Republican unity on debt ceiling crumbling fast

Republican disarray over the debt ceiling deal has some fun twists. The Freedom Caucus is furious—but despite all the concessions won by far-right Republicans that allowed Kevin McCarthy to eke out the votes he needed to become speaker, they don’t seem to have the leverage they were expecting.

The big weapon the extremist Republicans demanded from McCarthy, and got, was the motion to vacate the chair, a rule that would allow anyone to call for a new speaker vote at any time. That was supposed to keep McCarthy in line—too afraid of being replaced in humiliating fashion to go against the Freedom Caucus and its close allies. But that weapon isn’t looking so potent now; while plenty of Republicans are angry about McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal, there aren’t any plausible candidates to replace him.

Reps. Ken Buck and Paul Gosar have floated the idea of using the motion to vacate, or at least the threat of it, and Rep. Dan Bishop said it was “absolutely” on the table. But for all the yelling and rage about the debt deal, the motion to vacate is not getting a lot of traction. “It would fail,” Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted. Rep. Andy Ogles told a reporter, “I don’t see that happening.”