Right-Wing Backlash To Kevin McCarthy’s Debt Ceiling Deal Begins To Materialize

Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) became House speaker partly by empowering skeptical conservatives to force a no-confidence vote if he ever betrayed them.

Last week, McCarthy betrayed them, but so far the hard-liners haven’t moved to take McCarthy’s gavel away. Instead, on Tuesday a group of 10 Republicans voted against a procedural resolution setting up a series of votes on symbolic bills about gas stoves and regulations.

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters the Republicans were “frustrated” with how the House had been operating.

“We took a stand in January to end the era of the imperial speakership,” Gaetz said. “We’re concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed Kevin McCarthy to assume the speakership had been violated as a consequence of the debt limit deal.”