This entire week the Republicans in the House of Representatives have been squabbling over who will be the Speaker of the House. Twenty members of the House Republican Caucus have refused to support House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy even though 90% of their own caucus have supported McCarthy. In an attempt to end this Republican Party feud McCarthy has negotiated a deal with holdouts led by Congressman Chip Roy. Congressman Robert Aderholt has expressed some misgivings about the Roy-McCarthy deal.
Aderholt is the Ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee and is expected to Chair the powerful House Committee – when the House gets through feuding and picks a Speaker. Aderholt said that the deal between McCarthy and Chip Roy is for fiscal 2024 appropriations to be at FY-22 levels.
“I think for those of us who believe in a strong defense, there’s some concerns there,” Aderholt said.
Congress increased federal spending in FY2023 which the 117th Congress passed as an omnibus appropriations bill before Christmas. Rolling federal spending back to 2022 levels in FY2024 – which begins October 1 would mean massive cuts to defense and other programs and would effectively reduce the size of government to below what it was in 2022 due to inflation, and pay raises to federal employees and service members. Democrats control the Senate and the Presidency making keeping such a promise highly dubious. Defense spending is up due in part to replacing all of the material that the U.S. has transferred to Ukraine for them to fight off Russian invaders. U.S. military readiness is a concern until our stockpiles return to pre-Ukraine War levels, and there is no certainty that the Ukraine War will end in the next nine months. Our commitment to Ukraine could continue well into the next fiscal year.
Aderholt has been a staunch supporter of McCarthy.
“He’s earned it,” Aderholt said in a statement. “No one has worked harder to take back the House than Kevin McCarthy.”
All six of Alabama’s Republican Congressmen have been staunch McCarthy loyalists throughout this episode.
McCarthy’s deal picked up votes from 13 GOP holdouts on a historic 12th ballot for Speaker of the House on Friday. One GOP legislator who had been voting “present” also voted for McCarthy. It still was not enough to reach the 218 votes needed to end this drama.
The House voted on the open Speaker’s position multiple times on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Roy and McCarthy negotiated the deal before the House met on Friday for its 12th vote. McCarthy lost on the 13th vote as well on Friday. The negotiations are continuing between McCarthy and the remaining Republican holdouts.
The body is set to return at 10:00 pm for a historic 14th ballot. This is the first time a Speaker has failed to win election on the first ballot since 1923.
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