Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) has survived the first five months of the speakership by catering just enough to the GOP’s right flank without alienating moderates, a delicate balancing act that’s helped him keep the job he barely won.
That balancing act seems to be collapsing. Not only is the right-wing flank mad at him over the debt ceiling deal, but the speaker is now hearing it from centrists, especially those in swing districts whose political survival is imperiled by a far-right agenda that’s driving the party, Politico reports.
The report cites an exchange Wednesday between Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) as an example of the GOP's growing intramural rift.
The exchange occurred during a closed-door meeting in which Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the number two and three ranking Republican House members, were briefing a dozen or so House members who represent swing districts on plans to advance a proposal to thwart a Biden administration gun law and another to limit taxpayer-funded abortions.
The meeting itself didn’t go well, according to the report.
“Why the hell are we doing this?” Mace asked Scalise.
Fischbach confronted Mace at one point over her voicing her assailing GOP colleagues over reproductive rights, and Mace fired back saying the party is losing the political center.
Olivia Beavers and Sarah Ferris write for Politico that: “The spat between two rank-and-file Republicans illustrates the immense pressure that McCarthy and his top deputies are under as they try to muscle through conservative policies with a five-seat majority. Conservative hardliners have grabbed attention by paralyzing the House floor, venting their fury at leaders over perceived broken promises, but centrists can wield similar power in their own way if they’re frustrated enough.”
The tensions have risen to the highest levels of party leadership, according to the report, which notes that amid the conservative rebellion earlier this week over the debt limit deal, “McCarthy and Scalise began openly accusing each other of triggering the outrage.”
“They are two good guys. Let’s stick together,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said, trying to play the role of peacemaker, according to the report.
“Can’t be divided.”
Beavers and Ferris write “that blame game could continue as centrists push back against the abortion bill, which would make permanent the abortion limits often shorthanded as the Hyde Amendment. It also extends funding restrictions to all federal funds, rather than certain agencies.”
