It was supposed to be a simple procedural vote. House Republican leadership didn’t expect any problems when it tried to bring a pair of bills to protect gas stoves to the floor Tuesday. Instead, the bills went down in flames — by a vote of 206 to 220 — and it was members of their own caucus who had torched them.
What transpired was the very petty revenge of a group of 11 far-right members who are still mad that the debt ceiling was lifted last week. In reaching a deal with President Joe Biden, they argued, Speaker Kevin McCarthy had ignored the agreement with far-right holdouts that let him obtain the speaker’s gavel in the first place. And while the bills the 11 malcontents torched were relatively minor, more obstruction could be brewing from them on the back burner.
While the bills the 11 malcontents torched were relatively minor, more obstruction could be brewing from them on the back burner.
The specific vehicle for their vengeance was a vote on a “special rule,” which allows a bill to bypass the normal House schedule and be brought up for a quick debate and vote. Usually, unless the bill is noncontroversial, the majority coughs up the needed votes while the minority votes against. That dynamic is part of what made the rule vote on the debt ceiling bill last week so unusual, requiring over 50 Democrats whose votes had been held in reserve to cast their votes at the last minute to prevent it from tanking.
Until Tuesday, there was no sign of a far-right revolt on this bill. One concession the far right won in negotiating with McCarthy, R-Calif., in January was landing more House Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee. (Republicans hold nine seats on the panel to the Democrats’ four.) Two of those members — Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — had voted against sending the debt ceiling bill to the floor when it was before the Rules Committee last week. But they backed the gas stoves bills when the rule came up for a…
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