McCarthy looks to maintain fragile GOP unity

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives came to a grinding halt last week when 11 of its most conservative members stopped the chamber from considering legislation. By not voting—or voting with Democrats—the members shot down Republican-led bills that had been expected to pass the House without issue.

The maneuver sent a clear message to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Republicans weren’t as united as they had been a month ago.

For McCarthy, a rebellion like this one demonstrates why supporting a bill with a chance to become law carries a degree of political danger in the current Congress. Legislation not only needs the approval of the Democratic Senate and White House, but it also needs 218 votes in the House, where just 222 Republicans have a slim majority. That gives the speaker a five-vote margin within his own caucus.

Last month, McCarthy spearheaded negotiations with the White House to pass an increase to the country’s debt ceiling. McCarthy had promised Republicans the country’s $31.4 trillion debt wouldn’t get any bigger on his watch—not without first making meaningful cuts to government spending. The debt ceiling agreement did cut spending. But were those cuts meaningful? Many Republicans didn’t think so.

“McCarthy did all the right things to both prove he can legislate and manage a very restive right wing,” said Matthew Green, the chair of the department of politics at the Catholic University of America. “But he did it for one bill. And some of those restive conservatives are still restive.”

Last week’s rebellion temporarily held up the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, which passed with 29 Democratic votes this week. The bill likely won’t pass in the Senate and has even less chance of receiving President Joe Biden’s signature. If the spat between conservative Republicans and McCarthy reignites, it could endanger more consequential pieces of legislation.

“There are a series of bills and legislative issues coming down the pike that are going to be hard to deal with,” Green said. “The appropriation bills, the reauthorization of the FAA, the farm bill, other issues like immigration—this is Round One of a very extended boxing match.”

The farm bill requires bipartisan agreement on how the U.S. will invest in its crop-growers. Without it, the country’s agricultural infrastructure—like crop insurance, federal loan programs, and food stamps—could falter.

Upcoming appropriations bills could rub salt in some Republicans’ debt ceiling wound. The Biden-McCarthy agreement created a plan for rolling back future spending, but Congress must still pass 12 separate bills that fund the government. If conservatives want to undo the negotiations between Biden and McCarthy, they will have 12 chances to do so.

“If there’s anything we’ve learned from watching the House of Representatives in the past 10 years it’s that you can’t rest on your laurels,” Green said. “One victory doesn’t tell you much about what’s going to happen the next day.”