I have to give it to Speaker McCarthy.
Since his election as Speaker of the House back in January, which took 15 ballots to achieve, he has been doing a bit of a Houdini act. BREAKING: 15th Vote Finally Decides Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House
He has kept the GOP caucus together during the debt limit armageddon, which the Biden White House had not expected to happen but which put pressure on them to cancel part of Biden’s latest foreign policy adventure. That forced the president to come home early, preventing any more embarrassing gaffes internationally which is actually a silver lining in all this.
I have to admit how well I think the Speaker has so far done walking the tightrope seeing that I was fully expecting him to mail it in like he did back in 2015 and give up. From that article where I was speculating if he would do a repeat of history where Paul Ryan came out of nowhere to take the Speakers gavel: FLASHBACK: Kevin McCarthy Dropped out of the Speaker Race in 2015 – Will He Again?…
So the question that some ask of who, if not Kevin, is nonsensical. The reason why is that Paul Ryan was not in leadership or even mentioned as a replacement when the House GOP caucus met on the day McCarthy announced he was dropping out. As McCarthy himself is quoted as saying, he shocked people by dropping out — and that was correct.
I do not recall an official reason given why McCarthy dropped out of the race for the gavel to replace Boehner but he did not have the votes. Now that the House has adjourned for the day with no resolution on who the next Speaker will be, I guess it is a fair question to ask if Kevin will drop out again.
Only Kevin knows for sure.
McCarthy so far seems to be making the most of the opportunity but there is trouble on the horizon. The Freedom Caucus is none too happy with this compromise with Sleepy Joe.
From my colleague streiff who earlier today wrote this Freedom Caucus Says McCarthy Got Rolled on the Debt Ceiling and the Evidence Indicates They Are Right…
The deal scraps $131 billion in cuts to return bureaucracy to pre-COVID levels in favor of keeping spending at the 2023 Omnibus spending bill. Work requirements are abandoned for Medicaid. Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act,” which Goldman Sachs says costs $1.2 trillion, is retained. The REINS Act is abandoned. Biden’s unlawful student loan bailout is punted back to the courts. The IRS keeps its 87,000 new agents. You’ll hear about the $2 billion cut from the IRS this year, but that is from their proposed budget increase. It doesn’t cut that agency. The only bright light is that the deal claws back $29 billion in unspent COVID-19 baksheesh. Also, note that the two-year deal takes the debt ceiling off the table during an election year.
Well here is the dirty secret floating out in the atmosphere that might build up some steam in the next couple of days. Some people on Twitter are using the hashtag #VacateTheChair and it remains to be seen if they can force members of the Freedom Caucus to take up the cause.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/VacateTheChair?src=hashtag_click
So will Donald Trump call out McCarthy for a deal that looks like no spending cuts are happening after saying on CNN just a couple of days ago that unless spending cuts were part of the deal, McCarthy should allow the Janet Yellen deadline to pass?
Will Chip Roy who was masterful in negotiating on behalf of some Freedom Caucus members before green-lighting a vote for McCarthy for Speaker decide that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back? Will he vote for this deal or vote to vacate the chair?
If Trump gives his blessing to this deal, what will all the Trump supporters across the fruited plain do after calling for McCarthy’s head?
This is all the drama that Washington D.C. loves and it is part of why I feel that America is about out of gas and wrote this right here. Op-Ed: How Much Gas Does America Have Left in Her Tank?
I truly hope I’m wrong but I don’t think I am and these games that are being played in the nation’s Capitol are one of the reasons why.