The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Donna Robert
The leaders of the House GOP rebellion against installing Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the opening of the 118th Congress have united behind him just three months later.
“He’s doing a good job,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was at the forefront of the anti-McCarthy blockade. “I feel pretty good about the good faith that’s been shown.”
Mr. Gaetz was a diehard opponent of Mr. McCarthy until the band of 20 holdouts in the GOP conference won concessions from Mr. McCarthy for new rules for how the House operates that included procedures that help lawmakers attack government spending.
Mr. McCarthy also doled out plum committee assignments to some of the rebels and their allies.
“We got the four members on Appropriations he promised. We got the three members of Rules he promised. We got the members on other committees that were discussed,” said Mr. Gaetz, who voted “present” in the final round of the speaker’s election to lower the tally threshold and allow Mr. McCarthy to win.
Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana was another prominent holdout who voted “present” in the 15th round of voting. He recently credited Mr. McCarthy with “doing well” leading the House.
“I think that we put tools in his hand that made him more effective with the rule changes, and I think he’s taken advantage of those tools that we’ve given them,” Mr. Rosendale said.
Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, another rebel leader who eventually relented with a “present” vote, said Mr. McCarthy is “off to a good start.”
“He’s doing and saying the right things. I think the conference is largely united on our goals. And I think he’s going to move forward the critical border bill that we need,” he told The Times. “I think he’s going to lead us on the battle to cut our spending to create critical pieces in the next few weeks.”
The new rules were crafted by some of the most fiscally conservative House lawmakers and made it easier to pass bills that reduce federal spending and more difficult to raise the nation’s borrowing limit or increase tax rates.
Republicans have been surprisingly united and scored wins during the early days of Mr. McCarthy’s speakership, including getting President Biden’s signature on measures that overturned the District of Columbia’s crime bill. On Monday, Mr. Biden signed a GOP-led bill that formally ends the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Mr. McCarthy had long sought the speakership. In the previous GOP race for speaker in 2015 after Speaker John Boehner of Ohio retired amid a conservative rebellion, Mr. McCarthy dropped out of the race against Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
This Congress, Mr. McCarthy wanted to avoid some of the pitfalls experienced by Mr. Boehner and Mr. Ryan, who suffered infighting with the House Freedom Caucus. However, in the dealmaking to seize the speaker’s gavel, Mr. McCarthy gave in to the rebels’ demand to restore one of the most crippling rules to the speaker’s power, a centuries-old provision that allows for one lawmaker to bring up a vote to eject the House speaker.
The rule hastened Mr. Boehner’s retirement and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, did away with the rule on her watch.
The anti-McCarthy rebels insisted that restoring the ability of one member to call a vote to “vacate the chair,” as the resolution is known in Congress, would ensure Mr. McCarthy can be held accountable, specifically regarding spending.
Other changes in the rules that occurred were:
• Restrict increases in direct spending and block the House from automatically raising the nation’s borrowing limit.
• Slow down the passage of legislation by requiring a firm 72 hours for lawmakers to consider bills before voting.
• Requiring a three-fifths vote in the House to raise tax rates.
• Ends the proxy voting and remote committee hearings started by Democrats at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican and House Freedom Caucus Chairman, finally voted for Mr. McCarthy in the 12th ballot round. Mr. Perry noted that members from the conservative group had made a difference since Mr. McCarthy was elected.
“We just signed another bill. The first few bills signed by the president are from Freedom Caucus guys. That is pretty awesome. I would say [the speaker] is doing pretty darn good.”
Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, an anti-McCarthy holdout who authored the bill to end the COVID-19 national emergency, credited the speaker for helping push the legislation across the finish line.
“He played a pivotal part in getting that done and, so that should tell you,” he said.
Democrats have accused Mr. McCarthy of being a puppet of a small faction of conservative lawmakers.
Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said the rules package “was written by a small fringe group” in the Republican conference. He predicted the new spending provisions in the rules would lead to gridlock and a government shutdown.
“People do not want government shutdowns,” Mr. McGovern said. “People do not want to see us default on our financial obligations. People want us to get stuff done and keep the lights on.”
