White House poking into McCarthy House speaker deal
Rachel Schilke
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The White House is asking House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to divulge the details of the deals with right-wing lawmakers that allowed him to secure his leadership position after 15 rounds of voting.
McCarthy spent the weeks leading up to the speakership election making concessions with members of Congress to gain the votes. His critics, led by Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), held out through 14 votes before agreeing to switch to either “yes” or “present” in the final vote.
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However, the White House believes more negotiations were made behind closed doors that House Republicans need to disclose publicly.
“An unprecedented tax hike on the middle class and a national abortion ban are just a glimpse of the secret, backroom deals Speaker McCarthy made with extreme MAGA members to end this month’s chaotic elections and claim the gavel,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “It is well past time for Speaker McCarthy and the ultra MAGA Republican House members to come out of the dark and tell the American people, in-full, what they decided in secret.”
Some of the concessions already known include lowering the number of members needed to call a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair down to one, declaring that any move raising the debt ceiling must come with spending cuts, and establishing a House select committee on the “weaponization of the federal government.”
While McCarthy says these concessions were not formal agreements and “there’s not a side deal to anything,” conservative lawmakers have said they received promises from the speaker. They point to actions already taken on establishing committees and other priority legislation as a result of those promises, Politico reported.
“What other hidden bargains did Speaker McCarthy make behind closed doors?” Bates asked. “The American people have a right to know — now — which is why we are calling on him to make every single one of them public immediately.”
Some strategists said the concessions McCarthy made with lawmakers may backfire when the 2024 election rolls around because they may alienate centrist voters.
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The House GOP’s decisions regarding the debt ceiling, which could result in a government shutdown, may allow Democrats to shift the blame for economic concerns.
McCarthy was first elected to Congress in 2006 and quickly moved through the leadership ranks. He was first tapped to serve as chief deputy whip in 2009, then elected to serve as whip in 2011, before becoming House majority leader in 2014 and minority leader in 2019.