Hump Day open thread: Are there five Republicans, tried and true?

Debt Ceiling by EricTopTen.com, CC BY 2.0

Five Republicans.

That is the number needed for a clean debt limit rise. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will put a discharge petition on the floor of the House to raise the debt ceiling cleanly, without the poison pills which the GOP put into its bill.

Now, some might say this is a farcical idea. That there are no Republicans who will side with the Democrats to do this.

(Quick reminder: Anything can be put on the House floor as long as it has 218 votes. Democrats have 213 seats. Thus they need to garner five GOP votes to raise the debt ceiling without the GOP bill.)

To those people, I would point to the final vote tally for passage: 217-215. Four Republicans voted against the bill. Two more and it's ballgame. 

Jeff Jackson, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Democratic House members, lays out Speaker Kevin McCarthy's problem quite succinctly:

We’re about six weeks from default.

One big question:

Is there any bipartisan deal that Speaker McCarthy can bring to a vote that won’t cost him his job as Speaker?

If not, we’ve got a major problem. pic.twitter.com/8aeZHTgSst

— Rep. Jeff Jackson (@JeffJacksonNC) May 1, 2023

McCarthy cares nothing for the country. He cares for his shiny gavel. He has a totemic attachment to it. It is his precious. And like with Gollum, it will lead to his political destruction. 

If Leader Jeffries can pull this off—and I believe it's 50/50—the hard right Freedom Caucus will turn on Speaker McCarthy. It will mount a putsch.

Now, Leader Jeffries can offer the Speaker a deal: Give us five Republicans, and we'll help you see off any challenge. But the Speaker is so without any moral fiber that he won't take the proffered hand. He will go down with the most odious segments of his caucus, 2024 be damned. The precious is his, and he will hold onto it.

Kevin McCarthy is Speaker only at the sufferance of any amalgamation of five of his caucus. That is no way to run a legislative body. But when you have a party which is concerned more with maintaining existing structures of power, this is what you get. 

Godspeed, Leader Jeffries. The world is holding its breath.

***

Like what you're reading? Never miss another post! Get notified via email here.

Donate at the link below to keep us going.