The vote on the Republican healthcare bill is still hours away, but conservatives are already playing smashmouth politics with GOP leadership on the House floor.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., managed to win an early procedural vote easily enough. This morning the House agreed to a rule governing debate over the healthcare bill. But in a possible sign of things to come, six Republicans broke ranks and voted against the party.
The little mutiny was made up of hardcore conservatives eager to signal their opposition early. Four Freedom Caucus members—Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Justin Amash of Michigan, and Louie Gohmert of Texas—fired shots early. Free floating partisans, Reps. Walter Jones of North Carolina and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, joined them.
Normally, voting against the rule amounts to little more than a hollow protest. It’s like taking on a Tiger tank with a pistol. Other than signaling desperation, it doesn’t make much of a difference and the ricochets could do more harm than good.
But this time, things are different, and the margins for success and failure are razor thin. If just fifteen more Republicans join the little coup, then the entire bill goes down. And the early six are showing just how precarious of a position leadership is trying to defend.
It’s a disheartening sign for Ryan early on.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
