(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The two opposite ends of the House Republican majority both turned inward on Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., over a face-saving debt deal that many agreed granted little more than the illusion of concessions from radical and profligate Biden Democrats.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a Charleston centrist considered by some MAGA supporters to be an unreliable RINO, offered a scathing rebuke suggesting that the cognitively impaired President Joe Biden had “outsmarted” GOP negotiators (i.e. McCarthy).
Washington is broken.
Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants.
I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) May 30, 2023
On the other flank, Freedom Caucus conservatives issued their own sharp criticism in a press conference Tuesday.
“No one sent us here to borrow an additional $4 trillion and get nothing in return,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
Despite the impressive feat of bringing together both RINOs and Freedom Caucus members, united in their outrage against him, McCarthy is now weathering internal criticism that his leadership has driven a wedge in the party—and his future as speaker may be in jeopardy.
“The Republican conference has been torn asunder,” Roy said during the press conference.
Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., signaled to Politico that a vote on the debt deal opposed by a wide swath of Republicans could trigger a vote to oust the precarious party leader.
McCarthy was elected speaker in January after a staggering 15 rounds of voting, only after he agreed to cede some of the unilateral power snatched by his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and return it to rank-and-file members.
That included the ability to “vacate the chair” at any time via simple majority.
Bishop clarified that he would not invoke such a measure without the backing of others in the caucus.
“I don’t make single decisions like that alone,” he told Politico. “And so it depends on what the members who have courage” choose to do.
But in a separate interview with Axios, he seemed more assured that McCarthy’s fate had already been set in motion.
“It is clear that, as steward of Republican unity, Kevin has made an unrecoverable failure,” Bishop said.
The motion, he continued, “will be at a time and circumstance of our choosing.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who was one of McCarthy’s most outspoken opponents during the January speakership standoff, indicated that he, too, would support using the newly established House rules against the speaker if the debt deal went through without GOP backing.
“If a majority of Republicans are against a piece of legislation, and you use Democrats to pass it, that would immediately be a black-letter violation of the deal we had with McCarthy,” Gaetz told Newsmax.
“And it would likely trigger an immediate motion to vacate,” Gaetz added. “I think Speaker McCarthy knows that—that’s why he’s working hard to make sure he gets 120, 150, 160 votes.”
Gaetz: If a majority of Republicans are against a piece of legislation, and you use Democrats to pass it, that would immediately be a black letter violation of the deal we had with McCarthy, and it would likely trigger an immediate motion to vacate. pic.twitter.com/Kjp2JD52Rv
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 30, 2023
McCarthy, currently the most powerful elected Republican, has been steadfast in defending the deal as he tries to sell it to his fellow legislators ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
It is simple:
– President Biden wanted to spend more and raise taxes.
– Republicans fought—and won—to reduce spending and stop Biden from radical overreach.
The systemic reforms we set in place mark the beginning of historic change in Washington. https://t.co/rjMNsSf5oX— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 29, 2023
But its passage was far from certain, with more than 30 Republicans in the GOP’s narrow majority signaling their opposition as of Tuesday.
BREAKING REPORT: 31 Republicans have now signaled they are VOTING NO on Kevin McCarthy’s flawed Spending Bill…
KEEP FIGHTING.. 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/ZhqDmm4nji
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) May 31, 2023
Without a debt-ceiling hike, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government will run out of money by next Monday.
That would force it to limit discretionary spending, although Democrats claim it would result in a default on U.S. debt obligations and potentially impact crucial welfare programs such as social security.
While several other GOP presidential candidates have weighed in, it remained unclear whether former President Donald Trump, who notably backed McCarthy’s speakership, supported the deal.
However, several of Trump’s most loyal allies, such as former Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini, activist Laura Loomer and former Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon, were among the first to call for a motion to vacate against McCarthy after the debt deal was announced over the weekend.
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.
Headline USA’s Ezekiel Loseke contributed to this report.
