After a revolt against the debt limit agreement negotiated by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, House conservatives Tuesday broke up a GOP leadership effort to move numerous bills in a dramatic clash on the House floor.
A rule to move four bills pertaining to gas stoves and regulatory reform was defeated by votes from 11 Republicans, the majority of whom are members of the extreme House Freedom Caucus.
Conservative House Revolt Derails GOP Bills
This was enough opposition to kill the rule and prevent the legislation from coming to the floor.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise switched his vote just before the polls closed to oppose the rule as well, giving him the opportunity to reintroduce it for a later vote.
By a final vote of 220-206, the rule was defeated.
The rebellion led to a dramatic scene on the House floor when Scalise and a group of conservative lawmakers huddled in the back of the room in a tense attempt to flip votes and allow the bills to move forward.
The standard rule vote, which was supposed to last only five minutes, took longer than that.
The uprising served as a reality check for McCarthy, who had been celebrating after the White House and House Republicans reached an agreement to suspend the debt limit, which was approved by Congress and signed by Biden.
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Conservative Opposition Gains Strength
In the next weeks and months, when they’re aiming to pass a number of their goals through the House, including tax reform and energy policy, GOP leaders may feel a significant impact from Tuesday’s events.
Democrats had come together across party lines to support McCarthy’s passage of the rule regulating the debt ceiling deal, but that vote was exceptional because of Biden’s support for it and the urgency of averting a default.
Democrats will undoubtedly unanimously reject regulations in the future, especially on partisan GOP proposals, allowing a small number of conservatives to permanently thwart the Republican agenda. Some people said that’s exactly what they’re prepared to do.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who has been arguing with Scalise about the Georgia Republican’s proposed legislation for a pistol stabilizing brace, was at the epicenter of the altercation.
If Clyde rejected the rule on the debt ceiling bill, leadership, according to Clyde, threatened to prevent his bill from being put to a vote on the floor.
According to Scalise, he spoke with Clyde about the difficulties the bill would encounter as a result of Republican opposition on Tuesday morning. But he said that the GOP leadership was working hard to pass the bill.
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