In opposition to Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s agreement with the Biden White House on increasing the debt ceiling last month, a number of Freedom Caucus House Republican members have promised to prevent significant legislation from coming up for a vote.
On Tuesday, the conservatives prevented four pieces of legislation pertaining to gas stoves and regulatory reform from being brought up for a full vote. After a dozen of them voted with all the Democrats to overturn a GOP rule to do so, they vowed to continue doing so.
Since 2002, a House rule has not been approved by a vote of 220-206, according to the New York Post.
“Today, we took down the rule because we’re frustrated at the way this place is operating,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters after the vote.
“We took a stand in January to end the era of the imperial speakership. We’re concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed Kevin McCarthy to assume the speakership have been violated as a consequence of the debt limit deal,” he added.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Ken Buck (R-CO), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Bob Good (R-VA), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Chip Roy (R-TX) were among the lawmakers who joined Gaetz, according to The Post.
On Tuesday, Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus said, “We warned them not to cut that deal without coming down and sit down and talk to us. So this is all about restoring a process that will fundamentally change things back to what was working.”
As a member of the Rules Committee, Roy voted to send it to the entire House on Monday.
The Post said that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) cast a “no” vote on the rule at the last minute so he could bring it up for a subsequent vote.
These House Republicans just BLEW UP Kevin McCarthy’s rule & humiliated him on the House floor.
Disastrous debt ceiling deals have consequences… pic.twitter.com/5j1jQ49uHi
— Citizens for Renewing America (@amrenewcitizen) June 6, 2023
Group of 11 conservative House members take rare step of joining all Democrats to block a pair of GOP bills to protect gas stoves to express their anger over the debt deal cut by Speaker McCarthy and President Biden. https://t.co/ASp9GgAU6L
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 6, 2023
The Post continued:
Two of the stalled bills would limit the ability of the federal government to regulate or ban gas stoves. A third seeks to authorize federal courts that review agency actions to decide all relevant questions of law without deferring to previous legal determinations by the agency. And the fourth bill would subject major agency actions to congressional approval.
On Saturday, Biden signed legislation that raises the national debt ceiling by another $4 trillion two days before the government was predicted to run out of cash to pay its bills.
The bill signing capped weeks of high-stakes drama on Capitol Hill as negotiators for McCarthy and the White House furiously wrestled with ways to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and cut spending while satisfying members of both parties.
All things considered, McCarthy’s position as Speaker might be in danger.
“I think he should be concerned” about a motion to vacate the chair, Rep. Kin Buck told CNN’s Jim Sciutto last week.
“I’m not suggesting the votes are there to remove the speaker, but the speaker promised that we would operate at 2022 appropriations levels when he got the support to be the speaker. He’s now changed that to 2023 levels plus one percent,” Buck added, according to The Daily Caller.
According to The American Conservative, “Some representatives have gone so far as to float the idea of using the vacate motion to try and remove McCarthy as speaker if this deal manages to go through. GOP sources told TAC that if someone were to move forward with a motion to vacate the chair, there would likely be enough votes to reignite the fight over Speaker of the House.”
Along with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Roy and Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) have proposed the idea of impeaching McCarthy as well. She charged McCarthy with “violating” his promise to permit amendments in the House Rules Committee during an interview on the “War Room” podcast a week ago.
