After 15 rounds of voting over four days, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy is House speaker—but at what cost?
In order to win over the 20 or so hard-right Republicans who opposed his bid—most of whom are members of the House Freedom Caucus—McCarthy agreed to several concessions that will limit his power as speaker. Among them is a new rules package that would empower the far-right faction of the Republican Party, and the House is voting on it tonight. Passage of the package, which establishes the rules that Congress will govern by for the next two years, is usually a routine procedural matter that doesn’t get much attention. But this time, it includes provisions that might dramatically change how the House works—like lowering the threshold of lawmakers needed to oust the speaker and increasing the amount of time lawmakers get to review a bill before it’s brought to the floor.
