由于议长凯文·麦卡锡和强硬保守派在麦卡锡问题上的僵持不下，众议院事务已经暂停，直到下周债务上限协议的处理。
麦卡锡说，他对众议院自由党团周二反对阻止煤气炉禁令的程序性行动感到惊讶，起初他说他打算在周三举行更多的投票。到那天晚上，他已经取消了本周剩余时间的投票，成员们将于周一返回。
“我们获得了微弱的多数。他告诉记者说:“现在有点混乱。”后来他补充说，因为他只控制了五个席位，“任何人都可以破坏我们做的任何法案。”
他说，他计划利用休会时间会见不满的会议成员，并寻求“在今晚结束前”解决他们的分歧。
“这些会员中的一些人——他们不知道要什么。他们对许多不同的事情感到沮丧，所以我们会倾听他们的意见，”他说。
“我想我们会得到的...通过它，”他周三早些时候说。
演讲者接着说:“我们不能耽误美国人民的工作。我无法相信有人会阻止人们选择自己想要的烤箱或火炉。”
自由核心小组的几名成员与208名民主党人一起投票否决了一项禁止联邦政府禁止燃气灶的立法。尽管美国消费者产品安全委员会(Consumer Product Safety Commission)今年1月表示，它没有禁止使用燃气灶的计划，但类似的努力已经在州一级取得了进展，比如纽约的一项法律禁止在大多数新建筑中使用天然气炉灶。
“我觉得傻了眼。...麦卡锡周三表示，他指的是众议员安德鲁·克莱德(Andrew Clyde)和多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯(Steve Scalise)上周在债务上限投票期间的激烈对话。麦卡锡说，这是一个“误算或误解。”
2023年6月7日，众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡在DC国会大厦发表演讲。
吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图片
自由核心小组的成员在1月份对麦卡锡的议长职位持批评态度，以换取众议院规则的让步，包括一个成员可以强迫对议长进行不信任投票的规定。
周三，美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)问及他是否担心可能被投票剥夺领导角色时，他说，“不，不。”
上个月，自由核心小组成立了坚决反对麦卡锡与美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)就提高债务上限和避免违约达成协议，并警告称将对这一问题进行“清算”。
周二的投票是大会第一次有机会向议长表达失望，成功阻止了程序性步骤H.R. 463，该步骤将为审议两项旨在推迟假设的联邦燃气灶禁令的决议提供条件。
然而，麦卡锡提出了一个不同的观点——将近21年来第一次规则投票的失败视为一个加强自己发言能力的机会。
“我不认为(规则)下降是一件坏事。...你们都觉得那很可怕;一切都必须完美。事实上，我喜欢彻底改变事情，”他周三早些时候说，有一次他把自己比作金发姑娘，因为他被所有人推着走。
“我们以前经历过这种情况。...我接受这份工作不是因为它容易，”他说。
麦卡锡当时表示，会议正在进行，以找到“我们走到一起的方式”
"另一件事，我认为你们中的许多人开始不低估我们，当我们上周取得如此巨大的胜利时，"他说。“所以我认为这有助于再次降低它，所以你会低估我们，所以我们会有更多的胜利。所以，最后，当我回头看的时候，这可能是一件非常大的积极的事情。”
Standoff between McCarthy, hard-line Republicans continues as House remains in recess
House business has been brought to a halt until next week as the standoff continues between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and hard-line conservatives over McCarthy'shandling of the debt ceiling deal.
McCarthy, who said he was surprised by the House Freedom Caucus revolt Tuesday on a procedural move to prevent gas stove bans, initially said it was his intention to hold more votes on Wednesday. By that evening, he had canceled votes for the rest of the week, with members set to return on Monday.
"We've got a small majority. There's a little chaos going on," he told reporters, later adding that because of his mere five-seat control "anybody can disrupt any bill we do."
He said he planned to use the recess to meet with dissatisfied conference members and seek to work out their differences "by the end of the night."
"Some of these members -- they don't know what to ask for. There's numerous different things they're frustrated about, so we'll listen to them," he said.
"I think we'll get ... through it," he said earlier Wednesday.
The speaker said then: "We can't hold up the work for the American people. I can't believe someone would want to hold up not allowing people to pick their own oven or stove they'd like to have."
Several members of the Freedom Caucus had joined 208 Democrats in voting down a rule to take up legislation to prohibit the federal government from banning gas stoves. While the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in January it had no plans to ban gas stoves, similar efforts have advanced at the state level, such as a law in New York banning natural gas stoves and furnaces in most new buildings.
"I feel blindsided. ... Yesterday was started on something else, " McCarthy said Wednesday, referring to a heated conversation between Rep. Andrew Clyde and Majority Leader Steve Scalise last week during the debt ceiling vote. McCarthy said it was a "miscalculation or misinterpretation."
Members of the Freedom Caucus were critical in holding up McCarthy's speakership in January in exchange for concessions on House rules, including a stipulation that a single member could force a floor vote of no confidence in the speaker.
Asked by ABC News on Wednesday if he was worried about possibly being voted out of his leadership role, he said, "No, no."
Last month, the Freedom Caucus came outadamantly opposedto the agreement between McCarthy and President Joe Biden to lift the debt ceiling and avert default and warned of a "reckoning" over the issue.
Tuesday's vote was the first opportunity for the conference to express its dismay with the speaker, successfully blocking procedural step H.R. 463, which would have provided for the consideration of two resolutions aimed at staving off hypothetical federal gas stove bans.
McCarthy, though, has offered a different take -- branding the first rule vote failure in nearly 21 years as an opportunity to strengthen his speakership.
"I don't think it [the rule] going down is a bad thing. ... You all think that's terrible; everything has to be perfect. I actually like to change things on its head," he said earlier Wednesday, at one point comparing himself to Goldilocks in that he gets pushed on all sides.
"We've been through this before. ... I didn't take this job because it's easy," he said.
McCarthy said then that meetings were ongoing to find "a way that we come together."
"The other thing, too, I think a lot of you were beginning to not underestimate us when we had such a good victory last week," he said. "So I think this kind of helps lower it again, so you'll underestimate us, so we'll have more victories. So, in the end, when I look back, this may be a very big positive thing."
