Early on Saturday, Republican Kevin McCarthy was chosen to lead the House of Representatives after making significant concessions to right-wing extremists that raised concerns about the party’s capacity for leadership.
As midnight drew near, Representative Matt Gaetz withheld his vote on the 14th ballot, resulting in a fight that Republican Mike Rogers had to be physically hauled away from, the 57-year-old Californian experienced one last humiliation.
The worst legislative dysfunction in more than 160 years came to an end with McCarthy’s win on the fifteenth ballot. But it clearly demonstrated the challenges he will encounter in governing a small and strongly divided majority.
Finally, he prevailed by a score of 216-212. Six members of his own party withheld their votes, not supporting McCarthy as leader but also not voting for another candidate, which allowed him to win with the support of less than half of the House members.
McCarthy symbolized the end of President Joe Biden’s Democrats’ control of both chambers of Congress as he first received the gavel.
“We have a system of checks and balances. We must act as a check on the president’s policies and offer some balance “McCarthy made this statement in his inaugural address, which outlined a wide range of aims, from reducing expenditure to addressing immigration issues to waging the culture wars.
McCarthy was only elected after giving in to hardliner demands that any legislator have the right to request his ouster at any time. That will significantly reduce the influence he will have when attempting to enact legislation on important subjects like government spending, raising the nation’s impending debt ceiling, and other potential disasters.
Republicans held a slim 222-212 majority after the midterm elections in November, which gave the right-wingers who challenged McCarthy’s leadership an excessive amount of authority.
These concessions, which include significant spending cuts and other restraints on McCarthy’s authority, could portend additional volatility in the months to come, particularly since Congress will have to approve an increase in the United States’ $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.
Republicans have attempted to force significant spending cuts over the course of the last ten years by periodically shutting down huge portions of the government and bringing the biggest borrower in history dangerously close to default.
Hardliners have questioned McCarthy’s readiness to play such a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with Biden, whose Democrats control the Senate. When Mitch McConnell’s Senate Republicans agreed to compromise agreements in the past, they raged.
The hardliners, which included Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy of Texas, claimed that concessions they got from McCarthy would make it simpler to use such measures or, if McCarthy does not live up to their expectations, force another vote on his leadership.
The way we’re going to spend and distribute money is going to shift in a historic way, according to Perry.
“When the Democrats take over the White House and the Senate, we don’t want clean debt ceilings to just pass and keep paying the bill without some counteracting effort to control spending.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of those Democrats, warned that the concessions McCarthy made to “the extremists” in his party may come back to haunt him and increased the likelihood that the government shutdown or default will be brought on by the Republican-controlled House, both of which would have “devastating consequences.”
Biden and McConnell appeared together in Kentucky on Wednesday to push infrastructure projects, in stark contrast to the conflicts among House Republicans.
McCarthy’s tardy win came the day after the two-year mark of a violent mob invasion of Congress on January 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn the defeat of then-President Donald Trump.
The 14 unsuccessful votes this week were the most for the speakership since 1859, during the stormy years leading up to the Civil War.
McCarthy’s 2015 attempt to become speaker failed in the face of right-wing opposition. John Boehner and Paul Ryan, the two former Republican speakers, resigned from their positions following disagreements with right-wing colleagues.
McCarthy now has the power to obstruct Biden’s legislative agenda, compel votes in favor of Republican priorities for the economy, energy, and immigration, and advance inquiries into Biden, his family, and his administration.
However, as a result of the compromises he reached, McCarthy will have much less influence than his Democratic predecessor, Nancy Pelosi. In a divided Washington, that will make it challenging for him to consent to accords with Democrats.
Giving hardliners the power to request a vote to oust the speaker will give them tremendous sway.
The deal would limit spending for the upcoming fiscal year to levels from the prior year, which would represent a major reduction in spending when inflation and population growth are taken into consideration.
That may encounter opposition from more moderate Republicans or those who have pushed for increased military spending, especially in light of the fact that the United States is spending enormous sums of money to assist Ukraine in repelling a Russian invasion.
Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate, said he wasn’t concerned that hardliners would effectively dominate the House.
He told reporters, “It’s aspirational.” “Our voting cards are still here.”
Source: Reuters
