About a dozen members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus rebelled against the leader of their party and the chamber in retaliation for the deal he made to raise the debt ceiling.
House GOP leaders are facing a retaliatory response from conservatives, as they actively impede legislative operations of the chamber through an unprecedented blockade., which resulted in a failed procedural vote on Tuesday, a typically routine, mundane process.
“House Leadership couldn’t Hold the Line,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., tweeted Wednesday morning. “Now we Hold the Floor.”
Certain conservatives are expressing dissatisfaction with the debt limit agreement that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, negotiated with President Joe Biden last month. They believe that the procedures employed to pass the agreement in the House last week did not align with the understanding they had with McCarthy, which played a role in their support for his speakership.
In the initial agreement reached in January, McCarthy had agreed to grant conservatives a greater influence over decision-making and the procedural aspects of passing legislation, Fox News noted, adding:
They’re also accusing leadership of exacting revenge on members who tried to tank a procedural vote before the House’s final debt limit bill by stymieing a resolution from Rep, Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., aimed at rolling back a Biden administration firearms rule.
Freedom Caucus members and their allies joined Democrats on Tuesday in voting against a rule that would’ve allowed four bills to reach the House floor, including two separate House GOP bills taking on the Biden administration’s attempt to limit gas stove availability. It’s the first time in two decades that a rules vote has failed.
“Today we took down the rule because we’re frustrated with the way this place is operating,” Gaetz told reporters at the Capitol following 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 had been violated as a consequence of the debt limit deal.”
He added, frustrated, “I am very aggrieved at the punishment that was delivered to my colleague Andrew Clyde on his bill regarding pistol braces… for him standing with us and the votes we took against the rule that allowed the debt limit to be increased.”
During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Gaetz predicted that the House floor would be shuttered for business on Wednesday.
“I don’t know if the floor will be reopened. I would bet it wouldn’t be. But now the true test of chicken is whether Kevin McCarthy will scuttle our oversight agenda, vis a vis, [FBI Director] Christopher Wray, as an effort to punish us,” he said.
