McCarthy faces first test as speaker as House prepares to vote on rules package
Cami Mondeaux
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is set to face the first test of his new leadership as House lawmakers prepare to vote on the lower chamber’s rules package — a source of contention that led to McCarthy’s struggle to secure the speakership last week.
Lawmakers will vote on Monday evening to establish the rules that will guide the House over the next two years, with Congress members set to implement a number of new provisions that McCarthy agreed to in order to win key support for his speakership bid. Many of those concessions include measures that weaken McCarthy’s influence as speaker while increasing the power of rank-and-file members — prompting some concern among centrist Republicans.
HOUSE POSTPONES VOTE ON RULES PACKAGE UNTIL MONDAY AFTER MCCARTHY ELECTED SPEAKER
Like the speaker election, McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes in order to pass the rules package if all Democrats vote against the measure and no lawmakers are absent or vote “present.”
McCarthy faces first test of GOP unity
The rules package vote will be McCarthy’s first test of GOP unity within the House since winning the gavel late last week in an election that lasted several days and featured several concessions to secure the position.
Much of that intraparty division stemmed from disagreements in the House rules package, with some far-right Republicans pushing for rules that would diminish McCarthy’s power as speaker. Among these concessions includes a provision that would lower the number of members needed to call for a floor vote to oust a sitting speaker to just one, down from the current rules that require a House majority to hold a vote.
All eyes will be on the House to see if the chamber can manage to pass the rules package in a timely manner after it took four days and 15 rounds of voting to elect McCarthy as speaker, prompting several Democrats to criticize the GOP for being divided.
“It’s a little embarrassing it’s taking so long, and the way they are dealing with one another,” President Joe Biden told reporters last week. “How do you think this looks to the rest of the world? It’s not a good look, not a good thing. This is the United States of America, and I hope they get their act together.”
Despite measures to decrease his influence, several McCarthy allies have backed the rules package and say they plan to back it when it comes to the House floor for a vote.
“Anything that takes more power out of leadership and gives more ability to rank-and-file members is going to be really good for our conference,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) told the Washington Post.
Opposition already peeking through the cracks
Although McCarthy secured enough votes to be elected speaker, he could face an uphill battle to get the rules package passed, as some Republicans have already voiced opposition to its provisions and threatened to vote against the package due to legislative disagreements.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) said he plans to vote against the rules package due to provisions that would result in cuts to defense spending in an effort to balance the federal budget.
“I’m going to visit Taiwan here in a couple of weeks,” Gonzales told CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “How am I going to look at our allies in the eye and say, ‘I need you to increase your defense budget, but yet America is going to decrease ours’?”
Meanwhile, other Republicans said they’re considering opposing the rules package because party leaders have not been transparent about what deals were made to win over defectors in the speaker election.
“So my question really is today is what backroom deals were cut?” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told CBS News. “We don’t know what they got or didn’t get. We haven’t seen it. We don’t have any idea what promises were made or what gentleman’s handshakes were made. We just — we just have no idea at this point. And it does give me quite a bit of heartburn because that’s not what we ran on.”
What McCarthy concessions have made it into the rules package?
Despite concerns about transparency, lawmakers are set to vote on a number of concessions that have been widely reported on in recent weeks that helped McCarthy secure the speaker’s gavel.
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Among those is a measure that would prohibit votes to raise the debt ceiling unless lawmakers also propose spending cuts elsewhere to balance the budget, according to the House rules package. The package would also include a measure that would mandate lawmakers to pay for new spending by making cuts elsewhere in the budget, eliminating current rules that also allow lawmakers to increase taxes to offset additional costs.
The rules package also reinstates the Holman rule, which allows lawmakers to propose amendments to appropriations bills that would “reduce the number or salaries of federal employees or reduce the compensation of any individual paid by” the federal government, according to a summary of the rules package.