Kevin McCarthy's failure to derail Biden's infrastructure bill sets off wave of GOP finger-pointing and threats: report

The failure of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and party whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) to stop thirteen Republican lawmakers from siding with the Democrats and passing a massive infrastructure bill is setting off a "bloodletting" within the GOP caucus, reports the Washington Post's Aaron Blake.

Late Friday night, thirteen GOP House members broke ranks and voted for the massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that now awaits President Joe Biden's signature -- and they were immediately denounced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who called them "traitors."

As Blake points out, Taylor Greene is not the only Republican who is furious with their colleagues and it could have an impact on McCarthy's becoming the Speaker of the House if the GOP takes back the House in 2022.

Along with Taylor Greene's over-the-top accusations of "communism," comrade in arms Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL ) tweeted, "I can't believe Republicans just gave the Democrats their socialism bill."

Freshman House member Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) chimed in before the vote with the threat, "Vote for this infrastructure bill and I will primary the hell out of you," while Rep Chip Roy (R-TX) grumbled afterward, "That 13 House Republicans provided the votes needed to pass this is absurd."

As Blake notes, McCarthy had predicted that the vote would fail and has promised last week, "I don't expect few, if any, to vote for it, if it comes to the floor today."

Taken all together, Blake said it doesn't bode well for either McCarthy and Scalise when the GOP House members hold their next vote for House leadership.

Writing "Ensue the bloodletting," Blake explained, "Republicans are still likely to win the House in 2022, despite the doom and gloom on the GOP side and even as it's likely the bill's passage will help Democrats electorally. That puts McCarthy in line to be House speaker. But we've written before about the undersold potential debate over whether he would even be elevated to a post he's already failed to grab hold of once. McCarthy's leadership has often been quite uneven, and the demands in the GOP are sky-high for such posts. Scalise, too, would seem to be line for some criticism given his status as the party's whip.

He added that anger -- for the moment -- is focused on the 13 defectors before warning, "Whether McCarthy could have prevented the bill's passage is a valid question — he doesn't control the majority, after all — but his party and its base aren't really big on that kind of nuance. And it's unlikely the anger over what transpired Friday will subside quickly."

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