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House GOP Whip Tom Emmer admitted he was caught off guard Tuesday when 11 conservatives thwarted a typically mundane procedural vote to stop the Biden administration regulating gas stoves – in their latest uprising against leadership.
‘That was spontaneous,’ Emmer, R-Minn., told DailyMail.com of the group of rebels’ latest scheme to express their anger over Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The kitchen appliance once again found itself caught in the middle American politics when members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus decided to torch Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s plans to move forward with four bills to prevent the Biden administration from regulating gas stoves.
Eleven of them voted ‘no’ on the rule, making for the first time a procedural vote had failed this way in two decades. The group of rebels would have likely voted in favor of the bills, but opted to protest instead.
‘That was spontaneous,’ House GOP Whip Tom Emmer, told DailyMail.com of the 11 ‘no’ votes on the rule to advance gas stove legislation
The procedural vote failed 206 to 220, with all Democrats opposing.
The House will vote again on the rule on Wednesday. Asked if it would pass this time around, Emmer said: ‘It’s gonna take some more discussion.’
The House was originally slated to vote on the rule Wednesday at 12:20 p.m., but that vote was delayed and it’s now unclear when it will be brought back up before the full House.
‘McCarthy lied, the rule died,’ Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., wrote on Twitter after Tuesday’s vote.
‘House Leadership couldn’t Hold the Line,’ Gaetz tweeted Wednesday ahead of the second rule vote. ‘Now we Hold the Floor.’
Members of the Freedom Caucus, together with conservative ally Matt Gaetz, aired grievances with Republican leadership — specifically the claim that Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., had been retaliated against for voting ‘no’ on the Biden-McCarthy debt limit deal.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise denied that he’d held Clyde’s bill hostage because of his opposition to the debt limit deal.
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‘The problem’s been with the vote count,’ Scalise insisted. ‘There are some members that aren’t there yet, and we’re working on getting those members there.’
Emmer, a long-time hockey coach with a knack for sports analogies, said he wasn’t aware of any sort of threat if there was one, and he’d long predicted growing pains within the new Republican majority.
‘This team was extremely successful and has been for the first five months doing things that people never thought possible, he said. ‘But I said for the last five months … do not expect us to be successful always. There will be a day where we run into adversity there will be a day where we have a disagreement. That’s what teams do. We’re going through that period right now.’
‘We’ll come out the other end be even stronger than we were coming in.’
Tuesday’s dissent made for dramatic scenes on the House floor, with Emmer and Scalise huddled in the back with conservative opposers trying to convince them to change their vote.
10 members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) and their conservative ally Matt Gaetz voted no on advancing gas stove bills on Tuesday to air their grievances over the debt deal
After the floor protest, Clyde tweeted that he’d gotten a commitment from leadership that his bill rescinding a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms(ATF) rule on pistol braces would get a floor vote next Tuesday.
Still, the rabble rousers said they believe McCarthy has violated ‘fundamental commitments’ that ultimately gave McCarthy the gavel during the 15-ballot speaker’s race.
Such an agreement was never formally written down – so there’s no way of knowing whether leadership is going back on any agreement they made with conservatives.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., complained that leadership did not allow the debt ceiling deal to come to the floor under open rule – meaning rank-and-file members were not allowed to put amendments up for a vote. Some members said McCarthy promised them he would bring forth all legislation under open rule.
Others were upset that more Democrats had voted for the final package than Republicans, 171 versus 149. McCarthy however touted that two thirds of the Republican conference backed the bill.
The gas stove opposers had already balked at the debt deal, which suspended the debt limit until January 2025 in exchange for budget cuts, for not being conservative enough.
‘I think the speaker has honored the agreements he has made,’ said Emmer. ‘I can’t speak for members, that is their perception. That is their reality.’
Some in the Freedom Caucus have already floated the idea of bringing forth a motion to vacate – where one member can call a vote where only a simple majority can oust McCarthy from the speakership.
Emmer shot down the possibility of such a play.
‘I don’t think that’s even in the realm of reasonability,’ he said. ‘I know that’s interesting for everybody to speculate.’
‘McCarthy has the support. We’re going to work through whatever the disagreement is right now. And we’ll come out the other side an even better team than we were when we went into this.’
The group of lawmakers said they would oppose all legislation until they got an agreement in writing from McCarthy promising to go back to the January agreement.
Opposition within the narrow majority could be especially problematic given the upcoming priorities of the House – leadership wants to pass 12 appropriations bills to lay out spending, they need to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), pass a new five-year farm bill and reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
‘I’m going to try to work with them as much as I can,’ Emmer said of the 11 Republican members if they continue to stand in the way of GOP priorities.
The whip said ’emotions have been riding high’ as the House has pushed through party-line bills in rapid fire succession that have gone to die in the Senate.
‘You’ve got a Senate that doesn’t want to do anything. I mean, Chuck Schumer seems to stand in the way of any progress. And I think our members are feeling it because they’re not able to deliver the solutions that would help people.’
