The Deal With Speaker McCarthy

What did the Freedom Caucus 20 accomplish with their four-day filibuster of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker?  And was it worth all of the drama?

Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House in the wee hours of 7 Jan, 2023.  This came on the fourth day and the 15th ballot, after days of disgusting and, frankly, ludicrous melodrama from a host of fellow Republicans.  It came after 15 members of the Freedom Caucus switched their votes to McCarthy and five others, in what was not a good look, merely voted present.

The “House Freedom Caucus” was an organization founded in 2015 by 9  Congresscritters, including among their number the current Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis.  It is an “invitation only” group that includes most, if not all, of the fiscal hawks and constitutionalists of the Republican Party.  According to their Facebook site:

[The Freedom Caucus] support[s] open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans.”

This is not a small group.  It’s current membership is somewhere between 20% and 25% of all House Republicans.   It is emblematic of how these members were treated by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the 117th Congress that he excluded all but one Freedom Caucus member from the number of 31 Republicans assigned to the two most powerful Congressional Committees, the House Rules Committee (4 Republicans, 0 Freedom Caucus) and the House Appropriations Committee (27 Republicans, 1 Freedom Caucus member, Ben Cline (R-Va)).  Moreover, McCarthy reportedly refused many of the requests made by the Freedom Caucus members during 2022 that he was forced to accept as part of the deal he made for their votes on 7 Jan.

The deal (see here, here and here) accepted by McCarthy for the votes of the 20 members of the Freedom Caucus reportedly includes:

• “Several seats” will be reserved on the House Rules Committee and the House Appropriations Committee for members of the Freedom Caucus.
• One member of the Republicans in Congress can introduce a motion for a vote of no-confidence in the Speaker of the House, requiring him to step-down if passed.
• A guarantee from McCarthy that he will allow floor votes on several specific issues, including :a balanced budget amendment, and term limits, a Texas border plan, and an end to all remaining coronavirus mandates and funding.,”
• A guarantee that McCarthy will not allow floor votes on any legislation that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens or adopt gun control measures.
•  A modern “Church Committee” to investigate the weaponization of the law by the DOJ, FBI, and other federal agencies against any who have dissented from the progressive line.
• All records of the January 6 Committee be transferred to the House Administration Committee by Jan. 17.
• No more omnibus funding bills.  Votes on appropriations to be subject to regular order and several other procedural safeguards.
• A promise that McCarthy will refuse to support any increase the debt ceiling.

As the New York Post reported:

“Any power that limits the speaker’s power is a step in the right direction,” said a jubilant Freedom Caucus staffer after McCarthy’s election. “The Freedom Caucus is more relevant than ever, and McCarthy won’t be able to get anything done without our endorsement and support.”

These all sound good to me.  What say you?

I will add a prediction.  In about a year, these deals with McCarthy virtually insure that there will be a showdown in government over the next increase to the debt ceiling and any deficit spending in the next budget.  Unlike past years, when the House has huffed, puffed a little, then caved, this time they will try to hold a hard line.  The last time this happened was in 1994 when Speaker Newt Gingrich was eventually forced to cave to Democrats and President Clinton under a media onslaught.  But that was at a time when the economy was riding the bull.  These are not the same times.  We are suffering the worst recession and inflation since World War II, and I doubt even a lockstep progressive media echo chamber can hide that.  There are interesting times ahead.

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