“With the narrowest of majorities – five seats – in the House, Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy needed near-unanimous support for the more than 1,200-page bill. That forced him to appease ultra-conservative members of the party, who pledged not back down in negotiations.”
Is working with moderates of a different brand of party really worse than kowtowing to the demands of extremists in the same brand of party as you? Because it seems that would be the obvious way to get moderate bills passed if you were moderate and that is what you really wanted.