House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced backlash from hard-line House Freedom Caucus members and their allies for accepting a debt ceiling increase deal that they deemed insufficient in terms of spending cuts. McCarthy won support from two-thirds of the House GOP conference, but the bill passed with more votes from Democrats than Republicans. Rep. Ken Buck said his constituents were furious and calling for McCarthy’s removal. Rep. Dan Bishop was the first conservative to promote the idea of toppling McCarthy after the deal was announced. Chip Roy said McCarthy needed to mend fences with his right flank, and a review of how they organized themselves was necessary.
As per the analysis by The Hill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently steered a debt ceiling increase through Congress, but not without facing backlash from members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and their allies. These conservatives argue that the deal does not include enough spending cuts and that McCarthy should not have agreed to suspend the debt ceiling beyond the 2024 presidential election, a key demand of President Biden.
Despite winning support from two-thirds of the House GOP conference, McCarthy faced criticism from conservatives who were upset that more Democrats backed the legislation and that the minority party’s votes were required to pass the House rule that brought the final package to the floor. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) stated that his office has been inundated with calls in opposition to both the deal and McCarthy, with some constituents even calling for McCarthy’s removal as Speaker.
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) was the first conservative to promote the idea of toppling McCarthy after the debt ceiling deal was announced, and Chip Roy (R-Texas), another Freedom Caucus member, said that the Speaker has some work to do to mend fences with his right flank. Roy stated on Guy Benson’s Fox News radio program that “there’s going to need to be a bit of a reckoning and a kind of review of how we’re organizing ourselves in order to get things done.”
The frustration among conservatives highlights the political price that McCarthy had to pay for steering the debt ceiling increase through Congress. While he may have proven his bipartisan negotiating chops, he faced criticism from members of his own party who believed that the deal did not go far enough in terms of spending cuts and that it gave too much power to President Biden.
Moving forward, it remains to be seen how McCarthy will navigate the appropriations process, which will reach a head in September. Conservatives have indicated that they no longer trust him to negotiate effectively and have even discussed the possibility of stripping him of his gavel. Buck stated that “the discussion about the motion to vacate is going to happen in the next week or two,” and that “the people in our [districts], outside the Beltway right now, are saying, ‘$4 trillion is too much, you’ve got to get a new Speaker.’”
In consideration of all these factors, McCarthy’s recent victory in steering a debt ceiling increase through Congress may have been a significant accomplishment, but it came with a political price. The backlash from conservatives highlights the challenges that he faces in navigating a deeply divided Congress and underscores the need for effective bipartisan negotiations moving forward.
