Conservative Rebels Have an Agonizing Choice on the Debt Ceiling

It’s easy to promise to fix Congress. It’s a lot harder to do so. I’ve seen it firsthand.

Like many a speaker of the House before him, Kevin McCarthy is stuck between promising certain policy outcomes on the one hand and promising a fair and open process on the other.

Some of the most conservative members of the Republican conference demanded, reportedly in exchange for their votes for speaker, that McCarthy do two things simultaneously: Cut spending dramatically while opening up the political process to allow for a return to what’s known in Congress as “regular order,” where rank-and-file members — not just leadership — have a say in crafting legislation. But McCarthy will struggle to satisfy both aims, particularly when it comes to raising the debt ceiling.

The frustration among all members of the House about a broken process — where huge omnibus spending bills are negotiated behind closed doors and then voted on in the middle of the night — is totally understandable. It has also been a complaint from just about every backbencher in congressional history.