Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, facing a possible vote to vacate from the hardline House Freedom Caucus wing of his party, may get some help from an unexpected source: members of the Democratic Party.
However, any help from the Democrats would come with significant conditions to receive their support. During a podcast with a US outlet, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) listed disaster relief, further funding for Ukraine and ending “this sham of an impeachment inquiry [against US President Joe Biden].”
McCarthy is not expected to fulfill those demands, especially the demand to end the impeachment inquiry. Ending that would not only infuriate larger parts of his caucus, it would also anger Republican voters who overwhelmingly support the inquiry and former President and current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, several Democrats have stated they would be happy to see McCarthy go.
“I mean, if that vote comes up, I’ll vote to vacate,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said last week.
But others see it as an opportunity to limit the influence of the House Freedom Caucus. “A small number of Freedom Caucus members have been able to do a ton of damage,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said. “I think that a significant number of progressive members hopefully can stop a bunch of that damage.”
It was also reported in US media earlier this week that “small groups” of centrist Democrats were meeting with McCarthy’s allies in the GOP to pass the spending bill that has dominated US politics for months. McCarthy’s position as speaker was reportedly brought up during those talks, though they were not the focus.
The US government faces a shutdown on September 30 if a compromise spending bill cannot be passed by then. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of Republicans whose total membership is unknown, along with a selection of libertarian-minded Republicans, have been holding up the bill over spending issues, particularly more funding for Ukraine.