(DCWatchdog.com) – A revolt by conservative Republicans in the US House of Representatives against Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has handcuffed his ability to operate. It remains unresolved as the chamber returns to Washington, DC, on Monday.
Conservative GOP representatives, mainly from the House Freedom Caucus, are disgruntled over the debt ceiling deal McCarthy made with President Joe Biden and the Democrats, swiftly passed by Congress to avoid a US government default.
Thus, 11 conservatives derailed several bills backed by their party last week, siding with the Democrats to express their protest.
Since then, there has been “no clear resolution” in their standoff with the House speaker, The Washington Times reports.
“We’ve got a small majority. There’s a little chaos going on. We’re just going to work through the agenda and get everything done,” McCarthy (R-CA) said.
He is said to hope that the conservative rebels’ resolve to oppose him subsided during the time away, with House leaders “working the phones” over the weekend to convince them to “drop their blockade.”
As a reconciliation step, McCarthy agreed to the conservatives’ demand to vote to rescind a new rule on pistol braces adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The bill is sponsored by US Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), whose statements helped ignite the conservative revolt against McCarthy.
Last week, he alleged Republican leaders had threatened to end the bill if he voted against the debt ceiling deal with the Democrats.
“I was threatened that if I voted against the closed rule to the debt ceiling agreement, it would be very difficult to bring my pistol stabilizing brace bill to the House floor for a vote,” Clyde said.
His allegation infuriated further the Freedom Caucus, whose members were already angry about McCarthy’s passing of the borrowing limit deal with Democrat votes.
However, The conservative hard-liners think McCarthy has to do much more than vote on Clyde’s bill to regain their trust. They insist the speaker should rule out using Democrat votes to defeat internal GOP opposition in the future.
“We’re going to force him into a monogamous relationship with one or the other,” US Rep. Matt Gaetz commented.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy vexed by conservative revolt as House returns to Washingtonhttps://t.co/TzukKFSfqi pic.twitter.com/Aa7BxQmBkM
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) June 11, 2023
