WASHINGTON (AP) — Electing the House speaker may have been the easy part. Now House Republicans will try to govern.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy passed his first test late Monday as the Republicans approved their rules package for governing House operations, typically a routine step on Day One that stretched into the second week of the new majority. It was approved 220-213, a party-line vote with one Republican opposed.
Next up, the House Republicans will try later Monday to pass their first bill — legislation to cut funding that is supposed to bolster the Internal Revenue Service. The Republicans' IRS bill ran into a snag ahead of votes because the budget office announced that rather than save money, it would add $114 billion to the federal deficit.
