THE KEVIN MCCARTHY STORY
McCarthy has made alot of news lately but not the kind he’s wanted I’m sure. Having to go 15 rounds of voting just to get the Speaker’s job is not the start he was looking for. Hell, a boxing match only goes 12 rounds, with often less fighting. So how did this confused, middle-aged white man from California get to where he is.
HISTORY
Early on, McCarthy served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas from 1987 to 2002. In 1995, he was the chair of the California Young Republicans. He won his first election in 2000 as a Kern Community College District trustee. However, even Thomas has criticized McCarthy in interviews.
Elected to the California State Assembly in 2002, he became the Republican floor leader in 2003 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006. Since 2012, McCarthy has for all practical purposes run uncontested, running in heavily Republican districts.
As a freshman congressman, John Boehner seemingly took McCarthy under his wing and appointed him to the Republican Steering committee. In 2010, just 4 years after getting elected to the House, he became the House majority whip, the third-ranking House Republican, right behind Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor. From there to majority leader in 2014, minority leader in 2018, and finally Speaker in 2023.
So just where did this apparently stellar career get off track bringing him to where he is now, subservient to the likes of Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene!
Going into the mid-term elections of 2022, Republicans were expecting a red wave to wash away many of the Democrats in the House and Senate, leaving that coveted Speaker-ship in McCarthy’s sights. Republicans were so confident of this red wave that they looked right past the possibility that it may never materialize.
McCarthy’s Republican Party secured only 222 seats in the 2022 midterms, leaving him little room for error to get to 218 votes – the number needed to achieve the Speaker-ship assuming all members vote. McCarthy could only afford to lose the support of four Republicans, and the list of GOP lawmakers who said they would vote against him was longer than that.
No potential first-time House speaker has held such a small majority since Democrat John Nance Garner in 1931. All other potential first-time House speakers in the last 90 years had at least 230 seats in their majority. Speakers whose party held fewer seats than that all had the power of incumbency.
One must keep in mind that McCarthy had been close to becoming speaker once before. He was next in line for the Speakership when Republican John Boehner resigned in 2015. But the California Republican couldn’t get his caucus to rally around him enough to win a majority of House votes, and Paul Ryan went on to become speaker instead.
McCarthy couldn’t get his caucus to rally around him even though he had a lot more votes to work with back then – 245 GOP-held seats, more than any potential first-time speaker in the past 30 years. If he couldn’t get the 218 votes then under much more favorable circumstances, one has to wonder how he got to 218 now?
So just what was going on in between the 15 votes that it took to finally get the 218 needed votes? McCarthy had lost ground over the first six rounds of voting, with 19 votes against him growing to 20 and one Republican, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, flipping a pro-McCarthy vote to “present,” further hurting his cause. The results were much the same in the 7th through 11th rounds, with 21 GOP members voting against supporting him.
LET THE GROVELING BEGIN
Desperation was obviously setting in as the embarrassment grew. It was time to make whatever promises and concessions necessary to sway the caucus. And boy, as it turns out, did he start wheeling and dealing with a whole lot of ass kissing.
End result, It’ll be easier to boot the speaker. A single rank-and-file lawmaker from either party will now be able to force a vote on ousting the House speaker. Up to now, at least half of House Republicans needed to support the motion to trigger a vote. However, there are still some guidelines. When a member introduces such a resolution, the House still has the power to delay it for a short period of time or choose to refer it to a committee. If the motion to vacate does eventually make it to a floor vote, it needs only a simple majority to pass.And that was just the beginning. And that’s just the beginning.
FAR RIGHT REPUBLICANS AND HIGHLY COVETED COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Far-right Republicans holding out against McCarthy’s Speaker-ship pushed for more seats on powerful committees, which McCarthy had to agree to in for their support. The House Steering Committee, is made up of 30 Republicans and Democrats, and makes most committee assignments. The House speaker holds the most power on this committee, with four votes to nominate chairs for certain committees. While official assignments aren’t all settled yet, rumors have been circulating about a handful of significant committee posts.
HOUSE RULE CHANGES ARE ON THE WAY
McCarthy also agreed to a set of House rules for the new GOP majority that would include more seats for Republican members on the powerful House Rules Committee. The committee that governs how bills are brought to the floor. The Committee has the power to decide if and when a bill will be debated and also the allowance for amendments. It holds “the authority to do virtually anything during the course of consideration of a measure, including deeming it passed.”
COMPROMISES REQUIRED FOR DEBT CEILING TO BE RAISED
One of the major agreements McCarthy has made with the far right, and is getting the most attention due to its’ impending impact, is the raising of the debt ceiling. It doesn’t matter to Republicans that the most recent need to raise the debt ceiling is due to the residual debt left over from the previous administration. In the past the debt ceiling raise was a bipartisan vote to keep the U.S. government from defaulting on it’s financial obligations which would have worldwide impact.
To agree to any debt ceiling raise, Republicans, led by McCarthy, are demanding spending cuts, behind closed doors means Social Security and Medicare, however in open forum they tend to downplay the cut. One would think that must make for awkward conversation at the holiday dinner table seeing as most Republican House members probably have parents on both of those programs.
ROUGH ROAD AHEAD
Because of the slim majority currently held by the Republicans, McCarthy’s job is hanging in the balance. At any given time, it can take only 4 dissensions to turn his world upside down and force him into even more concessions. I will be interesting to watch how he navigates this precarious path, which with one stumble, can prove to be disastrous for both McCarthy and the Republican party. He’s off to a great start with George Santos, George Devolder, Kitara, and whatever other names pop up. GOOD LUCK MCCARTHY
