Looks like Kevin McCarthy can actually do math after all. He now understands there is no pathway to Speaker of the House without conservatives and is now offering a significant compromise to get their votes.
CNN reported Friday that McCarthy has pledged to reduce the threshold required to oust a sitting speaker. He had previously made this a red line in negotiations with House conservatives, vowing to never give in.
One cannot understate the significance of this concession by McCarthy. This has been arguably the top demand from McCarthy’s critics in exchange for possibly supporting his Speaker bid.
Present rules within the Republican caucus state that majority support from members is required to force a floor vote to remove the Speaker. McCarthy is looking at shrinking the threshold to as low as five votes.
House Republicans will welcome 222 members to Congress in a few days so McCarthy is offering to reduce the threshold for ouster by over 95%. Talk about desperation.
Here are the key details from CNN:
McCarthy has been trying to find a compromise threshold that would appease his critics enough to earn their speaker vote, while still being palatable to the rest of the House GOP, and has been sounding out all corners of the conference in private phone calls this week.
One of the numbers that has come up in recent conversations between McCarthy and GOP lawmakers – and which has not been previously reported – is a five-person threshold, according to two of the Republican sources.
Currently, the majority of the House GOP is required to call for the so-called motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. But some conservative hardliners are pushing for a single member to be able to call for such a vote, which they see as an important mechanism to hold the speaker accountable.
A five-person threshold, however, may be too low for the moderate wing of the party, some of whom have privately suggested they would be willing to agree on a 50-person threshold.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Should McCarthy give too much to the GOP’s conservative wing, he seriously risks losing votes from his fellow RINOS. But if McCarthy fails to capitulate completely, a pathway to the speakership is nearly impossible.
Conservative McCarthy opponent South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, for his part, does not trust McCarthy to keep his word on lowering the threshold. Instead, he wants an agreement in writing that McCarthy will find impossible to weasel out of.
“The ‘devil is in the details’ as far as threshold & other rule concessions,” Norman said. “Until the details are spelled out, in writing and sealed with social media posts, people will not move on votes.”
He and the rest of the holdouts better get one because McCarthy will knife them in the back otherwise. McCarthy’s mentor, former California Congressman Bill Thomas, lambasted him for his numerous lies earlier this month in an interview with the New Yorker:
“Kevin basically is whatever you want him to be,” said Thomas. “He lies. He’ll change the lie if necessary. How can anyone trust his word?”
The Gateway Pundit has been adamantly opposed to McCarthy becoming Speaker from the start. Last month, Jim Hoft outlined ten reasons why this would prove a disaster for Republicans nationwide.
This still remains operative. If, however, McCarthy can pull an inside straight to become Speaker and MAGA conservatives get their blood oath in return, they will own him. It is very easy come up with five conservatives (preferably a lower threshold) willing to call a vote to toss out McCarthy should he go wobbly.
Bob Good, Matt Gaetz, Ralph Norman, Lauren Boebert, and Paul Gosar are the top names that come to mind. All ardently oppose McCarthy’s speakership at the moment and loyally support the MAGA movement. Good luck to the man Donald Trump refers to as “my Kevin” should a motion to vacate the chair occur.
Conservatives will either get a neutered McCarthy beholden to them or a new speaker altogether. Not a bad place to be.
