Republicans in the House moved on Tuesday to advance legislation to prevent the federal government from banning gas stoves after a memo surfaced recently that appeared to be preparing to do just that.
The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act prevents the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from designating gas stoves hazardous products and taking other steps to prohibit their sale.
Unfortunately, some members of the House Freedom Caucus are taking their anger on McCarthy out on the bill, and blocked its advancement when the vote came up.
It was the first opportunity for the Republicans to express their displeasure with McCarthy over his debt ceiling agreement with President Joe Biden, so hopefully they are happy with themselves.
"We're not going to live in the era of the imperial speaker anymore," GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida told reporters after he voted against the rule Tuesday.
"We're not going to live in an era where our members are punished like this," the Florida lawmaker said, referring to Rep. Andrew Clyde.
The comments came after GOP leadership allegedly threatened Clyde that one of his sponsored bills would not be brought up on the House floor if he voted against the debt ceiling bill.
After 40 minutes of debate and dissension between GOP members, Scalise changed his vote on the gas stove bill to no, which will allow leadership to bring it up again at a later date.
While the GOP-led House is certainly different from the way former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) could usually hold her party in lockstep to pass legislation, it may be better in the end to work out these disagreements and for there to be more independent thinking among Republicans.
Having more debate and disagreeing at times is not always a bad thing, and was actually how the government was set up to function.
It feels messier and can be more embarrassing for GOP leaders like McCarthy, but is probably healthier for democracy than forcing party members to do what leadership wants.
The consensus that emerges from conflicts like these may be exactly what Congress and the federal government need, even if if may disrupt the leadership's agenda at times.
Let's be honest: the GOP's gas stove act was never going to make it through the Senate or get past Biden's veto anyway.
The Freedom Caucus knows it doesn't really matter, and are using the situation to get their point across to McCarthy in a relatively low-risk way. Good for them, they should hold his feet to the fire and push him in a conservative direction whenever possible.
