Last week, members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus weren’t content to oppose the bipartisan budget deal that resolved the Republicans’ debt ceiling crisis. They also raised the specter of punishing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for agreeing to the deal.
But we’re occasionally reminded that a lot can happen in a week. The Hill reported overnight:
A spark of initial interest in forcing a vote to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position as Speaker over the debt limit deal he negotiated with President Biden has not caught on in the House Freedom Caucus. … Multiple members leaving a Freedom Caucus meeting Monday — the first gathering of the group in Washington, D.C., since the debt limit bill passed — said there was no discussion of whether any member should make a motion to vacate the chair, which would force a vote to remove McCarthy.
It was a week ago today when Rep. Dan Bishop became the first House Republican to publicly declare his intention to try to oust McCarthy from his post. Asked specifically if he was prepared to use procedural tactics to force a vote on the speaker’s future, the North Carolina Republican told Politico, “Absolutely. It is inescapable to me. It has to be done.”
As we discussed soon after, he appeared to have some company. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado broached the subject of McCarthy’s gavel during a House Freedom Caucus conference call, and he told NBC News that he raised the possibility “as a result of a broken promise.”
Rep. Scott Perry, the contingent’s current chair, didn’t explicitly endorse moving against McCarthy, but the Pennsylvanian didn’t rule out the possibility, either.
Rep. Chip Roy didn’t call out McCarthy by name, but the Texan declared at a Capitol Hill press conference, “We will continue to fight it today, tomorrow, and no matter what happens, there’s going to be a reckoning about what just occurred.”
A week later, all of this talk has effectively evaporated. The House speaker…
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