by ALANA REYES
He may not be the most powerful man in the country, but California Congressman Kevin McCarthy is poised to make his mark on the U.S. House of Representatives for at least the next two years.
Early last month, the 118th Congress officially swore in the Republican from Bakersfield as the 55th Speaker of the House … after 14 failed votes. A total of 21
members of the far-right Freedom Caucus prevented McCarthy from reaching a consensus for five days, as they believed McCarthy was not conservative enough for their liking.
The nine-term Californian finally submitted to significant concessions to sway these hardliners–most notably the newly reinstated rule requiring only one member of the House to initiate a vote to remove him from office. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did away with this rule in 2019 after witnessing the internal turmoil of Congress when it was used against former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), ultimately leading to the congressman’s resignation.
Said Boehner: “It’s become clear to me that [my] prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. This isn’t about me. It’s about the people, it’s about the institution.”
Along with this accommodation, there were two additional provisions among the negotiations that swayed 15 of the 21 present Republican votes: expanding Republicans’ power in committees, and the promise to attempt to impose a limit on the number of Congressional terms served.
This sacrifice of power will likely prove detrimental to the functionality of the House over the next two years, with intraparty tensions continuing to mount.
“Everyone who is opposing Kevin McCarthy is doing so in conflict with their own selfish political interest,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.).
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), who continued to oppose McCarthy all the way through the 14th vote, claims he held out to fulfill his voters’ wishes as a freshman representative.
“I did not want to come up here and be a representative who heard what my voters said, and came up here and caved to the pressure,” Crane said.
“When the suggestion was made to put this thing to bed when we knew we could not win, I wanted to make sure I did not leave those that had stood to the end.”
On the other hand, Rep. Lauren Boebart (R-Col.) firmly abstained from a pro-McCarthy vote on the rigid belief that McCarthy would not support the House Republican Conference.
“Congress is broken and fundamentally needs change. I’m here to get this right,” Boebart said. “We need a leader that is not of the broken system, someone who is not beholden to the lobbyists … but to the people who sent us here. Someone who can unite our party.”
In the most drawn-out Speaker of the House election since the Civil War, many fear that the process that played out on national television will further reflect the
dysfunctionality of the institution for years to come.
“Unfortunately, the utter pandemonium wrought by House Republicans this week is just one more example of how the extreme fringe of their party, led by election-deniers, is pulling them further into chaos and making it impossible for them to govern,” said New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.
McCarthy, however, denies that the Freedom Caucus’ influence will command the Speaker’s power.
“I would only be a weaker Speaker if I was afraid of [losing].”
The actuality of McCarthy’s power will certainly be revealed to the country over the 2023-2025 term as he attempts to appease the MAGA far-right Republicans while striving to make progress in the House.
The Mainsheet 