For a man who is seeing his political future fall apart with each passing day, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is certainly taking an abrasive tone with his GOP colleagues in the U.S. Senate.
Specifically, McCarthy is telling Senate Republicans that if they vote for the federal budget that will keep the government open, none of their bills will be brought before the House in retaliation.
On Monday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) issued the original threat to Republicans in the U.S. Senate, sending out a letter in which he urged them not to vote in favor of the federal budget bill making its way through the upper chamber.
The letter reads:
“The American People did not elect us — any of us — to continue the status quo in Washington, as this bill will undoubtedly do.
“Further, we are obligated to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those Senators who vote for this bill — including the Republican leader. We will oppose any rule, any consent request, suspension voice vote, or roll call vote of any such Senate bill, and will otherwise do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts of those senators.”
That led McCarthy to add his own two cents into the matter, retweeting Roy’s letter along with this message:
“Agreed. Except no need to whip—when I’m Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2T monstrosity is allowed to move forward over our objections and the will of the American people.”
What exactly is going on here? Is McCarthy trying to act like a tough guy in a last-ditch effort to appear resolute?
CNN’s Melanie Zanona offered an explanation.
“McCarthy has been facing pressure from his right flank to take a harder line on the spending bill and stand up to [Senate Leader Mitch] McConnell and the Senate GOP.”
The problem for McCarthy, however is that he’s operating from a position of weakness at the moment. After all, if you cannot manage to wrangle 218 votes to make you Speaker of the House, what are the chances you can get your caucus to agree on anything?
