Steve Scalise says Kevin McCarthy needs to fix tensions that pushed conservatives to block votes

• In a notable non-defense of McCarthy, Scalise said l ‘I don’t know’ when asked if the speaker had broken promises to Freedom Caucus members
• ‘[McCarthy’s] got to resolve those issues with those members who have those feelings’

House Republicans have resorted to in-fighting after an 11-member right-wing faction of their party ground floor business to a halt this week over dissatisfactions with leadership. 

It was a light week on Capitol Hill this week all-around: the House canceled remaining votes for the week on Wednesday, after a rules vote failed Tuesday to advance gas stove legislation. In the upper chamber, senators gaveled out for the weekend on Thursday after only two days in session. 

And in a notable non-defense of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Punchbowl News ‘I don’t know’ when asked if the speaker had broken promises to Freedom Caucus members that he made during the speaker’s race. 

‘I don’t know what the promises were. I wasn’t part of that. … So I still don’t know what those agreements were. Whatever they are, [conservatives] feel that the agreements were broken. That’s got to get resolved. Hopefully it does.’ 

The majority leader was admitting he had not been a part of the negotiations that got McCarthy the gavel in January – just as he was essentially frozen out of negotiations over the debt limit. 

Instead of Scalise, fellow Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a longtime friend of McCarthy, and Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., took the lead on negotiating with the White House. 

‘[McCarthy’s] got to resolve those issues with those members who have those feelings. You know, I’m working on getting the pistol-brace bill passed, and we’re bringing it next week,’ Scalise said, noting their was ‘a lot of anger on a lot of sides of our conference.’

Scalise’s comments came after the speaker laid blame on him for the surprise rule vote drama, where 11 GOP members voted ‘no’ as a sign of protest against McCarthy and his negotiated debt deal – which they said violated ‘fundamental commitments’ he had made during the 15-ballot speaker’s race. 

The legislation banning President Biden from regulation gas stoves is widely popular within the GOP conference and was expected to sail through the House before dying in the Senate. 

Now, they’ve threatened to hold up all legislation until they get it in writing that McCarthy will return to the commitments he made to them, but McCarthy’s allies say they still aren’t exactly sure what the 11 members want. 

Rep. Scott Perry, who is not part of the 11 but chairs the Freedom Caucus, brushed off concerns about not passing any legislation this week. 

 ‘When we pass things around here that are messaging bills that don’t do anything, is it really a loss that we aren’t passing anything?’ he asked reporters.

McCarthy gave his own comments about the protest Wednesday: ‘I think there’s a lot of different things. I just think sometimes it’s personalities too, everybody has different things they’re upset with. With the Clyde thing that was about Scalise, that’s what started it.’

Asked whether he was blindsided, McCarthy again pointed to Scalise: ‘We put different roles out there and the Majority Leader runs the floor. Yesterday was started on something else. It was a conversation that the majority leader had with Clyde and I think it was a miscalculation — or misinterpretation of what one said to another.’ 

It all started with a blow-up over a claim from Rep. Andrew Clyde that he’d been threatened with retaliation for his ‘no’ vote on the debt limit deal.  

The hard-right lawmakers, mostly from the House Freedom Caucus, specifically accused leadership of threatening to hold up the pistol brace bill led by Clyde.

Clyde’s resolution to repeal a regulation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) will get a vote next week, but the Freedom Caucus defectors are not satisfied.

Scalise, meanwhile, denied making any threats and said instead Tuesday he had only informed Clyde he was having difficulty getting the votes together for that bill. He blamed ‘broken promises’ for the Freedom Caucus blockade.

‘Clearly there was some anger expressed about the debt ceiling deal and even some perceived broken promises going back to the speakers race in January…. Other things came up too.’ 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who with Scalise huddled with the ‘no’ voters on the back of the House floor on Tuesday, said he was surprised by their move and it had been ‘spontaneous.’ 

He told DailyMail.com he wasn’t involved in any threats that could have been made.  

Boebert complained that leadership did not allow the debt ceiling deal to come to the floor under open rule – meaning rank-and-file members were not allowed to put amendments up for a vote. Some members said McCarthy promised them he would bring forth all legislation under open rule. 

Others were upset that more Democrats had voted for the final package than Republicans, 171 versus 149. McCarthy however touted that two thirds of the Republican conference backed the bill. 

‘McCarthy lied, the rule died,’ Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., wrote on Twitter after Tuesday’s vote.  

‘House Leadership couldn’t Hold the Line,’ Gaetz tweeted Wednesday ahead of the second rule vote. ‘Now we Hold the Floor.’