Speaker Kevin McCarthy is claiming to his caucus that there is no secret deal with the far right, but all other evidence suggests that he lying.
This is what McCarthy told his caucus in a conference meeting:
But we know he has made a number of verbal promises to his critics, like adding more Freedom Caucus members to committees.
Lawmakers say they are learning of these hand shake deals from the press and from negotiators who were involved.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) January 10, 2023
Notice what McCarthy said, there is no official document or three-page addendum to the House rules. He leaves open the possibility of a written deal, but he tried to parse the deal’s location to make it sound like the reports are wrong.
Kevin McCarthy is lying to his caucus. It became apparent that there was a deal when most of the Never Kevin votes flipped on Friday. Matt Gaetz bragged that McCarthy had conceded so much in the agreement that Rep. Gaetz ran out of things to ask for in exchange for a promise to drop his no-vote.
What is bad about this deal that McCarthy won’t admit its existence to his fellow Republicans?
The odds are that McCarthy made a lot of promises that his caucus would not like. Nancy Pelosi stressed the importance of trust between a caucus and a House speaker.
McCarthy seems to be doing everything in his power to destroy trust within the House Republican caucus and make his stay as Speaker of the House brief.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
