House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) is scrambling to quell a far-right revolt within his own caucus who remain angry at the GOP House leader over the debt limit deal he struck with Joe Biden, among other grievances, Politico reports.
As lawmakers return to Capitol Hill Monday, McCarthy is looking to mend fences with 11 or so ultraconservative House colleagues who effectively shut down the House floor last week.
McCarthy sent lawmakers home early last week when it became apparent the squabble halted legislation from going anywhere on the House floor. There’s no indication that the GOP’s far-right faction will take a different stance this week, conservative firebrand Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told Politico.
“We could be sitting here all week just twiddling our thumbs,” Burchett said.
Politico’s Rachel Bade writes that the GOP’s far-right contingent is going into the week prepared to play hardball with McCarthy.
“The faction of Republicans revolting against McCarthy are still grumbling and are considering tanking more bills teed up for floor action this week,” Bade writes, noting that a senior GOP aide on Sunday night told Politico that “hard-liners might vote down a House rule just as they did last week for the first time in two decades.”
“I’m not going into this week assuming that any of the rules will pass,” the GOP aide said.
The specifics surrounding additional grievances far-right House members have with McCarthy aren’t fully known, but according to the report, but are believed to include “a wide-ranging accusations of broken promises and strong-arm tactics aimed at various GOP leaders. But the upshot of their protest is simple: McCarthy cannot move any significant legislation across the House floor until the rebel faction is brought back into the fold.”
The hard-right faction is seeking to limit next year’s spending remains at 2022 levels, below the caps McCarthy and Biden agreed two, which would fulfill a McCarthy promise from his speakership campaign, according to the report, which cites two people close to the group.
“I just feel like we gave too much,” Burchett said of the debt-limit deal.
“Conservatives aren’t represented at the table, fiscal conservatives, when the decisions are being made.”
