McCarthy accused of letting far-right 'load up defense bill' with culture war changes

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday night was allowing far-right officials to "load up the defense bill with culture war amendments" to get their support for the bill, but the extreme changes are dead-on-arrival in the Senate, according to Rep. Jeff Jackson.

Jackson, a Democrat, said votes on abortion, pride flags, and library books dominated the late-night session.

"I’m on the House floor right now (11pm) and basically what’s happening is the Speaker is letting the far-right load up the defense bill with culture war amendments in return for their support of the bill. So we’re voting on abortion, Pride flags, CRT, DEI, library books, etc.," he wrote.

"The Speaker wanted to keep these amendments out but the far-right caucus threatened to sink the whole defense bill, so he relented and now the floodgates are open," Jackson added.

He further noted that the changes won't be a part of the final bill.

"BTW folks, all of these amendments are dead-on-arrival in the Senate. This is all just to polarize the vote and get folks riled up. In other words, it’s for show," Jackson said Thursday.

There was one surprise in the votes, according to Jackson.

"BUT in a bit of a surprise the amendment to keep the Confederate names for military bases - and to halt the renaming process currently under way - fails. 41 GOP voted no and that sunk it," the congressman said.