Hours after Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy finally was voted in as speaker of the House, a panel on MSNBC was already debating how long he would be able to hold onto the gavel after a short "honeymoon."
Speaking with host Ayman Mohyeldin, former Rep. Dave Jolly (R-FL) started off by suggesting the honeymoon with his GOP colleagues would be short, if it happens at all, and that he will soon be mired in dealing with a caucus he apparently has no control over with such a slim margin for error.
"It is going to be tested very soon over this rules package," Jolly began. "Half of what McCarthy has promised is actually in the rules package. If he can't pass it, it would be in this odd scenario where he uses the rules package to get the votes for speaker but they can't actually implement what he promises. That would be a stress test in the next week."
"Let's say they survived it," he continued. "The real test will be around keeping the government open through the annual budget process which would be the end of this year and accommodating the debt ceiling, which will absolutely require working with Democrats."
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Turning to former RNC spokesperson Tim Miller, Mohyeldin asked, "Your thoughts? When does the honeymoon end?"
"I don't think he's going on a honeymoon," Miller laughed. "I think it's going to be pretty unpleasant one if so, a White Lotus-style honeymoon."
"I am interested to see if he makes it through the year," he continued. "I think that what Rep. Jolly has brought up is the key point here. John Boehner had a little bit of a leash a couple of times to work with Democrats to get a couple of things done because it was the only way to get it through before he got pushed down. I don't think Kevin will have any leash. The first time he needs Democratic votes to pass something will be the last week of his speaker shift. I think it will be interesting to see if he survives the year."
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