Kevin McCarthy has very little to show for his first 100 days: report
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) -- (Photo by Saul Loeb for AFP)
April 18, 2023
The Washington Post noticed that Republicans put up a good front as if they were unified and progressing on legislation. After their first 100 days, however, they have only a few things to show for it.
"The growing rancor and lack of progress on major legislation sets the stage for months of tumult ahead for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA), who has struggled to shepherd his narrowly divided conference as both moderate and extreme GOP members seek to leverage their power in the party’s four-vote majority. The coming battles could have profound impacts on the U.S. economy as well as on the 2024 election, as House Republicans pursue numerous right-wing policies that could influence races for Congress and the White House."
In the first 100 days, the Republicans, with Democratic support, passed a law that would declassify anything pertaining to COVID-19. And now Democrats will have access to everything that Donald Trump did under COVID that could have hurt the country. Biden signed the bill. Another bill supported by Democrats blocked a Washington, D.C., crime bill from going into effect.
That's all Republicans have been able to do in 100 days: two bills signed into law. Meanwhile, the GOP is claiming successes. They're unified in telling their voters that they have passed a few far-right bills that they campaigned on and pledged to deliver. The problem they're facing, however, is that they haven't delivered. None of their more far-right bills have become law.
“Everybody is going to be looking at each other much more suspiciously now,” the Post quoted a GOP aide speaking on the condition of anonymity for his own career safety. “It’s going to be much harder to do things.”
Meanwhile, Speaker McCarthy is being heralded for his amazing "management style, including from the staunchly conservativegroup who almost thwarted his chance to take the speaker’s gavel."
Conservative Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) said, “The speaker has done a really good job of holding the conference together. ... But again, as you know, some of the heavier lift is still to come.”
But what all eyes are turning to is whether McCarthy is willing to present a budget proposal from the GOP. President Joe Biden has said that he has his own budget, but nothing has come from McCarthy and the Republicans.
At the same time, there's a debate looming over raising the debt ceiling. Biden has said he's willing to deal on everything for the budget, but he won't allow the GOP to hold the country hostage over the debt ceiling. He's made it clear that after 2011, it will be a clean bill with nothing attached to it other than increasing the debt ceiling. McCarthy has rejected the demand, leaving the two at an impasse.
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