Native Californian and Democrat John Burrows is running to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California’s 20th District. The challenger Burrows sees an increasingly vulnerable target in McCarthy, who appears to struggle for respect from either side of the aisle in the House Chamber.
When the move to censure fellow California Representative Adam Schiff was successful on its second attempt, McCarthy banged his gavel repeatedly to summon order to the House — to little avail. The Speaker was unable to rein in irate Democrats, who chanted “Shame, shame, shame” in response to the vote.
“The House will be in order,” McCarthy said repeatedly, in what turned out to be more of a timid hope than a heeded command.
Holy Cow. Kevin McCarthy has completely lost control of the House Floor after the Schiff censure vote. This is proof positive that he never had control in the first place. What a joke. pic.twitter.com/t7UkzEXbbB
— John Burrows (@JohnBurrowsCA) June 21, 2023
“Holy Cow,” Burrows wrote. “Kevin McCarthy has completely lost control of the House Floor after the Schiff censure vote. This is proof positive that he never had control in the first place. What a joke.”
If Burrows’s charge is true — that McCarthy never had control in the first place — there is background to support the assertion.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy squeaked into the Speaker’s role after 15 votes and more objections from the House Freedom Caucus than there are sands in the hourglass. McCarthy took control narrowly, in other words, and precariously.
Part of his deal to secure the votes he needed included a vow to ensure the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus “has proportional representation on committees compared to other ideological groups in the Republican Conference.”
Another extraordinary measure McCarthy agreed to was a procedural change that guaranteed his own tightrope-walking tenure — restoring a rule allowing even just a single member of Congress to force a vote to recall the Speaker at any time.
As Burrows implies, House Republicans didn’t so much give McCarthy the Speaker position as lend it to him, with a high interest rate and a stark return policy.
