Dems…er, Strike That, GOP In Disarray, Or Something

Photo by Kevin McCarthy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has his hands full with more than just the reconciliation package currently being debated.

From Punchbowl News:

The GOP leadership is bracing for rank-and-file lawmakers to attempt to strip committee assignments from the 13 Republican lawmakers who voted for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Several of these lawmakers are also ranking members — top Republicans on committees — and those could be at risk, too.

A number of GOP lawmakers were upset by the fact that several of their Republican colleagues voted early for the infrastructure package, helping Democrats cross the majority threshold on a key piece of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda and undermining their party strategy.

Much of the anger is directed at Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), who voted early for the legislation. Katko is the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. Katko told multiple lawmakers on the House floor that he had seen Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on television talking about the infrastructure bill, and he was voting early.

This isn’t the first controversy involving Katko this year. Katko reached an agreement with Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 commission. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy later rejected the proposal, but 35 House Republicans ended up voting for the bill.

Katko also voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection, and he supported a criminal contempt referral against former Trump aide Steve Bannon for failing to comply with a subpoena from the select committee investigating the Capitol attack.

Beyond Katko, several of the members who voted for the package hold ranking member posts on full committees or subcommittees. For instance, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the dean of the House, is the ranking member of Natural Resources. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) hold subcommittee ranking spots.

Three of the 13 are retiring — Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio).

There have been other disputes inside the House GOP Conference this Congress over how members voted. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was the GOP Conference chair, voted to impeach Trump as well. Cheney was able to fend off the first attempt to oust her by Trump loyalists, but following her continued public criticism of the former president, Cheney was forced out. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York replaced her in the leadership.

The beef here isn’t just that a chunk of the GOP voted for the infrastructure bill, which was inevitable, but how they did it was against McCarthy’s plan. The plan was to not have any GOP votes until after the Democrats had all voted, putting pressure on the progressives that wanted to lodge protests votes once the issue was no longer in doubt. Ignoring McCarthy’s instructions is not the sign of a leader in control of his caucus, and the desire to crackdown on the dissenters is even more so. The tea leaves here are not so much for the forthcoming votes on reconciliation, but McCarthy’s designs on the Speaker’s gavel when/if the GOP takes the house in the 2022 midterms. McCarthy thinks after being denied it the first time — and with the late Walter Jones no longer around to spearhead the kneecapping of his ambitions — glory is within his reach. He can almost taste it it. And he is starting to get defensive about it.

Will Kevin McCarthy get the rebellious GOP reps in line, or will cracking down come back to bite him come leadership elections next year? Stay tuned.