Abortion, China, large government: Republicans get geared up to flex

Hours after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy finally clinched the U.S. House speaker role, his party was already rolling out its preliminary legislative steps: the advent of committees to check out China and the “weaponization of the federal government,” and a bill that could potentially limit abortion care nationwide.

McCarthy won the election for speaker of the U.S. House in the fifteenth spherical of voting in the early hours of Saturday, after 4 solid days of negotiation with a crew of hardline conservatives in his caucus – the longest speaker’s election in 160 years.

After a weaker-than-expected overall performance in the November midterm elections, Republicans manage the House with a slender majority of 222-212, giving just a few hardline individuals outsized leverage to pressure via their political and legislative goals.

The protracted intraparty combat highlighted the deep rifts between mainstream conservatives and hard-right members of the Republican caucus, and was resolved solely after McCarthy agreed to fundamental concessions that will severely curtail his electricity compared with the previous speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

Highlights of the new policies of the House, which will get a vote on Monday, include a 72-hour ready period before the introduction of a invoice and a vote on it; and permitting any member to trigger a vote of self assurance in the speaker.

“My father constantly told me: It’s no longer how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy stated in a speech on Saturday morning, after winning the gavel. “I think at the quit of the day, we’re going to be more effective, more efficient.”

The efficiency used to be on full display as his office almost without delay issued a list of bills to be voted on as soon as the policies package is accredited on Monday. These include the creation of a committee to investigate competition between the United States and the Chinese government, as well as a committee investigating “the weaponization of the federal government.”

A consignment that would “prohibit a healthcare practitioner from failing to exercise the perfect degree of care in the case of a infant who survives an abortion or attempted abortion” will also get introduced next week.

Both applause and warning poured in from Democrats after the election, along with from President Joe Biden, who congratulated McCarthy on his win.

“As I said after the midterms, I am organized to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they assume Republicans to be organized to work with me as well,” Biden said in a statement. “Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.”

The House will reconvene on Monday to pass the rules package. At least one Republican has stated he will not assist it.