If House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy wants a promotion to speaker, the Freedom Caucus maniacs say, he's going to have to go bribe them.
"We're not just going to rearrange the deck chairs around this place and keep doing the same stuff with different people," said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a caucus board member. McCarthy, currently the majority leader, "hasn't earned my vote."
The demands of the conservatives differ widely. Some Freedom Caucus members — including even one of the most pro-McCarthy conservatives, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) — want to see one of their own installed in the ranks of Republican leadership. Others, like the group's outspoken leaders Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) or Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), want allies named to plum committees or considered for chairmanships.
A huge chunk of the group wants a speaker who will push Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) harder to take up conservative House-passed bills. And another slice, such as GOP Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.) and David Schweikert (Ariz.), are seeking legislative process changes, such as more amendments and debate, or specific conservative policy fixes.
"What I think you'll hear from everybody [in the Freedom Caucus] at this point in time is that we're not committing to anybody," said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), one of the few Freedom Caucus members who has a seat on a powerful committee, House Energy and Commerce. "I want to have that conversation with Kevin if he is going to run and see what we can do to make sure that conservatives have a voice and that we manage the House a little bit more productively."
You might remember that that was also exactly what they demanded of Paul Ryan—making the House more productive and forcing the Senate to get rid of the filibuster. Both demands are not possible, not that reality ever creeps into the thinking of the maniacs. Consider Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) who is still mad that leadership (presumably McCarthy) promised him that one of his bills would be voted on by the Senate. "Trust is a series of promises kept," Gosar said. "If you're audition [sic] for a job you might want to start keeping some promises."
Note, House leadership does not determine the Senate's legislative calendar. That's a pretty basic thing about how to do Congress that the Freedom Caucus just refuses to accept. Along with the rest of reality. Now it's apparently going to be McCarthy's problem. Unless Democrats win back the House.
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