House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his top deputy in Republican leadership, Steve Scalise, are volleying blame as the right flank of the conference lashes out at its leadership over the debt deal—a sign of mounting tension within the party. “We want to understand: Are we part of this governing coalition or not?” Florida lawmaker Matt Gaetz, one of the 11 hard-line Republicans who blocked what was supposed to be a party-line vote from passage, told Vanity Fair Thursday morning. Gaetz says he and his allies have no intention of backing down from this now very public feud with the party’s top brass.
Earlier this week, conservatives tanked what was supposed to be a humdrum procedural vote on a bill to block bans on gas stoves. At the root of the tension between McCarthy and members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and their allies is the debt limit deal the Speaker struck with the White House and President Joe Biden signed into law this past weekend. Ultimately, the legislation garnered more Democratic support than Republican votes, which its critics point to as evidence that McCarthy and his negotiators were outplayed by President Biden’s administration. The debt limit deal, Gaetz told VF, was a “material breach” of the agreement McCarthy reached with the more conservative wing of his caucus to secure his speakership in the 15th round of voting back in January. “You can’t put House conservatives on your right arm and parade us around for five months when it doesn’t count, and then go jump in the backseat with Hakeem Jeffries and then think it’s going to be okay when you come home,” Gaetz said, in reference to the Democratic Minority Leader, who managed to get enough of his caucus united behind the deal to pull it over the line.
The drama crescendoed earlier this week when Republican congressman Andrew Clyde went on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast to claim that Scalise threatened to block Clyde’s bill to rollback a Biden administration gun control measure if Clyde did not support the debt deal (Scalise has denied the assertion). In turn, the 11 hardliners decided to send a message to Republican leadership: “We won’t be retaliated against, we won’t see our colleagues retaliated against and we won’t continue to play failure theater,” Gaetz said. On Tuesday, holdouts stood back and watched the procedural vote fail, marking the first time in roughly two decades that a rules vote failed. Now, the rebels are holding a firm line. Hours after the vote failed on Tuesday, Clyde tweeted House Republican leaders agreed to bring his bill to the floor for a vote next week.
The rebellion not only revealed the fissures between Republican leaders and the party’s hard-right flank, but also bitterness between McCarthy and Scalise. During an interview with Fox News, McCarthy put the blame on the Majority Leader, noting that he is responsible for what happens on the House floor. “Yesterday was started on something else,” McCarthy said. “It was a conversation that the Majority Leader had with [Clyde] and I think it was a miscalculation or misinterpretation of what one said to another. And that’s what started this and then something else bellowed into it.”
Scalise fired off his own rebuke. “I talked to a number of the members as the vote was ending yesterday on the floor, and you know, clearly there was some anger expressed about the debt ceiling deal and even some perceived broken promises going back to the speaker’s race in January,” Scalise told reporters Wednesday. “Other things came up too.”
Speaking with VF, Gaetz reiterated that the frustrations primarily lie with McCarthy—not Scalise, who played a minimal role in the debt deal talks with the White House. Looming over McCarthy is the motion to vacate clause in the House rules that he agreed to in order to secure the speakership, which allows just one person in the body to call for a vote to oust him. For now, there’s not enough agreement among the extreme-right flank to push for such a vote, largely seen as the nuclear option. For now, holding bills hostage has proven to be an appealing alternative.
As for Democrats, any gaps in unity among House Republicans are seen as opportunities. On Tuesday following the failed procedural vote, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seen laughing as she left the House floor.
Abigail Tracy
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