Conservative Republicans BLOCK House business as payback for debt ceiling
Conservative Republicans STUPID Congress to pay back Kevin McCarthy: Rebels furious at Speaker for Biden debt deal vow to keep all bills from going to floor until their demands are met – while GOP leaders blame each other
- The House has not voted on legislation in more than 24 hours – Wednesday’s votes have been canceled
- It’s not clear when the House will vote again on the rule to move gas stove legislation — the Freedom Caucus’ feuds with McCarthy are ongoing
- Defectors say McCarthy violated “fundamental agreements” he made with them during the speaker’s race and want him to go back on those promises in writing
Right-wing Republicans have placed a blockade on the House floor, holding leadership priorities hostage in retaliation for the debt ceiling deal passed last week.
Eleven Republicans on Tuesday blocked a rule vote for the first time that would have moved four bills that would curtail the Biden administration’s ability to regulate gas stoves to move forward.
The legislation is highly popular within the GOP conference and was expected to sail through the House before dying in the Senate.
Now those members have since joined a movement to block any legislation until they put in writing that Speaker Kevin McCarthy will backtrack on the “fundamental commitments” he made during the 15-vote speaker race.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., complained that leadership would not allow the debt ceiling agreement to be tabled under open rules — meaning full members were not allowed to put amendments to a vote
Rep. Dan Bishop, RN.C., has come forward with motion to leave to oust Speaker McCarthy
More than 24 hours later, the House has yet to vote on legislation. There was supposed to be another vote on the gas stove rule on Wednesday around noon, but all votes have been canceled for today.
It all started with an outburst of a claim from Representative Andrew Clyde that he had been threatened with retaliation for his ‘no’ vote on the debt limit agreement.
The hard-right legislators, mainly from the House Freedom Caucus, specifically accused the leaders of threatening to end the gun support bill under Clyde’s leadership.
Clyde has since said he got a commitment from leadership that his resolution to repeal an Ordinance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) will be voted on next week, but the Freedom Caucus defectors are displeased.
“HOLD THE FLOOR!!!” Rep. tweeted. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
Now the House GOP leadership is starting to point the finger at each other.
McCarthy checked Majority Leader Steve Scalise by name when asked if those opposed to the gas stove rule were upset about the debt limit agreement.
“I think there are a lot of different things. I just think sometimes it’s personalities too, everyone has different things they’re mad about. With the Clyde thing being about Scalise, that’s where it started,” the speaker told reporters.
Asked if he was blindsided, McCarthy again pointed to Scalise: “We’ve played different roles and the Majority Leader is speaking. Started something else yesterday. It was a conversation the Majority Leader had with Clyde and I think it was a miscalculation – or a misinterpretation of what one said to the other.”
Scalise, meanwhile, denied any threat, saying instead on Tuesday that he had only informed Clyde that he was struggling to garner votes for that bill. He blamed “broken promises” for the blockade of the Freedom Caucus.
McCarthy checked Majority Leader Steve Scalise by name when asked if those opposed to the gas stove rule were upset about the debt limit agreement. “I think there are a lot of different things. I just think sometimes it’s personalities too, everyone has different things they’re mad about. With the Clyde thing being about Scalise, that’s where it started,” the speaker told reporters
“Obviously there was some anger expressed over the debt ceiling deal and even some allegedly broken promises going back to the January speaker race… Other things came up as well.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who huddled with Scalise on Tuesday with the “no” voters on the back of the House floor, said he was surprised by their move and that it had been “spontaneous.”
He told DailyMail.com that he was not involved in any potential threats.
Boebert complained that the leadership would not allow the debt ceiling agreement to be tabled under open rules — meaning full members were not allowed to put amendments to a vote. Some members said McCarthy promised them he would bring all legislation under open rule.
Others were angry that more Democrats voted for the final package than Republicans, 171 to 149. However, McCarthy praised that two-thirds of the Republican conference supported the bill.
“McCarthy lied, the line died,” wrote Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., on Twitter after Tuesday’s vote.
“House Leadership couldn’t hold the line,” Gaetz tweeted Wednesday ahead of the second rule vote. “Now we keep the word.”