WASHINGTON — Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., one of the 21 House far-right hardliners who forced major concessions from Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in exchange for their votes to make him the speaker, may have newfound leverage because of the deal.
It remains to be seen what Miller, from downstate Oakland, does with it.
Miller, in comparison to the other 21 — especially Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fl. — took a relatively low profile in the days of voting, starting on Tuesday afternoon and not ending, 15 votes later, until about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
Miller flipped and voted for McCarthy on the 12th roll call on Friday afternoon, helping set the stage for his eventual victory, which he claimed with no vote to spare.
Thanking, among others, former President Donald Trump, Miller said in a statement, the chaotic days of voting ended up with a “victory for the conservative movement.”
“I look forward to working with the House Republican Conference to stop Joe Biden’s destructive, radical, leftist agenda,” Miller said.
Illinois sends three Republicans to the House: Miller, Mike Bost and Darin LaHood. Bost and LaHood were with McCarthy from the start.
Among Illinois elected officials, Miller is Trump’s most ardent supporter. On Friday, as the negotiations to back McCarthy gained votes in a series of roll calls, Miller said in a tweet, referring to Trump, “we are negotiating one of the greatest victories for the conservative movement in the history of Congress. 45 showed the ‘Art of the Deal.’”
Key concessions won by the 21 will make it much more difficult for McCarthy to govern. Under the deal McCarthy was forced to agree to, any one member will have the power to call for a vote of no confidence in the speaker — that is, ask for a vote on a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair in order to try to get a new speaker.
Multiple news reports said McCarthy agreed to the demand of the 21 for three seats on the powerful Rules Committee — the panel that decides what measures actually get to the floor for a vote.
Many in the 21 faction, like Miller, are election deniers and members of the Freedom Caucus. A trio of them on the Rules Committee means they could block McCarthy’s initiatives easily — by teaming up and casting their no votes along with the Democrats who may be opposing McCarthy’s legislative priorities.
Usually the Rules Committee majority sends to the floor — or bottles up — legislation, depending on what the speaker wants.
“After intense negotiations and hard work by House Freedom Caucus members and House Republican leadership, we changed the rules to ensure that a Republican-controlled House cannot betray conservatives the way that Senate Republicans did when they passed Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion omnibus. With 40-year high inflation and $31 trillion in debt, we must save our country for our children and grandchildren,” Miller said.
Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., is the new Democratic Whip — the No. 2 Democrat in the House, after Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. In a CNN interview on Sunday Clark said the chaotic days leading to McCarthy wrangling his votes — where he caved to demands of a handful of his GOP members, “not only endangered our country’s national security, but it also showed that the keys have been handed over to extremists.”
On her 2022 campaign website, Miller brags that she is “the only member of Congress from Illinois to oppose every aspect of the Biden-Pelosi agenda, including the disgraceful January 6th ‘witch hunt.’”
In the new 118th House — where members were sworn in on Saturday, after McCarthy won the gavel — there are 222 Republicans and 212 Democrats, with one vacancy at present.
Getting a bill passed in the House — no matter the party in control — is a matter of arithmetic. If all 435 seats in the House are filled and everyone is present and voting, it takes 218 to pass a bill. If the 21 who rebelled against McCarthy stick together, a minority will be in control of the majority party.
Miller disclosed the outlines of the sweeping agreement. Besides keeping the speaker on a short leash, her group will:
- Have the power to block the sort of omnibus bill the House and Senate — with GOP support — approved in one of the last major acts of the 117th Congress.
- Have the power to block an increase in the debt ceiling, with an impasse possibly leading to a government shutdown.
- Create, as Miller put it, a committee to “investigate the weaponization of the federal government, including the Biden Department of Justice.”
Miller, a farmer, who represents the heavily Republican 15th Congressional District in southern Illinois, was raised in suburban Naperville and in November won her second term. She has served on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee, but she is best known for her activism fighting against abortion, gun control measures and other hot-button social issues.
