The California GOP House Freedom Caucus and the Case for Kevin McCarthy’s Speakership Bianchi I: What he wants to hear from the pro-Trump
Members of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus are withholding their support for House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid and have begun to lay out their list of demands, putting the California Republican’s path to securing 218 votes in peril if the party ultimately takes the House with a slim majority.
The Biden administration continues to rely on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule, known as Title 42, that allows border authorities to turn migrants away at the US-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2022, the busiest year in the history of the US Border Patrol, US border encounters surpassed 2 million. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.
McCarthy said they would not use impeachment for political purposes. That doesn’t mean that something won’t be used in the future.
McCarthy said that he was supportive of the people of Ukraine. I think it’s important that we have accountability going forward. It is always better to make sure the resources go to where they are needed, not a blank check. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.”
Again asked how he’ll handle members of his own party who spread dangerous conspiracy theories, McCarthy responded: “I’ve watched people on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “If I’m speaker, I’ll be the speaker for the whole House. So it won’t be looking at just Republicans. We’ll be looking at Democrats as well.”
Whether he is willing to cut deals with the conservatives who denied him the speakership is one of the factors that will determine his ability to round up 218 votes for speaker. McCarthy has not made any promises or given any assurances, with sources saying he is listening to potential holdouts.
Bringing back Marjorie Taylor Greene to the House Oversight Committee in the Presider’s Interest Rate Debt Showdown
“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.
McCarthy said to stop the flow of drugs across the border, you first need to attack China, then provide the resources that the border agents need, and make sure that anyone who wants to move it, you can.
The majority of bills are unlikely to be passed by the Senate because of the 60-vote threshold and the fact that they need to raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.
If you are going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say that you should change your behavior, so that you don’t raise and raise all the time? He said that he did. “You shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna let you keep spending money.’ No household should do that.
McCarthy acknowledged Republicans were willing to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but said the calculus is different now because Democrats spent trillions of dollars under Biden.
McCarthy was pressed if he was willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. You don’t risk a default.”
McCarthy intends to bring back freshman congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to her committee assignments despite her being removed from them by the Democrats because of her inflammatory remarks.
When asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” She has told CNN before that she wants to sit on the House OversightCommittee, which will play a key role in GOP investigations in a majority.
She will have committees to serve on like every other member. Members request different committees and as we go through the steering committee, we’ll look at it,” he said. “She can put through the committees she wants, just like any other member in our conference that gets elected.”
There are other members who have spouted conspiracy theories or rhetoric. Most recently, some Republicans have mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, or peddled fringe conspiracy theories about the incident.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/politics/kevin-mccarthy-interview-border-security/index.html
The Speakership Race Caucus: The Key Issues for the House of Representatives from the Boebert Orientation Meeting in Washington, DC
“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. I think it’s probably the president who starts leadership matters. And it will start with the speaker as well.”
“I’ve heard from multiple of my constituents who question the wisdom of proceeding forward with that leadership,” Biggs said, adding that there needs to be a “frank conversation” about who they elect for the top job.
Boebert said it was a red line for her and not everyone in the Freedom Caucus was in agreement on whether that was a hard line.
The Freedom Caucus, a group that includes dozens of hardline members, have been meeting in Washington, DC, this week for their new member orientation, where they have begun to plot out their strategy for the speaker’s race. With a slimmer-than-expected majority, they see an opportunity, and are planning to use their leverage to get more power in a GOP-led House.
But the group’s push to extract concessions from McCarthy has exacerbated tensions inside the party. Said one senior GOP lawmaker: “They are a bunch of selfish, prima dona a**holes who want attention for themselves. They are trading effectiveness for the warm embrace of their social media followers.”
According to CNN, Republicans will have a majority of the House of Representatives, but they have yet to make a projection.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/11/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speakership-race-house-freedom-caucus/index.html
Commentary on “Cosmology, Politics, and the Power of the C Team,” by S.C. Norman and R. Gaetz
Norman said the group hopes to have a more extensive list of rules changes. McCarthy does not seem to plan to delay next week’s internal leadership elections.
Norman responded that taxpayers that voted for their representatives deserved the credit.
But there is at least one member who has said there is nothing McCarthy could do to earn his vote. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said on his podcast that not only was McCarthy not his first choice to lead, he was not “even in my top 100”.
“With a slim majority, we shouldn’t be starting the C team,” Gaetz said. It is necessary that our star players shine so that more people will look at our policies and ideas.