House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is reportedly shy of the votes needed to become the chamber's new speaker when the 118th Congress opens Tuesday — and the expected "full attendance" by Democrats will only make the vote more fraught.
According to Axios, McCarthy has begged lawmakers for the needed votes, offering concessions Sunday that include letting members easily fire him — with just five members needed to initiate what's called a "motion to vacate."
Punchbowl News reported the package of rules changes were unveiled to win over GOP holdouts — yet a handful of lawmakers are publicly opposed.
Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman tweeted Monday a further complication, writing "House Democrats will be at full attendance tomorrow."
"If that's the case, and if all Republicans show up, the House will be at 434 and McCarthy needs 218 to win," Sherman wrote.
House Republican membership stands at 222; Democrats hold 213 seats. If the full House is voting on the speakership, McCarthy can only lose four votes.
Nine GOP hardliners — GOP Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Chip Roy of Texas; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Dan Bishop of North Carolina; Andy Harris of Maryland; Andrew Clyde of Georgia; and Rep.-elects Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Anna Paulina Luna of Florida; and Eli Crane of Arizona — rejected McCarthy's proposed changes as "insufficient," according to the New York Post.
"It cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient. This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy's candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures," the group of nine wrote in their response, the Post reported.
The group added "McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure."
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a member of the five-person "Never Kevin Caucus" that includes Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, could challenge McCarthy for the speaker job.
In a Monday television interview, Good said McCarthy has done nothing to "earn my vote" and ripped the former House minority leader as "part of the swamp cartel."
"There's nothing about Kevin McCarthy that indicates that he will bring the change that's needed to Washington or that's needed to the Congress, or he'll bring the fight against the Biden-Schumer agenda and represent the interests of the voters who sent us to Washington to bring real change," Good railed.
He predicted, "There'll be, I suspect, 10 to 15 members" who vote against McCarthy and for Biggs on the first ballot Tuesday.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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