Far-right House Republicans demand more control over major issues in the chamber

Amna Nawaz:

Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal to quell internal rebellion in the House Republican Conference this week, the result of a handful of hard-line members' dissatisfaction with the debt ceiling compromise.

Lisa Desjardins brings us up to speed now on what happened and what it means for the House GOP.

Lisa, good to see you.

Lisa Desjardins:

Hi.

Amna Nawaz:

So, help us understand. How has this small group of hard-liners gained enough power to control the workflow of the entire House of Representatives?

Lisa Desjardins:

This would be like me taking over the show right now when I'm not even the anchor.

But this comes down to the margins in the House of Representatives. Let's take a look at where things stand. In the House right now, 218 votes is what you need for a majority. Republicans have 222. So they have got that majority. But let's talk about these 11 members who figured out — let's see — if you — so, look at those 11 members.

Then they have the power to control the majority. There they are. And these members have a few things in common. Some are members of the House Freedom Caucus, but one thread that runs through them, Amna, when you talk about how they voted for Kevin McCarthy on those first speaker votes, most of them voted no.

And that is a significant threat here. When you look at these names, this is a group that does not have a name of its own. It's not the Freedom Caucus. But these are the names I watch when I look at the voting board, and so does Kevin McCarthy.

Amna Nawaz:

So what about the timing? Why is this group taking this stand now?

Lisa Desjardins:

This was coming out of the debt ceiling deal, as you said.

And this, they say, happened to spontaneously on the floor. Those frustrations bubbled up. They realized they did not have the votes to oust McCarthy. They did have the votes to freeze the entire House floor for a week. So that's what they did. How has House leadership responding to this?

Well, today, the House majority whip who counts the votes tried to put a good face on it, Tom Emmer.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN):

As with every team, the Republican House majority has had to learn how to work together to build that success.

And, as with every team, you win some games and you lose some every now and then too. But you always come out stronger. And that's exactly what we have done.

Lisa Desjardins:

House Democrats say they think the Republicans are in shambles.

Amna Nawaz:

This is not just about internal party politics, obviously. There are real-world implications. What do we need to understand about why this matters?

Lisa Desjardins:

This is why I think it's important we're talking about this tonight.

To get the House moving again, which happened just in the past few hours, Kevin McCarthy struck a deal with these 11 members. And I want to go through some of the elements of that deal. This is a handshake. First of all, he agreed to a vote to reverse a gun restriction. That's significant for conservatives. But, ultimately, we don't think that vote will change law because of the Biden White House.

But he also agreed to a $100 billion worth of additional spending cuts on top of that debt ceiling deal. What could that mean? Well, if Republicans do it the way they want, that would mean about 30 percent cuts for everything except for defense and veterans.

Now, this isn't just an idea right now. The House Appropriations Committee, as we speak, are moving all of their appropriations and spending bills, and they are cutting it down to that lower level, lower than the deal with President Biden.

What we think will happen is, these cuts will be passed by the House in some form, potentially, and then the Senate will pass a very different deal. And then we could have, yes, another fiscal standoff in September over government funding. This is heading to another significant fiscal cliff.

Amna Nawaz:

What does all this mean for what's ahead for Congress, outside of just the potential fiscal cliff there?

Lisa Desjardins:

We're in for a roller coaster ride.

Speaking to some of these members — I spoke to one today, Ralph Norman of South Carolina — I said: "Is this case-by-case? You have a deal for months now with the speaker?"

He said: "No, this is case-by-case. We could come back next week and say we don't like something that Speaker McCarthy is doing. And we could block another rules vote just like this."

So the House floor will be very dramatic. And it could be hard to predict. Also, Speaker McCarthy does not have, let's say, job security right now. And he has to walk a very careful line. And he's going to have very difficult decisions to make when it comes to that potential government shutdown debate that we could have at the end of — or the beginning of the fall.

Amna Nawaz:

You have also been covering, of course, how Republicans are responding to the historic indictment and today's arraignment of former President Trump.

It's not just what they're saying, but what they're doing, right? Tell us about some of the actions you have seen.

Lisa Desjardins:

This was significant today.

At the top of the list, I want to talk about Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. He has made a threat and I'm trying to find out if he's actually put this in process yet. He's about to, to block every Biden administration nominee to the Department of Justice while this trial is ongoing, it seems to be his implication.

Now, right now, there are two nominees on the Senate calendar. One is a U.S. attorney, the chief prosecutor for a district in Mississippi. The other is a woman who's nominated to head the office that oversees basically domestic violence, Violence Against Women Act. Both of those nominations could be in complete limbo, as could any other prosecutors that the president wants to nominate.

That's just one thing. In addition to that, we know that some House Republicans want to vote to defund the special prosecutor, make sure he can't actually go ahead with his prosecution. That's unlikely to pass through Congress. But they are taking moves to censure people who've been involved in past investigations, like Adam Schiff.

There could be a House vote against him, even though he's not involved in this. Essentially, Amna,they have few powers to really stop this prosecution. But members of Congress, fired-up Republicans are just throwing a lot of any weapon they can at the board right now. And we have to watch it carefully.

Amna Nawaz:

And they're all rallying behind former President Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

Lisa Desjardins:

Those ones are, yes.

Amna Nawaz:

They are.

Lisa Desjardins, covering it all, thank you so much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.