What’s next for GOP’s right wing rebellion

Source: Politico | June 12, 2023 | Rachael Bade

With lawmakers returning to the Capitol on Monday, there’s no sign that Speaker Kevin McCarthy is any less stuck than he was last week.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent lawmakers home early last week, unable to move legislation on the House floor amid an uprising by a group of conservative hard-liners upset over a deal with the White House to increase the nation’s debt limit.

With lawmakers returning to the Capitol on Monday, there’s no sign that McCarthy is any less stuck than he was last week.

“We could be sitting here all week just twiddling our thumbs,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the 11 members to grind lawmaking on the House floor to a halt last week.

The faction of Republicans revolting against McCarthy are still grumbling and are considering tanking more bills teed up for floor action this week. “I’m not going into this week assuming that any of the rules will pass,” a senior GOP aide told POLITICO Sunday night, warning that hard-liners might vote down a House rule just as they did last week for the first time in two decades.

The group’s gripes have been hard to pin down, with wide-ranging accusations of broken promises and strong-arm tactics aimed at various GOP leaders. But the upshot of their protest is simple: McCarthy cannot move any significant legislation across the House floor until the rebel faction is brought back into the fold.

McCarthy was somewhat critical of the rebels last week, suggesting that the group did not have a goal in mind. But as of Monday morning, it’s clear that the hard-right faction does have an ask, which it has guarded closely.

Two people close to the group say the hard-liners are discussing ways to ensure next year’s spending bills are written at fiscal 2022 levels — that is, below the caps McCarthy agreed to with Biden. That, they say, would fulfill a promise McCarthy made during the speakership fight in January.

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