Shortly after being elected speaker of the United States House of Representatives in an unprecedented 15th attempt, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy handed far-right lawmakers from his party a set of new rules that will govern how the house works.
The rules weaken the position and authority of the Speaker and allow any member to file a motion seeking removal; do away with blanket spending legislation and open up every appropriation bill to debate and amendment, making it vulnerable to deadlock; and will force cut public spending.
The rules have also allowed for the formation of a subcommittee under the House Judiciary Committee to examine “federal government weaponry,” a tool Republicans plan to use to counter Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations into the insurrection. 6, 2020 mob incident at the United States Capitol in which top Republican leaders, including former President Donald Trump, are said to be involved.
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In addition to the formal changes, McCarthy’s rapprochement with the extreme wing of his party has also seen members of the far right take seats on key legislative committees, including the crucial House Rules Committee. Republicans are also set to block an extension or increase in the US government debt ceiling later this year, possibly creating an unprecedented economic crisis with global implications.
The nature of McCarthy’s election and now the new House rules reflect the divisions and dysfunction in the current Republican Party and in American politics more broadly, and will deepen them further.
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The Politics of the McCarthy Election
In the November midterm elections, the Republicans achieved a narrow majority in the House, winning 222 of the 435 seats. McCarthy, a Republican representative from California who was the minority leader in the last House, was considered the obvious candidate for the position of Speaker.
But his challenge came from within, as today’s Republican Party is marked by divisions between the right and the far right. The latter, in the House, is represented by what is known as the Freedom Caucus, a group that traces its origins to the Tea Party movement and is broadly aligned with Donald Trump. His political beliefs revolve around visceral opposition to immigration, public spending, welfare measures, abortion, and pedagogy around sexuality and race. Its members denied the legitimacy of the result of the 2020 presidential election.
From secure Republican seats, his politics revolves around casting Washington DC and the way business is conducted in the capital as the central issue and his stated goal is to overthrow it. They seek decentralized decision-making in the Chamber, taking power away from party bosses. And they want to compete with the rest of the party by showing that they are the most opposed to the Democrats and President Joe Biden.
Some members of this Caucus endorsed McCarthy, including Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Majorie Taylor Greene, a representative of the radical right from Georgia. But others, like Florida’s Matt Gaetz, held out until the end. Given the Caucus’ close connection to Trump, speculation abounds in DC that the former president was playing what can be called a double game or that his influence among his own supporters has diminished.
This is because, on paper, Trump supported McCarthy’s rise and even called on his loyalists to endorse him for the presidency. But McCarthy, for a brief period after January 6, had opposed Trump. To show the party that he was still calling the shots and to make McCarthy completely dependent on him, Trump may have encouraged far-right filibusters to hold out to the end, although some of those who opposed McCarthy to the end they have done. he claimed that Trump played no role in the process.
After his election, the Speaker of the House acknowledged Trump’s role, saying, “I want to give a special thanks to President Trump. I don’t think anyone should doubt his influence. Trump, in his characteristic style, said: “Believe it or not, the fake news media were very kind to report that I helped Kevin McCarthy a lot to reach the position of Speaker of the House. Thank you, I did our country a great favor!”
But regardless of whether the election showed the power of Trump or the limits of his power, the entire process, which played out in public view on C-Span, showed that the Republicans were completely fragmented and in shambles. The party’s moderate wing (and moderate is a relative term, as the party as a whole has veered toward different shades of the right at this point) grew frustrated with Trump’s role during the midterm elections, in which he and his favored candidates alienated independent voters, particularly in the suburbs. The Speaker’s choice only aggravated his concerns that the far right could jeopardize his prospects in the upcoming election, especially in seats where the margins with Democrats are narrow.
The only man watching the battle unfold from a distance was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the big winner of the midterms and the rising star of the Republican Party. An observer of the political process on The Hill said: “DeSantis is playing it smart. He is letting the Republicans implode internally. He is letting his frustration with Trump grow. And he is waiting for the party, the donors and the right-wing media ecosystem to approach him as the only viable candidate who can defeat Joe Biden in 2024.
Creating a Dysfunctional House
But while the political dynamics in the House will affect the future of the Republican Party, the biggest concern for American politics right now is how it has laid the foundation for a completely dysfunctional legislature and undermined American democracy.
To become Speaker, McCarthy himself has weakened the authority of the Speaker, and is vulnerable to pressure, as even a single member can file a motion to remove him. To keep the far right happy, McCarthy has locked himself into positions that will make any deal with the Democrats and the White House on legislation difficult, if not impossible, and give-and-take is crucial for any legislative issue to succeed. take place, especially since the Senate is under Democratic control.
To counter the January 6 investigations, McCarthy agreed to the formation of a committee to challenge the autonomy of DOJ processes; this will erode faith in the rule of law and cause every investigation, whether conducted by the House or the DOJ, to be viewed as a partisan process. And to meet the extremist faction’s demand for more power over legislation, McCarthy has, in effect, made all appropriations bills subject to individual veto.
Republican filibuster will manifest itself most starkly in the case of the debt ceiling. There is a legal limit to how much money the US can borrow to meet its debt obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military pay, interest on the national debt, tax refunds and other payments. This limit is suspended or raised by Congress so that the US does not default. But the Republican right has made it clear that this time the House will not do it, unless it is accompanied by drastic spending cuts.
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress that the US will reach its debt ceiling on January 19 and will have to resort to “extraordinary measures” to avoid default, but these measures are expected to run out in june. “Failure to meet government obligations would cause irreparable damage to the US economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability,” Yellen said.
How McCarthy appeases his party’s far right, while ensuring that the United States does not fall into an economic and financial spiral, will be his biggest test in the coming months and could well determine how long he will last in office.
