A veteran U.S. political analyst said on Jan. 6 that the emerging consensus coming out of the fight that started as a disorganized rebellion over the speakership of the United States House of Representatives will be a win for the American people in reforming the way Congress does business.
But another expert cautioned that while some of the rebels opposing Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House Speaker are motivated by reform, others are motivated by self-interest.
As of press time, the House has adjourned until 10 p.m. ET as McCarthy continues negotiations with the remaining GOP holdouts. Earlier in session on Friday, McCarthy managed to flip 14 votes and says he’s confident he'll soon have enough votes for the speaker’s gavel.
“At first I thought it was ‘Rebels Without a Cause’ … but the deal is a good one,” political analyst and pollster Dick Morris told The Epoch Times about the GOP negotiations to select a leader in the House, referring to the iconic 1955 film starring James Dean about disaffected American youth.
As an example of reform, Morris said that the dissident faction asked for and has apparently received concessions from McCarthy that would divide the budget into 12 different components for separate votes.
There would also be separate bills for earmarks, a typical repository for wasteful pork barrel spending.
Morris said that this would prevent the unseemly passage of 4,000-page budget legislation that is voted on by legislators who don’t get a chance to read it before a yes or no vote.
Under a McCarthy speakership, voting on bills such as the recently-passed $1.7 trillion bill before knowing what’s in them would not be allowed.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, Ga.), a McCarthy supporter, confirmed that the 12 appropriation bills would be moved separately, a change she described as “fantastic.”
“These are all big wins for conservatives and great news” for America, Greene told The Epoch Times in an interview after the House adjourned on Friday.
While McCarthy and his supporters believe the Californian will secure the speakership on Friday night, Morris himself was less certain.
“I’m not sure how this will all end,” he said.
“But what’s clear is that McCarthy has the negotiating skills to be Speaker” and to put his ego aside to get what he needs for the country, Morris added.
Rebels With a Cause for Concern?
The label “rebels without a cause” used to describe the holdouts against a McCarthy speakership is partially fair and partially unfair, said a conservative advocate who is especially interested in congressional reform.“Some of the dissidents are opportunists and/or grudge-holders who are clearly acting selfishly and not in the interests of the party,” Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative watchdog, told The Epoch Times in an email analyzing the speaker fight.
“But others have principled opposition to the way the House has been run for many years, where Republicans always seem to lose, even when they are in the majority. And it is sometimes hard to figure out who is in what camp,” said Flaherty.
Added to that is a mix of grudges and personal issues that are always under the surface in politics.
For example, a prominent target of the rebels is the Congressional Ethics Office (CEO), which might have one or two of the people opposing a McCarthy speakership in their sights for investigation, said the NLPC chief.
“I think in that room of 20 [rebels], there’s a couple of ethics problems that don’t want the CEO looking into them,” said Flaherty, adding that ultimately it would be a hard sell to Americans to label getting rid of the CEO as congressional reform.
Greene emphasized that the plan under McCarthy from “day one” was to reform the way Congress does business, even before the so-called rebellion.
“So [this is] what we’ve been working on for months and months and months, which is exactly why I’m supporting Kevin McCarthy and the fact that he’s going to let us do all the investigations that we can do,” she said.
‘Democracy Messy’
However, in the final analysis, over-the-top rhetoric will not serve the party well, Flaherty believes, regardless of who wins the speakership.Democracy is necessarily messy, and internal party politics can be even messier—with internal conflicts like those seen in the Speaker race always the most brutal, he said.
“If the Republicans wish to be an effective majority, they will have to get past all the hard feelings being created now,” Flaherty cautioned.
Yet, despite the representation by the establishment media of a GOP in chaos over the internal bickering, Flaherty said that the only thing different today is that the bickering is public and not done in some backroom.
“As riveting as present events are, House GOP leadership elections have a history of intrigue and drama,” he said.
In 1997, Republican congressman John Boehner, who would later become speaker himself, famously plotted a coup to depose then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, with Bill Paxton as their replacement, said Flaherty.
Then-Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) balked at the plan and tipped off Gingrich, who was able to quash it, according to Flaherty.
So the intrigue today is not without precedent.
Greene laid out a laundry list of items for a McCarthy speakership to take action on, which she said would already be occurring, but for the rebellion.
That list includes: repealing the 87,000-agent IRS army that President Joe Biden and the Democrats recently okayed under the stimulus plan last year; closing the U.S. border to illegal immigration; clamping down on China; and auditing funds that went to Ukraine, amongst others, said Greene.
“These are all things that conservatives all over America are going to love. This is why Jim Jordan is supporting [McCarthy]. This is why I’ve been supporting him and I’m so excited that my friends and colleagues in the Freedom Caucus are coming around and I think you’re going to see it happen hopefully tonight,” the congresswoman added.
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