Several members of the Freedom Caucus of the House of Representatives have vowed to prevent crucial legislation from reaching the floor for a vote in protest of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s agreement with the Biden White House last month to raise the debt ceiling.
The conservatives blocked bills from reaching the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday and vowed to continue doing so after 12 Republicans and all Democrats voted against a GOP rule to bring four bills related to gas stoves and regulatory reform to a full vote.
The vote of 220-206 is the first time since 2002 that a House rule has failed to pass, according to the New York Post.
“Today, we took down the rule because we’re frustrated at the way this place is operating,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters after 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 have been violated as a consequence of the debt limit deal,” he added.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), and Chip Roy (R-Texas) reportedly joined Gaetz.
“We warned them not to cut that deal without coming down and sit down and talk to us. So this is all about restoring a process that will fundamentally change things back to what was working,” Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Tuesday.
Roy, a member of the Rules Committee, voted on Monday to advance the measure to the House floor.
The Post reported that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) voted “no” on the rule at the last minute so he could bring it up for a future vote.
These House Republicans just BLEW UP Kevin McCarthy’s rule & humiliated him on the House floor.
Disastrous debt ceiling deals have consequences… pic.twitter.com/5j1jQ49uHi
— Citizens for Renewing America (@amrenewcitizen) June 6, 2023
Group of 11 conservative House members take rare step of joining all Democrats to block a pair of GOP bills to protect gas stoves to express their anger over the debt deal cut by Speaker McCarthy and President Biden. https://t.co/ASp9GgAU6L
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 6, 2023
The Post added:
Two of the stalled measures would restrict the federal government’s ability to regulate or prohibit gas stoves. A third proposal seeks to authorize federal courts that review agency actions to determine all pertinent legal questions without deferring to the agency’s prior legal determinations. And the fourth measure would require congressional approval for major agency actions.
Two days before the government was expected to run out of money to pay its obligations, Biden on Saturday signed legislation raising the national debt ceiling by another $4 trillion.
The signing of the measure capped weeks of high-stakes drama on Capitol Hill, where McCarthy and White House negotiators fought furiously to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and cut spending while satisfying members of both parties.
McCarthy’s tenure as Speaker may be in jeopardy, however.
Rep. Kin Buck told CNN’s Jim Sciutto last week, “I think he should be concerned” about a motion to vacate the chair.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
“I’m not suggesting the votes are there to remove the speaker, but the speaker promised that we would operate at 2022 appropriations levels when he got the support to be the speaker. He’s now changed that to 2023 levels plus one percent,” Buck added, according to The Daily Caller. CONTINUE READING…
