House Republicans are trying to resolve strife within the conference after 12 Republicans voted down a rule on a bill to block a ban on gas stoves from the Biden administration.
The vote was not expected to be a contentious one, with House Republican leaders talking it up on Tuesday morning as a sure thing, but a surprise revolt from the right flank in retaliation to how Republican leadership handled the debt ceiling negotiations led to a rule failing for the first time since 2002.
THE FIGHTS THAT LAY AHEAD IN CONGRESS WITH DEBT CEILING IN REARVIEW
Members of the House Freedom Caucus met with leadership in Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) office for just over an hour on Tuesday evening following the vote.
“We're trying to resolve internal tension within House Republicans,” Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), one of the negotiators of the debt ceiling deal, told reporters as he left the meeting. “From time to time, you have to have an airing within your family, and I think that was part of what happened today.”
Leaving the meeting, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) said that not everything is resolved yet, and they’re still working on resolving the issues at hand.
Leaders have two legislative days to bring the rule back up for a vote. They have to bring it up for a motion to reconsider, which has to pass, then the rule has to be voted on and passed.
Some of the tensions come from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) claiming leadership told him if he didn’t vote for the rule on the debt ceiling bill, then it would be very difficult to bring his pistol stabilizing brace bill to the House floor. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) did not directly answer multiple questions about whether this occurred but said there was a conversation with Clyde about how the bill might have trouble passing because some Republican members opposed it.
Clyde met with Scalise on Tuesday afternoon following the failed rule vote. As he left the meeting, Scalise told reporters he wants to bring Clyde’s bill to the floor next week.
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But Clyde was not one of the members who voted no on the rule on Tuesday, and the members who did oppose the rule have other issues with leadership besides just how Clyde was treated.
“This is all about trying to achieve the objective the American people want us to achieve,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said. “And that’s to restrain spending and not let the swamp do what the swamp does.”