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McCarthy so desperate to hold the gavel, he would surely become speaker in name only [1]
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Date: 2022-09-28
Although many analysts have predicted that any House GOP takeover would ultimately result in a Speaker Jim Jordan, the Freedom Caucus crazies have realized it would probably be easier to just run all over a speaker in name only.
Politico reports that, for now, no caucus member is planning an insurgent bid to crush McCarthy's dreams. Instead, they are demanding that House Republicans vote through some rules changes before anyone casts a vote for the speakership.
"We’re really focused on the rules package right now," Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry (who conspired to overturn 2020) told Politico. "And likely anybody that we would support for anybody in any position in leadership, we’re going to want to discuss that in-depth and in a meaningful way.”
The caucus has made the rules changes key to its support precisely because those changes would give them veto power over the speaker at any time.
"The key tenet of any Freedom Caucus-approved House rulebook is restoring the motion to vacate the chair — the very procedural maneuver used to oust one of McCarthy’s predecessors," writes Politico.
Such a provision would allow any member of the House to file a resolution seeking the removal of the speaker. In 2015, former Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a Freedom Caucus influencer, filed such a resolution seeking to oust then-Speaker John Boehner. Though a vote never commenced, Boehner resigned his post amid to the controversy, clearing the way for a new leader. Ultimately, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin beat out McCarthy for the position.
Now the Freedom Caucus appears to make restoration of the procedural move a precondition of their support for any speaker so they can continually hold the sword of Damocles over whoever takes the gavel.
Current House GOP leadership has tried to downplay the rules debate as par for the course.
“You see this every two years. There is always a robust discussion about what the rules should be," Minority Whip Steve Scalise said last week. "We can’t put the cart before the horse — we have to win a majority to have that ability to have that discussion."
But Freedom Caucus member Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado suggested that failing to make the change was "definitely" a deal breaker. "That is a red line," she said, while stopping short of threatening McCarthy by name.
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