The 118th Congress starts tomorrow. The first job of the House of Representatives is to select a speaker. That requires a simple majority, 218 out of 538.
Kevin McCarthy was elected leader of the Republican Party in the house - click here for the story - but only by a vote of 188-31. That's short. As of now he does not have the votes to make up the difference.
The following story details what the dispute is about.
- Click here for the article.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has begged countless lawmakers — and offered extraordinary concessions, including allowing members to easily fire him at any time — to secure the votes for speaker.
- Republicans will take control of the House as the 118th Congress opens Tuesday. But McCarthy still doesn't have the votes he needs for speaker, as a handful of GOP lawmakers remain publicly opposed.
- Top members of his team tell Axios they're optimistic about pulling it out. But they can't point to an exact route — always a bad sign.
- McCarthy unveiled a package of rules changes on Sunday for the incoming Congress in an attempt to win over Republican holdouts to his bid for speaker of the House, Punchbowl News reported.
The rule changes amount to concessions to conservatives, who previously demanded similar changes.
- The changes include what was considered a "red line" for McCarthy — making it easier to force a vote on removing the speaker.
- McCarthy's proposed rules hand a knife to skeptics, allowing any five GOP to call for a vote to boot him at any time. In a letter of response, several hardliners still refused to commit to backing him. "He's empowering every part of the conference," a top GOP aide told Axios.
The rules package also proposes ending the use of proxy voting and remote committee proceedings implemented because of the pandemic — as well as fines for not complying with mask mandates or security screenings before entering the House floor.
It also proposes a vote to form a select subcommittee on "Weaponization of the Federal Government" under the House Judiciary Committee, as well as a select committee on "Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party."
Between the lines: McCarthy has yielded to the right on ask after ask for weeks — ever since it was clear he was in trouble because the midterms gave him such a narrow majority.
Yet even close allies privately say it's "hard to see a path" to the 218 votes McCarthy needs when the new Congress opens tomorrow, Punchbowl News reports.
