Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-CA) relationship is coming under more strain as disagreements rise over the possibility of impeaching President Joe Biden.
Opening an impeachment inquiry into Biden is one more item of contention for the top Republicans in Washington. The two men and their caucuses are at odds over further funding for Ukraine and how much Congress should authorize for spending, setting up a possible government shutdown later this month.
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Though not particularly close, the two figures have maintained a cordial, professional relationship and largely left each other to his own devices. Major disagreements over topics such as impeachment threaten to jeopardize that united front, with McCarthy inching closer to it every day and McConnell vehemently opposing it.
“I said two years ago, when we had not one but two impeachments, that once we go down this path, it incentivizes the other side to do the same thing,” McConnell told the New York Times last month. “Impeachment ought to be rare. This is not good for the country.”
Despite doubts from McConnell and other GOP senators, McCarthy is facing increasing pressure from Republicans in the House to go forward with an impeachment of Biden, likely in revenge for former President Donald Trump’s two impeachments during his presidency. Trump has shown strong support for an impeachment of the current president, setting up even more pressure on his longtime House ally.
McConnell is known to have a fragmented relationship with Trump, with the two openly at odds. Due to this relationship, McConnell will not face the pressure to impeach Biden that McCarthy does, adding to his already apparently principled stance to object to impeachment.
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Despite their opposing personalities, McCarthy and McConnell have maintained a united front in their congressional leadership positions, pushing back against massive Democratic spending bills and Jan. 6 investigations and hitting the Biden administration on its botched Afghanistan withdrawal. At the beginning of the year, McConnell expressed support for McCarthy while the speaker led negotiations with the White House during the debt ceiling fight.
In addition to impeachment, the two differ in their approach to further spending negotiations with the White House and funding for Ukraine, which McCarthy faces pressure to decrease from elements of his thin majority.
