This seems too cute by half from Politico: “It’s the three-page document everyone in Washington is talking about—except it may not even exist.” It’s a “mirage of a backroom-deal doc,” the headline says. Is it a three-page document? Is it an addendum to the House Rules package passed this week? Is it official? It doesn’t have to be any of those things, and if you focus on one three-page document, you’re missing the point. There were lots of concessions granted by Kevin McCarthy to the Freedom Caucus in return for them letting him “win” on the 15th vote for speaker.
And some of those agreements are on paper. At least according to a number of Republicans who’ve told reporters they’ve seen them and haven’t recanted. More to the point, Freedom Caucus types are getting plum assignments and have been spilling the beans about what else they got.
But there’s also paper. National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson (R-NC) told Axios he’s seen it, and that it doesn’t contain promises of committee chairmanships to specific members: “No names, just representation [on panels].” So the only promise is committee seats to unspecified whackjobs, just not which ones specifically.
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There’s also that CNN report of a “document flying around K Street listing out all the alleged McCarthy concessions.” The GOP Whip Tom Emmer (MI) implicitly confirmed its existence by telling CNN it’s not entirely accurate. Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) told Axios, “I’m sure it exists, because I read about it from you guys [in the press] all the time. It has to be out there.”
He might have been trying for sarcastic, but Axios says Cole also suggested it hasn’t been provided to all GOP members. Someone who echoes that is Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA). “I don’t know if everybody has [received a copy],” said Calvert, and he told Axios that he personally was reviewing it.
“It” might not exist, if by “it” we’re specifically saying “a three-page addendum,” but there is definitely paper out there documenting McCarthy’s capitulations. It’s not the “mirage” the Politico headline suggests. McCarthy and “allies insist that no back-room promises were made to land his gavel after 15 frenetic ballots, that no plum committee spots, precise spending cuts, or debt limit strategy were guaranteed in a quid pro quo,” Politico says. They quote Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), who says, “There’s all these people talking about a document that doesn’t exist.”
And there are the plum committee assignments that were handed out Wednesday, six of them to various members of the Freedom Caucus who were among the holdouts during the first 14 votes: Rep. Byron Donalds (FL) is now on the House Financial Services Committee along with freshman Andy Ogles (TN); Reps. Michael Cloud (R-TX), and Andrew Clyde (GA) got coveted Appropriations seats; Rep. Andy Harris (MD) netted an appropriations subcommittee gavel, making him one of the “cardinals,” the 12 who hold the purse strings for every federal agency.
Oh, and Donalds is also now on the influential Republican Steering Committee, he told Fox News, “as Speaker McCarthy’s designee.”
McCarthy also promised to put what might be the worst tax bill ever on the House floor this session, something Republican leaders have refused to do for over 20 years. Because it’s a really stupid idea. “That was part of the negotiation. The 20 conservatives who were holding out, one of the things that they wanted was to see it come to the floor for a vote,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) said.
Everyone knows the deals were made because the people who were on the receiving end are crowing about it. Pretending otherwise is par for the course with the GOP leadership.
Happy New Year! Daily Kos’ Joan McCarter is on the show today to talk about the wild garbage fire that was the Republican speaker of the House vote. Kerry and Markos also break down what this onionskin-thin conservative majority can and cannot do in the coming year, as well as what the Democratic representatives can do to make Kevin McCarthy’s life just that much tougher.
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