McCarthy has no easy way to dodge extreme Republicans’ impeachment fixation

President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both presented their agendas to voters on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, the president turned the focus mostly to protecting abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v Wade; the man who would be speaker, meanwhile, is trying to keep the midterms focused on the economy.

Speaking at a Democratic National Committee event, the president pledged to veto any abortion ban that a prospective Republican Congress passes, but added that Congress must pass legislation to codify the protections in Roe and another crucial now-overturned decision, Planned Parenthood v Casey.

Mr Biden likely hopes to keep the momentum going within his party even as some polling shows that abortion rights do not carry the same salience with voters as they did even a month ago. Nevertheless, the pledge’s shot of adrenaline is much-needed considering Republicans are still largely favored to win back the House of Representatives and Democrats are fighting to even hold on to their 50-plus-Kamala Harris majority in the Senate.

And if they do cling on in the upper chamber but fail to grow that majority, passing abortion protections would mean marshaling every Democrat save for Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on board to either get rid of the filibuster or create an exception to it.

Meanwhile, Mr McCarthy told friend of the newsletter Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News that should he take the gavel, Republicans will try and use the debt ceiling as leverage for what he called “structural changes” to entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.

“We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right?”, he said. “And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”

Mr McCarthy’s plan harkens back to the days of the Obama administration, where the White House squared off with John Boehner and the GOP-controlled House as the party tried to use the debt limit to demand larger cuts. Back then, Mr Boehner’s conference included a large contingent of Tea Party bomb-throwers who would later start form factions like the House Freedom Caucus – which in time would become a home for Trumpist footsoldiers like today’s Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Madison Cawthorn.

Ultimately, the Obama-Boehner standoff yielded automatic budget cuts that neither party particularly liked. That was, of course, the intent, as the painful cuts were intended to force Congress into some kind of negotiation.

But as our other friend Paul Kane over at The Washington Postobserved, Mr McCarthy’s remarks about funding for Ukraine were just as important.

“Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do and it can’t be a blank check,” he said.

Mr McCarthy’s words might surprise some in Washington – to say nothing of the US’s foreign allies and the government in Ukraine – especially considering that back in May, he actually voted for aid himself, along with 148 other Republicans. At the same time, the best way to understand Mr McCarthy’s remarks is as part of the ever-present challenge of keeping his base happy. And that base is getting increasingly bold.

This week, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said in an interview with Robert Draper of The New York Times that “I think that to be the best speaker of the House and to please the base, he’s going to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway.”

It’s pretty surprising to hear a freshman House member demand something from a would-be speaker, but  the second part of her quote puts it in context: “And if he doesn’t, they’re going to be very unhappy about it. I think that’s the best way to read that. And that’s not in any way a threat at all. I just think that’s reality.”

The fact is that unlike the Tea Partiers of yore, Ms Greene has a very active personal following among the grassroots and a megaphone to match. Back in May, she was one of the 57 who voted against Ukraine aid – and should he end up with a narrow majority, Mr McCarthy will have no choice but to keep her happy as best he can.