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**DECEMBER 23, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Could Democrats Really Elect
a Moderate Republican Speaker?
It's a long shot, but not out of the question.
Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to become Speaker, is
in a real pickle. His majority in the House will be just four or five.
The far-right members of his caucus are pushing him to a point where
moderates won't vote for him. But conversely, if he fails to meet MAGA
demands, he will lose the voters of the hard right. It's hard to see
how he gets to 218 votes.
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, one of the moderates, recently said what
others have been thinking: If McCarthy doesn't have the votes, "I'm
going to work with like-minded people across the aisle to find someone
agreeable" for Speaker.
Could this really happen? As I pointed out in a recent column
<[link removed]>,
it has happened at the state level, in the New York state Senate. Our
colleague Miles Rapoport reminds me that in Connecticut, conservative
Democrats combined with Republicans to oust a progressive Democratic
House Speaker in favor of a centrist. And just last month, nine
Democrats and eight Republicans formed a bipartisan governing majority
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in the Alaska state Senate, leaving three MAGA Republicans in the
minority.
Here is the choreography. On January 3, the Republican House caucus will
meet and cast ballots for a Speaker-designate. If they agree, the full
House will then vote for Speaker, and the Republican majority will
prevail. But if they deadlock, Republican moderates could try to seek a
deal with Democrats.
Then it gets really complicated. Is this a deal just to elect a moderate
Republican Speaker? Or is it a genuine bipartisan, anti-MAGA governing
caucus?
What would Democrats demand? No far-right Republicans as committee
chairs and no committee fishing expeditions? Some Democrats as committee
chairs?
And how would the far-right Republicans, who make up a majority of the
Republican caucus, react? They would likely be livid, and could well
kick the faithless moderates out of their caucus, which would make an
anti-MAGA House bipartisan governing majority a reality.
The Republican moderates, like most of the brave Republicans who voted
to impeach Trump, would likely lose their seats in the next election;
and like Liz Cheney, they would have to decide that keeping the far
right from power is worth a career-ending sacrifice.
This is the stuff of high intrigue. It is uncharted territory and may
never happen. And these possibilities will certainly get the attention
of the far right as they decide just how hard to push McCarthy.
One possible compromise could be Republican House Whip Steve Scalise,
who was elected whip by the caucus unanimously, in contrast to the 31
votes against McCarthy when the Republicans provisionally picked their
leader after the November election. Even so, the same cross-pressures
would operate on any compromise candidate.
But whatever does happen, it will be a pleasure to watch the Republican
disarray.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Black College Students: An Endangered Species, Unless They Play Ball
<[link removed]>
The disparity of graduation rates for Black and white scholarship
athletes will become more glaring if the Supreme Court ends affirmative
action. BY DERRICK Z. JACKSON
Biden Must Wield the Power of the Defense Production Act to Rein In the
Tripledemic
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America is in for a rough winter, but the government can help. BY ANANYA
KALAHASTI
Altercation: Getting Real on Crime and Punishment
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Republicans and New York's 'Democratic' mayor demagogue on the
issue, even as many real Democrats fail even to engage it. BY ERIC
ALTERMAN
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