June 2023 was a rather black day in Kevin McCarthy' s tenure as Speaker. On that date, eleven conservative members of the House of Representatives mutinied and delayed votes on several important bills, such as the gas stove bill and the gun braces bill. More than a month later, and with the August recess very close, the Republican has already begun to pull the strings of Congress so that this episode is not repeated.
McCarthy convened on Tuesday a meeting with Republican leaders of all spectrums, with the objective of putting together a strategy for the remainder of the legislative period and to approve without complications the pending bills, such as the Pentagon policy.
One of the participants was Tim Burchett (R-TN), who was involved during the so-called "revolt" in June. "The speaker has called these meetings so we can get things hopefully worked out before it blows up on the floor, so there’s no surprises," he indicated in a dialogue with POLITICO, also clarifying that he was still "ticked off" about other issues.
According to what came out of the meeting, McCarthy used a more conciliatory and persuasive message about the need to unify the Republican Party for these last votes. Specifically, he mentioned reaching an agreement on funding before the September 30 deadline.
Another speaker was Dan Bishop (R-NC), also involved in the June episodes. He did not get the best impression of the meeting and made this known to the aforementioned media. "They’ve got the problem of figuring out how to put Humpty Dumpty back together. I’m perfectly willing to cooperate. But we’ve demonstrated we can get to yes, that’s not the problem. I think sitting around in rooms, frankly, and for people to repeat things ...probably not gonna get the job done," he said.
The spokesman again confronts the members of the House Freedom CaucusThe Committee on Appropriations has already threatened to vote against these bills unless a series of demands are met, including not voting on anything at all until the Appropriations Committee votes on the 12 measures they proposed on individual expenditures.
In the meantime, McCarthy and his allies are trying to dissuade these Republicans from attempting another mutiny and to ease into the month of August, when Congress will be out of session for the vacations.
