House Republicans Choose Their Fighter

Plus: Will moderates flex any muscle? And a look at Democrats’ debt ceiling calculus.

By , and
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy walks through the Captiol Monday. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

On Monday night, Republicans didn’t know for sure if they would win a majority in the House of Representatives. But that didn’t stop them from pressing ahead with their leadership elections this afternoon, a week after their underwhelming midterms performance.

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy shouldn’t have too much trouble clearing the internal conference vote today, where he needs only a simple majority of Republicans to become the speaker-elect.

But the real test will come in January, when he’ll have to win 218 votes on the House floor to take the speaker’s gavel. Republicans may have the majority by only a few seats, leaving virtually no margin for disagreement within the party. Members of the House Freedom Caucus are mounting a challenge by Rep. Andy Biggs in today’s internal conference vote, part of their efforts to get McCarthy to agree to rules changes to open up the legislative process and to give conservatives more power.

How much support Biggs draws away from McCarthy will determine how much work the GOP leader will have to do to make his speakership dreams a reality.

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  1. Avatar photo
    George.Rozes

    Use the budget reconciliation measure to kill the debt ceiling. Another artificial pothole that needs to be paved over to stop the performative bs of voting for a budget before voting against raising the debt ceiling. I was for it before i was against it.

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  2. Learnin4life

    Useful information as always Haley! Thank you.

    If the likelihood of default rears its head again business will not be happy just as we're trying to avoid more economic disruptions.

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  3. Craig Berry

    Wow, 14 people died between Election Day and being sworn into office? I know they waited until March back then but that's a lot of dudes kicking the bucket in 5 months. Just think if that happened now how many conspiracy theories would be popping up on One America and Truth Social.

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      Haley Byrd Wilt vertical-nib Author

      Yeah I was surprised too, but I think the gap between Election Day and convening was longer that session for some reason so it was more than five months. There's more info in that hyperlink, it goes to the House History website

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      1. Craig Berry

        If I'm reading it right, it was still only November for the election and March for the swearing in so it wasn't that much longer. Maybe it was all that Smoot-Hawley-ing they were doing put an undue strain on their tickers.

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          WJHEsq

          Yes, it was the penultimate Congress prior to the adoption of the 20th Amendment which reset the date Congress was to convene to Jan 3rd. (The 74th was the first to do so). At the time, the custom was for the first session of Congress not to convene until late in the year. So the first session of the 72nd Congress did not convene until December 1931 So, between the elections in November 1930 and the opening of the Congress 13 months later, there were the 14 deaths.

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          Ben Connelly

          I was surprised too but I chalked it up to infectious diseases and worse medical care back then.

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  4. Jim S

    I am so conflicted about what I want to see happen here.

    As a Democratic partisan part of me can’t wait for the crazy to surface and tank the Crazy GOP.
    BUT
    As an American I think the crazy is incredibly destructive and sane governance is a preferred outcome. So maybe Democrats should do whatever it takes to help stave off the crazy.
    BUT
    As a political observer I wonder if anything less than a full bore crazy meltdown will nudge the GOP back toward becoming a governing party.

    We live in interesting times.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Murrayprof

    “Proxy voting goes away, magnetometers go away, bills work through committees.”

    Magnetometers?!? So doing away with metal detectors on the House side of the capitol and office buildings? Is that so the wingnuts can carry guns on the House floor?

    I can't walk into my local courthouse courtroom without doing so.

    Asininity is on full display.

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    1. Avatar photo
      WJHEsq

      No, they're talking about the magnetometers the members have to pass through to get onto the House floor. The public still have to pass through them to enter the Capitol grounds. (see, https://rollcall.com/2021/01/12/house-members-to-be-screened-for-weapons-when-entering-chamber/)

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    2. Raincheck

      Yeah. I saw that one and thought, hey, don’t you want to live? Didn’t you notice that the MAGA wing of your party just lost badly?

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    Stephanie

    Spelling correction: Newly elected NY-19 Rep is Marc, not Mark Molinaro. He's our county executive at present; his given name is Marcus.

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    Ms. SSM

    The debt ceiling is not a real thing. I’d like us to abolish it or stop negotiating it. If the GOP really wants to burn it down let them. Elections have consequences as the saying goes. If they really want to default they can. Both parties need to stop playing with it. The only solution I see to the continual hostage taking is to stop negotiating it and let the chips fall. Every time it’s the same ridiculous requests. Biden’s deal as VP was a mistake. No deals. Just stop with the brinkmanship. Pay what has been appropriated or stop appropriating things.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Paul Britton

    Excellent and informative report.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Earl King

    I’m weary of another debt ceiling battle. Tax receipts have been huge however we do have a looming recession. Add in we have a $32 Trillion dollar debt and our interest payments on that debt are over $1 Trillion. The only way for the Democrats to get a debt ceiling limit passed without any budget cuts is impossible without reconciliation. If they want cover and GOP help they’re going to have to give up something in terms of cuts. Imagine pissing away a $1Trillion dollars like its an 8 ball on Saturday night. It’s about 17% of our current budget. In our current budget process about $1.6 Trillion is in discretionary spending. By law (unless we change it) the rest of the $5.8 Trillion dollar budget is mandatory. Not sure what any of the moderate 10 GOP Senators would want in order to help pass it. Someone however needs to get on it. Leaving it to the new House is a fools game.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ms. SSM

      The way to control spending is to not appropriate or vote for said spending. It’s not to decide not to pay the bill of the money you already owe. Aside from the issue that there is no party in America that has any serious interest in eliminating the budget deficit, we should avoid putting the full faith and credit of the US government at the whim of an arbitrary number. The debt ceiling serves no purpose. It’s just one more way the Government can screw us all over epically. Thus I hope it is never never used in the manner you suggest again.

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        Earl King

        I shouldn’t be, but there are idiots in my Party would probably will...Sadly.

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    2. Nordic_man

      Get back to me when the GOP lowers the deficit on their own. They haven't ever since reagan done it under a trifecta.

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        Earl King

        Not true, Newt did it and left Bush a surplus. Since then they are just as carefree with budgets as Dems. No they don’t have spending they promulgate they have tax cuts that are not paid for and we always run deficits. A pox on them as well.

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        1. Nordic_man

          Fair enough, they did it once I will give them that, but other than that I only see them being "fiscal conservatives" when there is another party around to take some of the heat.

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          1. Avatar photo
            Earl King

            There isn’t a politician who doesn’t love spending money. Our problem is the $1.3 Trillion in discretionary spending its the stuff that nobody is will to look at. I’m going to get the number wrong its for illustration. We have about 100 poverty programs.....Do we ever hold hearings on whether they are working. I am for eliminating poverty but it appears to me we sustain poverty. He’ll someone proposed a Bill to go and look at programs to see if what Congress intended worked. Dems killed it.....Just fucking spend spend spend....It’s disgusting. Also don’t get me started on 2500 omnibus spending bills you have 24 to look over....That is some kind BS they dumped on us.

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      2. Avatar photo
        John N.

        Yeah, we're*way* past the point where anyone can seriously argue that republicans are the party of "fiscal responsibility."

        Anyone making that goofy claim is either hopelessly uninformed, or is arguing in bad faith. In either case, not worth engaging.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Earl King

          What you mean the GOP is not the party of fiscal restraint...LOL...Gonna take me a bit to breath and calm down...Too funny. OK my acting is over.
          It just has become too easy to deficit spend. too easy for both parties. Democrats always want new programs more money...They really have no fiscal discipline. However they are more than willing to tax.
          The GOP is more than willing to cut taxes with no care in the world as to deficits. It’s a BS way to run our fiscal responsibilities. They have both gotten away with it due to the US Dollar being the reserve currency. Our GDP growth and that we are the biggest economy in the world. That day will not last forever. What pisses me off is they don’t give two shits about the future.

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    Angie

    Thanks for all your work everyone...very informative.

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