McCarthy 'jeopardizing his speakership' by seeking 'compromise' with Biden to avert a shutdown

Former Republican United States Representative David Jolly of Florida told MSNBC on Sunday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) is "jeopardizing" his gavel by engaging in budget negotiations with President Joe Biden to avert a government shutdown on October 1st because McCarthy cannot corral "chaotic" right-wing lawmakers.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), for instance, threatened at a Saturday town hall to personally cripple the government unless House Republicans "have passed an impeachment inquiry on Biden," according to Vanity Fair's Eric Lutz.

"The ultimatum—which builds on a list of absurd demands other House Republican extremists have made ahead of the funding fight—could make the prospect of a shutdown more likely," Lutz explains. "For all their cable news innuendo, Republicans have not appeared to find any actual evidence of wrongdoing by the president, and it's not clear there's enough support in the full conference for a formal impeachment push. 'I don't think it's there at the moment,' as New York Republican Mike Lawler told reporters recently. On the other hand, McCarthy appears to be increasingly open to the idea, telling Fox News last week that impeachment seems a 'natural step forward' for House Republicans—and even using the promise of an inquiry to try to dampen opposition to his government funding plan."

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Jolly expanded upon Lutz's assessment of the House GOP under McCarthy's leadership:

So fast forward to now. What's at stake is keeping the government open. October 1 is when the fiscal year begins. We have four weeks left to reach a budget deal. Republicans are not going to agree to a deal by October 1. They want to play with fire on this one. And part of it is this movement within the Republican party that went from a less government ideology of twenty and thirty years ago to no government as the Tea Party emerged, to now, government's the enemy.

They truly want to just shut it all down.

And so Kevin McCarthy is dealing with a caucus where he can only lose five votes and you simply cannot, cannot move your entire caucus towards its compromise. And Kevin McCarthy can't do it without jeopardizing his speakership. So what President Biden has indicated is he wants a short-term deal. He does not want to take the nation's spending to the brink. But I think Republicans are willing to play chicken with this and ultimately they will affirm kind of the chaotic nature of the House caucus.

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Lutz's full report is available here.