Congressional sources say that McCarthy’s stated desire to pass a long-term government-funding bill in the lame-duck session, coupled with a focus on small-ball legislative priorities favored by business interests, suggests that Republican leaders haven’t learned the right lessons from the defeat of McCarthy’s precedessor, Eric Cantor.
As to what form that resistance might take, Ohio lawmaker Jim Jordan could emerge as a key figure in the conservative effort to pressure leadership, but the right flank’s tactics will depend on how Tuesday’s elections shake out. “Jordan will be one guy, but I think you’re already seeing other pockets of people meet up, and that will intensify after the election is over,” a House Republican speaking on the condition of anonymity tells National Review Online…
“I have great faith in Kevin McCarthy’s strategic judgment, but in my own view, we should leave long-term policy for the incoming Congress that has just been approved by the voters,” Representative Tom McClintock, who served with McCarthy in the California legislature, says.
