
The new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives had barely settled in when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tossed a hand grenade into the Republican caucus bunker. She announced that the United States could default on its debt this week unless the government takes “extraordinary” steps and Congress raises the national debt limit. This urgent need for action is a serious challenge to new President Kevin McCarthy and his renegade band of institutional anarchists in the GOP-controlled House.
The big question now is whether the House Republicans are ready to fight the Democrats in the White House and the Democratic majority in the US Senate. Members of the House majority must decide whether they are skilled legislators or just agitators. Early results indicate that the caucus is not ready for prime time.
If the battle over the federal debt limit is anything like McCarthy’s battle for the presidency, the economy and the nation are in grave jeopardy. His 15-ballot fight to become Speaker set the stage for the impending fight over the debt limit. To secure the job, he made concessions to the far-right Freedom Caucus that will limit the Speaker’s power and his ability to strike a deal with Democrats to keep the federal government running. His concessions made it easy for his opponents to remove him as president, as well as install several far-right members on key committees. The prospect of a vote to remove McCarthy as president during a government shutdown crisis should keep you up at night.
House appropriations to members like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) demonstrate the newfound power of the far-right in the House Republican caucus. She received coveted appointments to two key committees, Oversight and Homeland Security, and secured the position on the latter committee despite her endorsement of outlandish and dangerous conspiracy theories. It’s worth remembering that she was stripped of her previous committee assignments when Democrats controlled the House over offensive claims, including the suggestion that the 9/11 attack was a hoax and that Jewish space lasers caused wildfires in the West. US. She was, of course, one of the many Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted to overturn the 2020 election results and voted against the removal of former President Donald Trump for his role in the Capitol insurrection on September 6. January 2021.
A federal government shutdown would add to the chaos that contributed to the lackluster Republican performance in the midterm elections that were once so promising for the party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said voters saw “too much chaos” in the GOP and that was before the contentious battle for the office of president. A government shutdown precipitated by a Republican demand for cuts that could affect Social Security and Medicare would seal the deal and firmly designate the House Republican majority as the “chaos crew” in Congress.
Every hero in a successful reelection narrative requires a villain as a foil. President Biden and the GOP House caucus fit the bill.
The battle to raise the debt limit and keep the federal government open has clear implications for the 2024 presidential race. McCarthy’s decision to hand over the car keys to the GOP chaos caucus could pave the way for the president to position himself as the adult in the room and win his re-election bid.
Democrats reversed the rising red tide in the midterms and won a clear majority of moderate voters concerned about Republican extremism. And that was before the long and torturous fight for Speaker exposed the radical nature of his caucus. The new Speaker must find a way to control the Freedom Caucus and keep the federal government running or make it easier for the president to win a second term by positioning himself as the voice of stability in difficult and turbulent times. But the prominence of the extreme right in the GOP House of Representatives will make the Speaker’s job much more difficult.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is a likely 2024 GOP presidential candidate, was one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus when he served in the House, so he must answer for the harm the caucus does to the people. by weakening rights programs. or shut down the government. His opponent for the GOP nod if he officially enters the race, Trump, is the presidential symbol of chaos and confusion.
The radical group in the House Republican majority seems set to loot and overthrow the US government, which would have a devastating impact on the economic recovery engineered by Biden. The Democratic fight to preserve these gains and the GOP campaign to reverse them would prepare the president and his party well for the 2024 campaign.
Republican extremists do not see the forest for the trees. Their holy grail seems to be shutting down the government and destroying the rights programs that Americans worked their entire lives to maintain. The Freedom Caucus could win those battles and lose the political war next year.
The Republican majority in the House will suffer the fate of former Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, who led his party to defeat in the 1964 presidential and congressional elections and asserted that “extremism in defense of liberty is not a vice.” It may not be, but it is a recipe for political disaster. Biden is likely to play on Republican extremism and run as the centrist hope for moderation in America. He may even take strong progressive positions and maintain a moderate image of him due to the rampant radical positions of his opposition. The Republican Party continues to get in his way.
brad bannon is a Democratic pollster and CEO of Bannon Communications Research. Her podcast, “Deadline DC with brad bannon”, airs on Periscope TV and the Progressive Voices Network. Follow him on Twitter @BradBannon.
