Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy likes to compare himself to American baseball legend Babe Ruth. In a speech at the New York Stock Exchange last month, he quoted the sports hero: “You just can’t beat the guy who never gives up.”
McCarthy, 58, made history in January when he was elected Speaker after 15 rounds of voting during a week of wrangling with Republican colleagues.
Many thought he wouldn’t last more than a few weeks. Nearly six months later, however, the Bakersfield, Calif., congressman surprised his skeptics by not only sticking to the speaker’s gavel but uniting an often-squabbling Republican conference.
Earlier this week, House Republicans held a bizarre pro-auction for McCarthy’s used cherry lip balm, with controversial Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Green winning the bid for $100,000.
“Kevin McCarthy did a great job,” said Carlos Corbello, a former Republican congressman from Florida. “He entered the fight as a big loser, barely getting elected speaker. He managed to keep his conference not only united, but fairly low-key.”
He now faces his toughest challenge yet as he seeks to strike a deal with President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling — and get any deal through Congress before the looming June 1 deadline without pissing him off right wing of the party.
If he fails, McCarthy could go down in history as speaker for wreaking economic havoc by pushing the government into its first-ever default.
“[McCarthy]couldn’t beat expectations. But that’s because they were too low,” said Doug Heye, a former assistant to Eric Cantor, who was the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives during the last massive debt ceiling standoff in 2011.
“The (Republican) conference at this point is unified behind him, or as unified as possible,” Heye added. “He’s in a situation where we can get a deal done and he deserves a lot of credit if that happens.”
Last month, McCarthy brokered a deal among House Republicans to pass the Limit, Savings, Growth Act, a legislative victory that would raise the debt ceiling into next year and slash federal debt. Spending, and overturning many bill policies signed by Biden.
The bill was dead by the time it reached the Democratic-controlled Senate. But it was the catalyst for tense negotiations with the White House that have drained Washington and left financial markets on pins and needles about whether the two sides can reach a deal and avoid a default.
“Democrats never thought (McCarthy) would pass a bill . . . I never thought he would pass a bill,” said Meeker, a former Republican congressman and former chief of staff to President Donald Trump. Mulvaney said. “But the fact that he was able to do that completely changed the dynamic and I think caught the White House off guard.”
The speaker is now walking a political tightrope as he tries to strike a deal with Biden without alienating too many members of his own party. Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing Republicans, have repeatedly said they would not support any compromise, and Congressman Chip Roy of Texas on Wednesday encouraged fellow Republicans to “stay the course” against Biden and Democrats. party.
At the same time, many Democrats also called on Biden to withdraw from the negotiating table and called on the president to invoke the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution to unilaterally ignore the debt ceiling.
Before entering the Senate, any deal on the debt ceiling needs to be approved by a majority in the House, which Republicans narrowly control. Some congressional aides are already skeptical that a bill will pass both houses of Congress by the end of the month, reigniting the possibility of a short-term extension to the deadline.
Even if a deal wins bipartisan support, McCarthy can’t irritate too many members of his conference — in large part because he allowed rule changes in exchange for being elected speaker in January, meaning any Any member of the House of Representatives can file a motion to “relinquish the chairman,” or a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
The far-right House Republicans have made no secret of their willingness to weaponize the change. Matt Gates, a Republican congressman from Florida, told the news website Semafor on Tuesday: “I believe the one-man motion has given us the best version of Speaker McCarthy, and I think he’s done a good job.”
While the White House continues to insist that talks with Republicans remain productive, Biden administration officials and Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly frustrated that Republicans have rejected their proposals, including a freeze on discretionary spending for next year .
“It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that House Republicans seem intent on crashing the economy and defaulting on our debts. That’s wrong. It’s going to hurt ordinary Americans and it’s time to end brinkmanship,” said House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
But McCarthy insisted he would strike a deal — and keep the speakership.
“I’m not going to give up,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “We’re not going to default. We’re going to fix this. I’m going to stick with it until we get it done.”