, a minority in Congress thinks we can ask and get what we want. there is,” he said. “In a divided government, we got the best possible deal. James Madison designed it this way. He stressed that he got it, it’s time to move on and focus on the ‘next play’.”
But conservatives are undaunted.
“We also intend to implement the agreement reached in January when Kevin McCarthy took office as chairman,” said Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina. “It will be implemented and will rebuild the unity of the Republican Party because, as we are now seeing, the majority cannot function without unity. Pull the pin out and roll it under the tent of Republican solidarity.”
Conservatives declined to answer when asked if they would continue to ignore the agenda. Hard floor tactics have long been a staple of House Freedom lawmakers, and he said there are other clever tricks to get McCarthy’s feet closer to the fire.
“What we are trying to do is act in good faith and be ready at all times to rebuild the unity that was destroyed last week,” Bishop said. “And what happens depends on how leadership tends to retaliate and move forward.”
Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert added: We said, “Parliament has collapsed.” And we want a radical change in this place. ’ That’s what we all came here for. ”
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, was faced with the final phase, saying, “The final phase is liberty, less government, less spending.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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