House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a smart guy and astute politician. Threatening to shut down the government, he put together a spending bill that cut spending dramatically (by DC standards, anyway). He was prepared to pass it in his House, and send it to the Dem-controlled Senate. There, everyone knew it would die, but it would be a starting point for negotiations between the Senate and the House.

But McCarthy never got the chance. Predictably, the House Dems opposed it on the grounds it cut spending too much. Less predictably, half a dozen GOP hard-liners also opposed it – for not cutting spending enough.

To avoid a shutdown, McCarthy watered down the bill. The watered-down bill didn’t cut spending as much, but did garner the votes of most of the Dems and most of the GOP too. The Senate Dems and Joe Biden were delighted with the bill, and promptly passed it and signed it.

Which infuriated the GOP hard-liners. They moved to remove McCarthy from the speakership.

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