ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos predicted two years of chaos during Kevin McCarthy’s House speakership, but his Republican guests weren’t having it.
In his opening segment on “This Week” Sunday, Stephanopoulos said that McCarthy’s concessions to 20 conservative members who opposed his bid would put the country on edge. He extended his alarmist rhetoric to interviews with two Republican congressmen, but both lawmakers rebuked him for it.
“On the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, Kevin McCarthy clinched his decade-long quest to be speaker of the House,” Stephanopoulos said. “It came with concessions to the most extreme members of his caucus, the help of the former president he denounced on the House floor two years ago, and the prospect of two more years of brinksmanship over his hold on the office, the fiscal security of the United States and the basics functions of governing.”
McCarthy’s win means doom. @GStephanopoulos: It “came with concessions to the most extreme members of his caucus…prospect of two more years of brinksmanship over his hold on the office, the fiscal security of the United States and the basic functions of governing.” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/hcNI9Qrbjl
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 (@BrentHBaker) January 8, 2023
Specifically, Stephanopoulos seemed to take issue with three concessions McCarthy made: a proposed rule allowing a single member to make a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair, a budget that stops the debt ceiling from increasing; and placing Freedom Caucus members on key committees.
Stephanopoulos kept up the negative tone in interviews with Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) and House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). But both of the Republicans swatted him down.
First, Stephanopoulos tried to corner Perry on the idea that the United States would default on its debt without a debt limit increase and that President Joe Biden was unwilling to negotiate.
“We can’t just keep doing the same thing under the same conditions with the same management and expect different outcomes,” Perry fired back. “The American people are sick and tired of this endless debt increasing. While I’ve been in Congress, George, the debt has increased double. It’s gone from about $15 trillion to $31.5 trillion. Where is the end of it? And there’s been no mechanism in sight to rein that in. At least we have a mechanism now.”
“I don’t know why President Biden says he’s not going to negotiate,” Perry said of Biden. “Saying you’re not going to negotiate, I think, is an untenable and unacceptable position for almost every single American no matter if you’re on the left, right, or in the center.”
In an interview with Barr later in the program, Stephanopoulos claimed that the motion to vacate the Speaker, along with putting Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee, would undermine the Speaker’s authority.
Barr shot him down again.
“Well, let’s be clear, George, remember, this motion to vacate was only altered by Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi,” said Barr. “We’re just going back to the pre-Pelosi rule that was in place since 1910. I don’t think that’s an issue at all in terms of creating chaos. I think it’s what the House has had every term before Pelosi came into power.”
Barr also defended putting Freedom Caucus members on committees, saying it would strengthen both legislation and the party.
“If there are issues, if there’s a difference of opinion, you want those differences of opinion to be aired in committee on the front end, because you don’t want those difficulties when the bill comes out of committee on the House floor. Let’s have the opportunity to have an open amendment process in committee so that you forge that consensus at the beginning of the legislative process, so that the bills that are brought to House floor actually have a meaningful chance of passing.”