House Conservatives Halt Legislative Business as They Pressure McCarthy

While Speaker McCarthy attempts to get things back on track with the far-right Republican dissidents in the House, major legislative responsibilities loom later in the year.Although it was overshadowed by the federal indictment of President Trump last week, Mr. McCarthy faced disobedience among members of his own conference last week.Conservative House members both inside and outside the Freedom Caucus decided that they would break ranks with the rest of the House GOP until Mr. McCarthy brought a few key provisions to the floor.On Monday, Mr. McCarthy was accommodating some of these demands and bringing some conservative priorities to the Rules Committee. The first bill would override an ATF rule requiring gun owners to register firearms that are stabilized with a “brace strap” so they can be fired over the shoulder. Other bills being sent to the Rules Committee include priorities of the House’s most conservative members, like the REINS Act, which would require every major new rule proposed by federal agencies to be approved by the House and Senate before taking effect. Other proposed measures include the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, which would increase the power of the courts to overrule some federal agency decisions, and the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and the Save Our Stoves Act, both of which are designed to prevent bans on gas stoves.This assortment of bills seeks to address a core grievance from the House’s most conservative members about Mr. McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal: that House conservatives did not secure enough concessions from Democrats.According to Politico, the group of 11 Republicans holding up business in the House is also pressuring Mr. McCarthy to go back on his debt ceiling deal and push through spending bills below the levels he agreed on with President Biden and that were passed in the House and Senate debt ceiling deal.“We could be sitting here all week just twiddling our thumbs,” Representative Tim Burchett told Politico. “I just feel like we gave too much.”Some of these lawmakers, such as Representative Matt Gaetz, also have complaints about how Mr. McCarthy whipped votes for the debt ceiling bill, including allegedly threatening to pull lawmakers from their committee assignments.“I can assure you that it is a vertically integrated strategy to try to convince people that if they do not adhere to the leadership thinking on a procedural matter or even a substantive matter that they will have negative consequences for their political career,” Mr. Gaetz told Steven Bannon’s “War Room.” “The Biden negotiating team frankly played the House negotiating team and took their lunch money.”Whether the 11 dissidents decide to let the House resume business this week or continue to hold up proceedings, they have signaled that they have set their sights on a slate of future high0profile duties the House needs to fulfill this year.“Fighting another day means you look at appropriations, look at reallocations on the military budget, look at the farm bill,” Representative Ralph Norman told NPR. “There are other things that he can do that hopefully will get this country back on financial footing.” This year, the House will not only need to reauthorize the farm bill, which covers everything from farming subsidies to SNAP benefits, but also to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, and the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act.Portions of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act, which will need to be reauthorized this year, will also provide House conservatives with leverage over the House leadership, as many conservative Republicans have found common ground with some Democrats on the party’s left flank.Finally, these conservatives will be able to flex their muscle later this summer, as the House needs to pass a budget for the government for fiscal year 2024 before September 30. When it comes to government funding, House conservatives will be able to press Mr. McCarthy on their demands ahead of this deadline, though it’s not clear whether their demands for a smaller budget would be well received in the Senate, which already approved spending caps in the debt ceiling deal.

House Conservatives Halt Legislative Business as They Pressure McCarthy

House Conservatives Halt Legislative Business as They Pressure McCarthy

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