The speaker of the House of Representatives was dethroned by eight Republicans and all of the House Democrats, none of whom like the $550 million that he can funnel to his preferred Republican moderates. These donations influence the legislative process in favor of lobbyists and special interests, according to the former speaker’s detractors.
Republicans are at daggers drawn over alleged failed promises of the former speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and a $33 trillion national debt still rising by about $2 trillion per year under his watch.
Funding bills and debt limit increases are now short-term and passed only with extensive brinkmanship that could end in government shutdowns or federal debt defaults. The most recent funding bill, passed on Sept. 30, funded government for only another six weeks, at which point there will likely be more brinkmanship and another risk of shutdown, which according to Republicans of both the moderate and rebel types, has a silver lining. They welcome such opportunities to push the Biden administration and Democratically controlled Senate for more spending cuts.
However, those spending cuts aren’t going fast enough. The eight rebel Republicans, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) being the most prominent voice, point to opacity in the legislative process, centralization of power in the presidency and congressional leadership, lobbyist influence, and what they sometimes call the “uniparty” of moderates from both sides of the aisle.
Mr. McCarthy had outsized influence on the Republican side, not only because he was speaker but also because he was a rainmaker and could influence their votes by directing campaign donations.
This gave Mr. McCarthy the ability to centralize power in the House legislative process, which was mated through negotiation with the Biden administration and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
To maximize control of the legislative process, laws are passed in omnibus form that put everything together and make true deliberative democracy impossible. Even one of the moderate Republicans, Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), complained on Oct. 3 about the “closed door process where 2,000-page bills come out of the Speaker’s office at midnight, and are forced to the floor the next morning.”
He said Mr. McCarthy had “broken that cycle.”
The root cause of the current conflict in the House is over how hard to bargain to decrease government spending and pay down the debt. The Gaetz Eight, encouraged by former President Donald Trump, want to use the hardball tactic of shutting down government temporarily, rather than allow the debt to keep climbing. Moderate Republicans largely reject the shutdown approach. That rejection, before entering negotiations, weakens the Republican negotiating position, according to the Gaetz Eight.
Ironically, the rebels use the same kind of tactics against moderate Republicans who block them from playing hardball with the Democrats. Mr. McCarthy had to endure 15 votes before getting elected speaker, for example. It may be less painful for moderates to step out of the way and let the rebels negotiate with Democrats directly. The upcoming speaker race may reward a pro-Trump candidate, which would amount to that stepping aside. It could also lose moderate Republican donors to the Democrats.
Mr. Gaetz alleges that moderate Republicans, along with moderate Democrats, form a “uniparty.” This uniparty is backed by the money of lobbyists and special interests who, at times, fund the campaigns of both sides. These special interests use their political influence to benefit their profits, such as by allowing large amounts of cheap illegal migrant labor, avoiding tariffs on China, keeping Russian gas flowing, and maintaining high government expenditures from which they benefit as government contractors.
Neither, Mr. Good said, did Mr. McCarthy bring a balanced budget bill to the floor as promised.
“With the Democrats driving the fiscal bus off the cliff at a hundred miles an hour, we cannot simply contend to be the party that slows it down to 95 just so we can sit in the front seat and wear the captain’s hat,” he said.
The Republican Party is changing. None of the personalities on either side of the debate, which frequently stoops to ad hominem attacks, is perfect. But we can only hope for the future of our nation that they listen to one another and evolve in a manner consistent with the greater good.
