:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b3f8159afd0d1eddd19471de53f77b53/Chip%20Roy%20REUTERS%20TT%2001.jpg?w=1280&resize=1280,640&ssl=1 "U.S. Rep. Chip Roy Emerges As Key GOP Agitator In U.S. House Speaker Fight")
WASHINGTON โ As Republicans prepare to take control of the U.S. House on Tuesday, Rep.ย Chip Roy, R-Austin, is emerging as a central figure in the right-wing fight against business as usual within his own party.
Roy, first elected in 2018, has a history of rebuffing the status quo, saying the rules of Congress stifle democratic representation and leave power in the hands of a few party leaders. In recent weeks, however, Roy has been especially vocal about his distaste for establishment party politics, rallying his ideological peers to push for more power for rank-and-file members and perhaps foreshadowing what the next two years could look like for the lawmaker who has never served before while Republicans have been in power in the lower chamber.
Shortly after the new Congress convenes for the first time Tuesday, the House will vote on who will be the next speaker, with Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California long expected to be the next in line. But a handful of right-flank members are threatening to tank McCarthyโs bid over frustration with his leadership as minority leader in the last four years. The ultraconservative and influential House Freedom Caucus, which Roy is a part of, is also pushing for several rule changes that its members say would keep leadership more accountable to the rest of the caucus.
Roy has been vocal in his dissatisfaction with Republican leadership both in the House and Senate. He alsoย played a key role in the internal challengeย to the Republican conferenceโs nomination of McCarthy for speaker in November.
โIn the early days of the House of Representatives, individual members had the power to make a motion. If itโs seconded, you can debate it, you can have parliamentary engagement,โ Roy told reporters. โAnd today itโs a handful of self-selected power brokers who make all the calls.โ
But he hasnโt ruled out the possibility that he could still vote for McCarthy as speaker.
If McCarthyโs bid falls apart, there would be no replacement candidate with nearly as much support, meaning a prolonged selection process that would immobilize the entire Congress. Rules for the Houseโs day-to-day business would get delayed, and staffers could go without their paychecks. Committee assignments remain in flux,ย including a handful of chairmanships that Texans are gunning for. Such a delay would be historic in nature as the House has been able to easily elect its speaker on the first vote every Congress for the past 100 years.
The fallout would deal a substantial blow to public confidence in the already polarized House. But Roy and his allies say the confidence is already lost. A major driving force in their discontent in leadership is the partyโs underwhelming performance in last yearโs midterm elections, despite near-universal predictions of a knockout year. Roy said the lackluster electoral performance was a clarion call from voters fed up with a Congress unable to put into place sweeping conservative priorities on immigration, energy and competitiveness with China.
โYouโre calling for unity? How about we unify around something meaningful? Like actually having a House of Representatives and a bunch of Republicans in a conference that are united to actually stand up for the people and do what we said we would do when we came here?โ he said.
During a November internal party meeting, Roy nominated fellow right-wing member Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, to be speaker, with Rep.ย Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, seconding the nomination. The majority of the caucus still voted for McCarthy in the meeting. But Tuesdayโs vote will include the entire chamber, with Democrats certain to vote against him. If he canโt draw more of his own party members to support him, heโll be short of the 218-vote majority needed to win the gavel.
McCarthy has scrambled in the weeks since to secure the support of the remaining holdouts, meeting with Roy and other Freedom Caucus members to go over their complaints with how Congress is run. McCarthy offered rule changes over the weekend meant to address several of the conservative demands, including lowering the threshold of members needed to force a no-confidence vote of the speaker to just five members. Roy and the rest of the Freedom Caucus had been pushing to allow just one member to force a vote that could oust the speaker.
โThe debate is just some simple one: Should a member of the body be able to make a motion and then have the body execute on the motion?โ Roy said last month. โThatโs the question.โ
It was one of the biggest concessions McCarthy could give and one he was particularly slow to budge on. Lowering the threshold further would mean two years of immense leverage among his opponents within a party that already has massive philosophical divisions on major policy priorities, including government funding and continued assistance for Ukraine.
Several Texas Republicans, including ardent conservatives, say McCarthy is the only member with the support and political capital to guide the party through the next two years, when Republicans will have a minuscule three-seat majority.
โLeader McCarthy has led us to the majority and is the only one who can unify the party to hold the Biden administration accountable for its failures at home and abroad,โ Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin,ย tweeted ahead of the GOP leadership election.
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