In a legislative charade that surprised nobody yet managed to disappoint nearly everyone, three of Alabama's republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the federal debt ceiling on Wednesday, May 31st of 2023. Passing breezily through the house with a total of 314-117 votes before sailing through the U.S. Senate with a perfunctory vote of 63-36 the next day, cold comfort came from the fact that both of Alabama's senators Tuberville and Britt voted against raising the debt ceiling as did Alabama representatives Barry Moore, Gary Palmer and Dale Strong. Voting to raise the debt ceiling were representatives Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt and Jerry Carl.
Infusing intrigue into the evening's legislative session was Rep. Mike Rogers presiding gavel-in-hand over the vote in place of the conspicuously absent Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Rogers' bizarre behavior during the tumultuous fifteen votes that eventually resulted in McCarthy being elected speaker which in turn led to Rogers subsequently ascending to the much coveted position of being appointed as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee may go a long way towards explaining his unhinged support for McCarthy's speakership and legislative efforts to raise the debt ceiling. Tight lipped in terms of making any clarifying comments on his predictable vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling during the legislative process itself, Rogers was far more verbose in sharing his thoughts during an interview this past January with the Daily Mail news website regarding his disdain for hard line conservatives in the house who dared to challenge McCarthy's ascent to power.
Daily Mail
Rep. Mike Rogers ripped 'legislative terrorists' who kept voting against McCarthy
He said if there was no path, Republicans would negotiate 'across the aisle'
'You don't negotiate with terrorists,' he said
'One thing about votes in the minority: they’re always rentable'
He spoke as McCarthy lost vote after vote with 20 Republicans holding out
PUBLISHED: 14:54 EDT, 4 January 2023 | UPDATED: 15:45 EDT, 4 January 2023
A powerful House Republican lawmaker who supports Rep. Kevin McCarthy's stalled bid for speaker says if a group of 20 arch conservative holdouts don't fall in line within days, rank-and-file Republicans will cut a deal with Democrats.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is in line to chair the House Armed Services Committee if Republicans manage to coalesce behind a leader, accused a rump faction he termed '20 belligerents' of being 'legislative terrorists' who are engaging in 'narcissistic behavior' by issuing demands McCarthy can't possibly meet.
If there isn't agreement by the end of the week, he raised the possibility, floated by a some rank-and-file Democrats, of trying to secure some of their votes for speaker in exchange for concessions to the minority.
'And so that's why I say I hope next week we come back – you'll find a lot of us will – we’ll either see there's a path, or we've got to go across the aisle,' Rogers told DailyMail.com while fellow Republicans were battling inside the House chamber.
He said rank-and-file members would start working with Democrats to see how to accommodate them on rules or policy matters, and that the group of 202 lawmakers had 'hardened' in their support of McCarthy.
'The 200 of us are getting more annoyed and hardened. And then you will see us move to a different direction, if we find this is not an option,' he said.
'You get to a point and you say, Kevin, we love you, but you're not – we're not dealing with [them] anymore. Because it's not about McCarthy. This is about the conference. They want to go around the conference and get the things they want by dealing with one person – they've got a gun to his head. You don't negotiate with terrorists, whether they're Islamic terrorists who have a sword to somebody's head, or these people with, basically a political gun to Kevin’s head,' he said.
'You don't negotiate with these kinds of people. These are legislative terrorists who have no problem killing the hostage, and you can quote me on that,' he added for emphasis.
Rogers spoke after a few Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), had held informal talks with Republicans, while longtime rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), floated the idea of a 'unity caucus.'
Rogers wasn't talking about going so far to entice Democrats to such a creation, but was instead suggesting buying off sufficient votes with rules or even policy gestures to establish GOP control.
'Oh, we’ll give them something. One thing about votes in the minority: they’re always rentable. Sometimes they’re expensive, but they’re always rentable,' he joked.
He brushed off the unity government gambit, in an institution where the majority wields near total power.
'It wouldn’t be that. Trust me there are things that they would like to have in exchange for that,' he dangled.
'I mean, there's a whole host of things that would be beneficial to them in the minority, that a lot of us would find more more palatable than dealing with' the GOP holdouts, he said. 'It’s very malleable, the universe of things that that are negotiable,' he said.
Rogers, whose committee staff is sidelined until a speaker is elected, works on one of the few panels in the House that tends to work in bipartisan fashion.
'I run the Armed Services Committee with Adam Smith. We come out with a completely bipartisan bill every year. It's very doable. When you're not an ass****, you can get a deal cut in this place. Democrats don't all have horns coming out of their heads. So that's why I say time is on our side. We'll work with these people as long as we can, but once we realize we can’t, we'll deal with the other options. And they’re there.'
He said McCarthy 'told a bunch of this morning that he has been having some productive meetings with the 20 belligerents and and that he thinks that progress is being' made and that things might be at a 'good point for tomorrow.'
But the Californian who has long dreamed of being speaker lost on multiple floor votes again Wednesday.
Rogers said of the holdouts: 'They love the attention. This is all narcissistic behavior. It's all it is. They love it. They're not going to love it so much after it goes on for a while. People back home start recognizing what they're doing to this country.'
During an angry GOP conference meeting Tuesday, he suggested kicking Republicans who refuse to back McCarthy off committees. Rogers serves on the Steering Committee, which makes panel assignments, and which the speaker influences but does not completely control. 'I promised it,' he said of the threat.
Rep. Aderholt kept a low profile during the debt ceiling vote and in its aftermath aside from a string of mealy mouthed prevarications and deflections he sheepishly served up in lukewarm statements to AL.com and 1819 News. Slightly more loquacious was Rep. Carl who not only penned a boilerplate Op-Ed for Yellowhammer News where he awkwardly fired off a series of tired platitudes in defense of his vote to raise the debt ceiling, Carl also braved the fire and brimstone of Twitter to put lipstick on the pig that he courageously brought to the county fair.
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