The Case Against McCarthy’s Impeachment for the White House: When I Wanna Be Speaker, When Will I Be Speaker?

It isn’t supposed to be this difficult for a six-term congressman. After the far-right House Freedom Caucus denied his ascension to the speakership in 2015, McCarthy spent years courting the conservative wing and worked overtime to stay in former President Donald Trump’s good graces. But when a red wave never materialized in the November midterms, a small band of conservatives – long distrustful of McCarthy – saw an opportunity to use their unexpected leverage in the razor-thin majority to extract demands.

Title 42, a Trump-era rule that allows border authorities to turn away migrants at the US-Mexico border, is still being relied on by the Biden administration. In fiscal year 2022, amid mass migration in the Western hemisphere, US border encounters topped 2 million, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy said. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”

And with the MAGA-wing calling to cut off funding to Ukraine while the GOP’s defense hawks vow not to abandon the country amid its war with Russia, McCarthy attempted to reaffirm his support for Ukraine while saying they would not automatically rubber stamp any additional requests for aid.

McCarthy is trying to ensure problems for the 18 House Republicans who won districts in 2020 that voted for Biden, by bending to the culture war politics of those members. More than half of those are in New York and California alone – states where the turnout in the presidential year of 2024 will likely favor Democrats more than in 2022.

McCarthy wrote on Twitter, “when I’m Speaker,” bills from any senator who votes for the spending package will be “dead on arrival” in the House of Representatives. He was responding to a letter from Rep. Chip Roy, a conservative who has not said yet if he will back McCarthy for Speaker.

Reply to ‘Comment on ‘Stay in Mexico”, quotients and enforcing the border control laws of the United States’

“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.

To help stem the flow of fentanyl coming across the border, McCarthy said “you first do a very frontal attack on China to stop the poison from coming,” and then “provide the resources that the border agents need” and “make sure that fentanyl anytime anybody who wants to move it, you can prosecute him for the death penalty.”

Most bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy indicated that the Republicans would demand spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, a move which could cause a disastrous debt default.

Shouldn’t you insist on changing your behavior first if you’re going to give a person a higher limit? He said something. “You shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna let you keep spending money.’ No household should do that.”

McCarthy acknowledged Republicans were willing to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but said the calculus is different now because Democrats spent trillions of dollars under Biden.

When pressed on whether he’s willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, McCarthy insisted that wouldn’t happen: “People talk about risking it. You don’t risk a default.

McCarthy plans to restore Marjorie Taylor’s committee assignments despite being stripped of her assignments by the Democrats because of her inflammatory remarks.

When asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” CNN has reported that Greene wants a seat on the Oversight Committee, which will play a role in GOP-led investigations.

Every other member will have committees to serve on. He said that as they go through the steering committee they will look at the requests of the members. “She can put through the committees she wants, just like any other member in our conference that gets elected.”

Greene is not the only member who has spouted conspiracy theories or incendiary rhetoric. Most recently, some Republicans have mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, or peddled fringe conspiracy theories about the incident.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/politics/kevin-mccarthy-interview-border-security/index.html

The Campaign for Leaders of the Freedom Caucus: Theoretical Agenda for the House Select Committee on Women’s Rights and Minority Studies

“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. And it will start with the speaker as well.”

Speaking in Washington, DC, last week for the House Freedom Caucus meeting, he said there needed to be a discussion about whether he should be the speaker. I think we should have a frank discussion on where we are going in the future.

Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado said it was a “red line” for her, but not everyone in the Freedom Caucus is united on whether to make that a hard line.

In Washington, DC this week, the Freedom caucus has been meeting for their new member orientation, where they have begun to plan their strategy for the speaker’s race. They see a chance with a slim majority and will use their leverage to get more power.

McCarthy supporters have also contemplated using hardball tactics, including trying to kick critics off their committees if they don’t fall in line and threatening to team up with Democrats to elect a more moderate speaker. The group started wearing buttons with the statement “O.K.” for “Only Kevin” on them at one point.

CNN has yet to project which party will have control of the House of Representatives, though as of Friday morning, CNN has projected that Republicans have 211 seats to Democrats’ 198.

Speaker Candidate Jeremy Corrigendum for the House Minority Electorate, Representing the Core Values of the House and Senate

Norman said the group hopes to formalize a lengthier list of all the rules changes they are seeking. They are also pushing to delay next week’s internal leadership elections, though there is no indication McCarthy plans to do so.

The taxpayers who voted for the representatives deserve the credit, stated Norman when asked if McCarthy should get credit.

McCarthy’s supporters argue there is no realistic alternative, that there is no consensus candidate with enough votes to win the election and that they are waiting for a last minute change of mind. Bob Good, a Virginia Republican who is hard no for McCarthy, said on Fox News that there will be a new speaker candidate on the second ballot.

Gaetz said the C team should not be started with only a slim majority. Our star players need to shine bright so we can attract more people to our policies and ideas.

The new majority in the House may start Tuesday without a clear leader, which could lead to a once-in-a-century floor fight that could delay establishing committees or legislating. The conference will gather one last time before the speaker vote, where McCarthy’s supporters hope for a last minute resolution but are bracing for the worst.

The Democrats retaining control of the Senate has made McConnell face a lot of anger in his ranks, but he still has enough support to win a second term leading his conference.

According to GOP sources familiar with the matter, a congressman from Arizona is being considered to mount a long-shot challenge to McCarthy. McCarthy has a team ready for that possibility.

Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called for a delay in the Senate leadership election this week, saying it doesn’t make any sense.

Scott said that a lot of people called him to see if he would run. “Here’s my focus, is we still got to win Georgia. I’m not going to take anything off the table.”

The Difficult Reversal of the GOP: The Case of the MAGA Candidate and Sen. Tom Emmer, the House Republican Whistler, and the U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey

It is a stunning reversal of fortunes for the once-bullish GOP, as party leaders now scramble to quell the rebellions in their ranks and explain why the election did not go their way. And the disappointing results have scrambled other leadership races as well, with Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota – the head of the House GOP’s campaign arm – now facing a tougher time becoming the House GOP whip, a position that will only become available if Republicans indeed capture the majority – still not a guarantee.

“They’ve been measuring the draperies, they’ve been putting forth an agenda. Nancy Pelosi told CNN they haven’t won it yet. “After the election is concluded, depending on who was in the majority, there’ll be judgments made within their own party, in our own parties, as to how we go forward.”

Behind the scenes, the finger pointing has already begun, and those conversations are likely to accelerate as the full House and Senate return to Washington this week for the first time since the midterm elections.

In the key Senate races that decided the control of the Senate, other party members have placed the blame on Trump. McConnell’s group spent more than any other group in Senate races, but the Trump group did not spend as much as McConnell.

“There’s a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and big losses,” said retiring Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. “I think my party needs to face the fact that if fealty to Donald Trump is the primary criteria for selecting candidates, we’re probably not going to do really well.”

McConnell and Scott have also been publicly at odds all election cycle when it comes to strategy, with McConnell sounding the alarm about candidate quality while Scott opted to take a hands-off approach in the primaries.

When pressed on whether he would challenge McConnell for the top spot, Scott didn’t rule it out — even though he would have little chance of succeeding.

McCarthy is trying to secure the top job despite threats from hardliners to deny him on Tuesday and a growing suspicion that he is giving away his power for nothing.

What do conservatives and conservatives can do about the House Democratic Caucus in the wake of the 2016 midterm elections? A brief update on the campaign by M. J. McCarthy

According to one senior Republican, political physicists say that you can’t appease the HFC and moderates at the same time. If you straddle that fence, you should be able to tell whether it is barbed wire or not.

It wasn’t clear if Mr. McCarthy enlisted Mr. Trump to help or if he was his own man. The former president has spoken with Eli Crane, an incoming Republican congressman from Arizona, and Representative Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina, among others. A group of current and incoming Republican lawmakers signed a letter requesting concessions from their leaders in the next Congress, including making it easier to remove the speaker.

More context: Trump has been eager to lock up public support from Republicans for his third presidential bid, with a separate GOP source saying he has been asking to see which GOP lawmakers have endorsed him in the media.

Whoever is elected for the top leadership position in the House Democratic caucus would serve as the Speaker nominee. But if Republicans have a majority, that nominee would be expected to fall short in the vote by the full House in the Speaker’s election in January and would be poised to become House Minority Leader instead.

As potential candidates for the higher rungs of House Democratic leadership wait to see what Pelosi does before publicly making moves, some Democrats vying for other positions in their party’s leadership have already announced their candidacy.

Republicans are scheduled to hold a candidate forum on Monday evening, followed by leadership elections on Tuesday, November 15, according to a copy of the schedule shared with CNN.

Whoever is elected to be the next House Democratic Caucus Chair will have to conduct all the leadership elections after November 30.

To be elected to any position in Democratic leadership, a candidate needs to win a majority among those present and voting. If more than two candidates are running and no one wins the majority, one will be eliminated and the other will progress to another round of voting. The process will continue until one candidate gets a majority.

A fundraising pitch to the Freedom Caucus for the election of the next re-elected chair of the House Appropriations Committee (BCAC)

He has resisted making deals to weaken the speakership if enough Freedom Caucus members don’t give him their support.

Emmer told reporters Tuesday he still plans to run and that he doesn’t know if a smaller majority impacts his bid. But his pitch to members is similar to McCarthy’s, saying: “we delivered.”

The Republican Study Committee chair, Jim Banks of Indiana, and Drew Ferguson of Georgia, the chief deputy whip, are competing for the post.

“Of course. Well, you know that I’m not asking anybody – people are campaigning, and that’s a beautiful thing,” the California Democrat told Bash. I am not asking for anything from anyone. My members are asking me to consider doing that. But, again, let’s just get through the election.”

Rep. Jimmy Clyburn and Rep. Joe Neguse: The Race for the Democratic Caucus Chair is Up for grabs in the Role of House Majority Whist

In the role of majority leader, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn is joined by Maryland’s Rep. Steve Israel, and the latter is the House majority whip. House Democratic caucus chair is held by Hakeem Jeffries, while Massachusetts Rep. Clark serves as assistant Speaker.

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, who currently serves as the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, has announced his run for caucus chair to replace Jeffries who is term limited.

The race to lead the DNCC chair is beginning to take shape, after the chair lost his re- election.

Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas of California announced his race for the spot on Friday but others are being floated as well including Reps. Ami Bera and Sara Jacobs of California.

According to six Republican sources, Kevin McCarthy offered a concession to the critics of his bid for the House speakership, reducing the threshold that is used to force a floor vote on ousting the sitting speaker.

Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson said he’ll support McCarthy for leader, noting the GOP gained House seats the last two elections. Simpson said that he had done a good job.

McCarthy has warned that if Republicans don’t unify, Democrats could potentially group together and peel off a few Republicans to become the speaker.

During a closed-door leadership candidate forum on Monday, Virginia Rep. Bob Good, a McCarthy critic, complained that a Super PAC aligned with McCarthy opposed some pro-Trump candidates, and criticized McCarthy for not calling to congratulate him when he won his primary, according to a source in the room. McCarthy said that he ordered $2 million to Good for his race. Good had to be gaveled down in order to cut him off from speaking so they could move to the next question, the source said.

Two people familiar with the conversation say that McCarthy and his allies are trying to convince moderate Democrat Henry Cuellar to join the Republicans. Cuellar flatly rejected the idea. The spokesman for McCarthy said that if these were to happen, they would not be part of the strategy for the majority or for his speakership bid.

The role of House majority whip is up for grabs, should Republicans win control of the chamber.

At the private forum, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the National Republican Congressional Committee chair, was pressed on his vote in support of a bill to codify same-sex marriage earlier this year, according to a source in the room. He said that social issues shouldn’t be brought to the House floor.

McCarthy’s supporters are vowing to keep voting for him on multiple ballots, and GOP sources said there are early discussions about a floor strategy for that potential scenario, including whether to recess the House or let the votes keep rolling – no matter how long it takes.

Kevin is going to fight this out for as long as it takes, and we want to vote for him. But if they think that this will be used to drive him out, we’re not going to bend to their will.

I don’t have reason not to vote for Steve. It is not about whether Steve is better than Kevin. Can you tell me how you are going to run the 118th Congress if you give the gavel to Scalise? One Republican member was upset. “Steve Scalise isn’t going to have any more fun than Kevin McCarthy.”

In a brief interview last month, Scalise said he wasn’t going to discuss speculation on what he might do if McCarthy doesn’t get the votes to become speaker.

He toldCNN that he was not going to get into speculation. We’re focused on getting it resolved by January 3. Kevin has had a lot of discussions with members who have expressed concerns.

Even though Gaetz and other hardliners want him to seek the speakership, Rep. Jim Jordan went further, ruling out jumping into the race even though he’s set to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

“I will vote for Andy for speaker, subject to what we’re discussing,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican after leaving a meeting in McCarthy’s office on Wednesday. He later added: “All this is positive. We’re having good change, regardless of what happens. And you’ll see more of it.”

Some Republicans on Thursday put out a list of conditions that they need to meet to get their vote, but they didn’t explicitly threaten to vote against McCarthy if they aren’t met.

Later Sunday evening, House Republicans unveiled their rules package for the 118th Congress, which formalizes some of the concessions that McCarthy has agreed to. The House adopts its rules package only after it selects a speaker, which McCarthy has not locked down, so there could be additional compromises made in the coming days.

One member told CNN they wanted McCarthy to think again about restoring the motion to remove the speaker’s chair. The tool was used over the head of former Speaker John Boehner, who eventually resigned, and Republicans are concerned that it would undermine their ability to effectively govern.

“I think that’s one of the reasons that we didn’t see a red wave … the idea that people are sick and tired of the noise, and they’re sick and tired of the fighting,” Rep. David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said of the impact of a January 3 floor fight. “And I know I get that wherever I go in my district is, ‘why can’t you guys just get things done?’”

McCarthy delayed the GOP elections for committee chairmanships when he was trying to lock down speaker’s votes. There was some speculation that one of the members competing for a gavel, Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, may retire early if he doesn’t win, which would make McCarthy’s math problem even tougher. Buchanan disagreed with the notion.

Henry Cuellar is a democrat from Texas who told CNN he has been approached by his GOP colleagues about the idea.

Joyce also said some members have reached out to him about potentially running, but he dismissed it. “At the end of the day, Kevin’s going to be the new speaker.”

Hakeem Jeffries, the next House Democratic leader said that there are no behind the scenes conversations he has had with Republicans to put up an alternative candidate. But he refused to rule out a scenario where his caucus would help elect the next speaker if McCarthy couldn’t get the votes.

Jeffries said Democrats are in the middle of organizing the conference. The Republican Conference is in the process of being organized. Let’s see what happens on 3/01/2019.

Some of the potential consensus picks that have been floated included retiring Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and John Katko of New York, who both voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the Capitol insurrection; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus; and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran lawmaker and incoming head of the House Rules Committee.

But that would require agreement from every single Democrat and the help of five Republicans – no easy feat. Upton said he has no plans to be in Washington that day, telling CNN: “I’ll be skiing.”

But Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman said this has happened before – nearly a decade ago in his state where minority Democrats in the Arkansas legislature joined forces with a handful of Republicans to elect a GOP speaker of their choice. Westerman privately made this case to his colleagues at a closed-door meeting this week.

Rep. Ralph J. Westerman and the Congressman after the December 6th, 2021, Attacked at Capitol Hill: Towards a Realistic Congressional Hierarchy

“I’m concerned about January 3 getting here and us not being able to form a Congress and organize committees and getting delayed in pushing the policy objectives that we want to push,” Westerman said.

Westerman added that the discussion over changing House rules is good for the party. He said he was not excited about any destructive movement.

If Mr. McCarthy does have a plan, he has not shared it with members of his leadership team, whom he has cut out of his deliberations about the speakership race in what some regard as a display of paranoia. Instead, he has been spotted with Jeff Miller, a Republican lobbyist, in recent days around the Capitol and RNC headquarters.

An aide to Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said the South Carolinian’s district offices have been inundated with calls from constituents who have received robocalls and “been read a script” by someone warning what could happen if McCarthy isn’t elected speaker because of conservatives like Norman. Those campaigns, Norman’s aide told CNN, have done nothing to influence the congressman’s position, but it does reveal the lengths some McCarthy backers have gone to exert maximum pressure on detractors.

Nancy Pelosi was able to get enough support to get the gavel when she picked off some defectors and used deals to get the votes she needed. Ms. Pelosi won seven votes by agreeing to limits her tenure and eight by promising to put in place rules meant to encourage more bipartisan legislating, and won over her sole would-be challenger by creating a subcommittee chairmanship.

The California Republican has already made a series of pledges in an effort to appease the right flank of his party. He called on Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary to resign after traveling to the southern border. He promised her a spot on the Oversight Committee when she was stripped of her committee assignments for making violent and conspiratorial social media posts.

He has threatened to investigate the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, promising to hold public hearings scrutinizing the security breakdowns that occurred. He has been meeting with lawmakers to get them to vote for him. And on Monday night, he publicly encouraged his members to vote against the lame-duck spending bill to fund the government.

Greene’s personal power as the face of the new GOP parliamentary majority: The case for 2021 Capitol Insurrection and a bipartisan framework agreement

The tiny GOP House majority that takes over in January, after a disappointing midterm performance, would mean a fragile governing mandate for any party at any point in American history. And the ideological struggle being waged by pro-Donald Trump extremists inside the party would have made even a more comfortable majority volatile.

But it also reflected Greene’s growing personal power, after she broke with some radical GOP members and lined up to support McCarthy’s speakership. After coming to Congress as a fringe figure, and quickly losing her committee assignments over her past retweets of violent rhetoric against Democrats, Greene now promises to be one of the most prominent faces of the new GOP majority. That she has the latitude to make what to many people are offensive and insurrectionist comments without any fear of rebuke from her party’s leader says a lot about her position. And it also shows that while Trump’s power may be waning elsewhere after a lackluster launch of his 2024 campaign, his influence over his followers in the House, like Greene, remains strong.

On Tuesday, McCarthy gave the Georgia Republican a pass for her latest effort to mock the trauma of Capitol insurrection when he was trying to secure the speakership. The congresswoman had said over the weekend that had she been in charge on January 6, 2021, the riot would have succeeded and the mob would have been armed. She later insisted she was being sarcastic after the White House complained her comments were a “slap in the face” to law enforcement and against fundamental US values.

A bipartisan framework agreement was announced Tuesday night, which was so critical that it could dump a fiscal crisis on the lap of a weak and easily manipulated new.

The Nightmares of a New Speaker: The Problem of the Anti-Kevin McCarthy Era in the House and the Confrontation with the White House

McCarthy said she thought that she was being facetious when she said she was going to be a speaker. His attitude was not a surprise; it was consistent with his attempts to rewrite the history of the worst attack on US democracy in modern times, for which he briefly said Trump bore responsibility.

McCarthy did not criticize the former president for meeting with a white supremacist and having a dinner with a different rapper who has made antisemitic remarks. The House Republican leader pretended that Trump had condemned Fuentes four times when he didn’t do so once.

Senate GOP Whip John Thune on Tuesday downplayed the threat by McCarthy that he would block bills in the next Congress backed by senators who vote for the spending package. He also suggested Republicans are doing McCarthy a favor by passing this year’s spending bill now rather than leave it to next year, when Republicans will take control of the House.

There is a chance that it could become difficult for Republican senators to vote for a spending deal now that McCarthy has taken up his line.

The idea to kick the anti-Kevin McCarthy lawmakers off their committees is being discussed among some Republicans, according to multiple people involved in the conversations.

The dynamics of the GOP leadership struggle have ensured that the House will amplify the Trump-style politics that resulted in the bifurcated result.

“People need to recognize we don’t need to double down on failed policies and failed candidates,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican. People who are left of center, right of center, were the most successful during the mid-terms.

One of the few Republicans to speak out against McCarthy as speaker acknowledged the reality of a narrowly divided House.

“We are in a community of common fate,” he told CNN. If five people don’t row in the direction of the ship, then it isn’t going anywhere. It is true on policy choices and on impeachment, and on the speakership vote and on the budget.

“Some of the questions that remain unanswered is what other deals are going to be cut, you know, what guarantees, what concessions are going to be made?” Womack asked. “We got to be careful that we don’t give a lot of that leverage away.”

The Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill: Mixing Up the Conference and Delivering the Conciliatory Signal of a Reformated Congress, Rep. Braly Moore

In a Wednesday conference-wide meeting, the latest of the series ahead of the new Congress, McCarthy held a forum to let his members continue debating potential rules changes and other concessions, even though there is still no resolution on the controversial motion to vacate the chair.

At this point many members are still preaching unity, calling the private deal-making part of the process, and emphasizing that the conference will come together when the new Congress begins January 3. To that end, the Republican Governance Group sent a letter to their colleagues.

“It shouldn’t be a surprise that Republicans are out there having conversations and talking about different points of view,” GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told CNN.

Despite the high stakes in the negotiations, members from opposing groups have had some fun with one another. Burchett hosted a Christmas party in his office this week, where all corners of Capitol Hill came together, including some anti-McCarthy lawmakers. Amid the Mountain Dew fountain and “charcuterie plate” consisting of Cheez Whiz and Ritz crackers, Burchett at one point rode the skateboard of Gaetz’s wife.

The various groups actually agreed on most things at the end of the day and were not worried about being tense next year, as stated by Utah Republican Rep. Braly Moore, who is part of the governing wing.

“I’ve said this over and over again: there is not this, like, enormous amount of drama,” Moore told CNN. I had a meeting with House Freedom Caucus members and we agreed on some things. And it’s an enormous amount.”

Kevin McCarthy warned Friday that if conservative hardliners don’t bend, the GOP majority could be derailed.

While five GOP members are threatening to vote as a bloc on January 3, McCarthy warns that they will be in grave danger.

McCarthy said that this year is a presidential year and that you only have so many months to govern. You want to hit the ground running. You don’t start strong if you lose a quarter. You do not get new, strong candidates. You don’t get more resources to be able to supply those candidates to get the message out.”

This year they will have to take care of a lot of unfinished business and it would be difficult, especially since they have a narrow majority.

The silly season is still going on. For most of us, that’s over after you get elected. But he’s running for speaker of the House, so the silliness is still evident,” he said.

And some of McCarthy’s fiercest critics, including Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, told CNN they see the five-person threshold as still too high, underscoring the significant challenge McCarthy faces as he works to lock down the speakership.

Some of the party’s moderate wing have privately suggested that they’d be willing to compromise on a 50 person threshold.

The False Claims of George Santos and the Future of the Investigative Investigation in the House Minority Caucus

All of this will be a major topic of discussion during a crucial conference call on Friday afternoon that McCarthy scheduled with the various ideological caucuses in the House GOP, just four days ahead of the January 3 speaker’s vote.

Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said he wasn’t happy with the low threshold McCarthy agreed to, though he indicated he would swallow it, but only if it helps McCarthy win the speakership. The rules package will be scrapped if McCarthy ends up losing the speakership bid.

“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.”

The host of the daily show is a former attorney named Dean Obeidallah. Follow him @[email protected]. The opinions are of his own. CNN has more opinion on it.

The New York Times has been reporting on George Santos’s false claims about his education and work experience ever since they published it on December 19th. (Santos later described these falsehoods as “resume embellishment” but admitted to misrepresenting his employment and educational background.)

A review of genealogy records disproved his grandparents’ claim that they fled the horrors of the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium. Santos did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Adding to the firestorm are recent developments that federal and state authorities have launched criminal investigations into Santos over his finances and fabrications. When he first ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 2020, Santos reported he had no assets, yet somehow he was able to lend his 2022 campaign $700,000.

But it’s not just McCarthy. The GOP leadership has largely been silent about Santos. One of the few senior GOP lawmakers to chime in was James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee. The Fox News host described the actions of Santos as a disgrace. But Comer didn’t call for Santos to step aside, instead only saying he’s “pretty confident” the House Ethics Committee will investigate Santos.

McCarthy has criticized the border policy of the Biden administration and played up accusations that the FBI suppressed news stories about Democrats.

Imagine if there was a scandal involving an incoming Democratic member of Congress. McCarthy likely would be screaming about how this representative-elect should not be in Congress and how the Democratic leadership needed to denounce this politician.

Since 1931, the only possible first-time speaker who had such a small majority was Democrat John Nance Garner. The only first-time speaker in recent times who comes close to McCarthy’s current situation is former Illinois Rep. Dennis Hastert, whose Republican Party entered 1999 with 223 seats. Hastert had the advantage of being a compromise choice after Newt Gingrich stepped down after the 1998 midterms and his would-be successor Bob Livingston resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair.

The Case for Speakership: A Letter to McCarthy, Sen. Gimenez, and a Special Commit to Investigative Weaponization

A CNN/SSRS poll last month found him to have a positive net favorable rating among Republicans. That’s certainly not bad. (Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has notoriously low ratings among Republicans.) Net favorability of +30 points isn’t really good.

Either way, all of this GOP angst is a pretty decent consolation prize for Democrats after losing the House majority. If nothing else, they’re watching a Republican Party that can’t seem to get its act together after a historically bad midterm for an opposition party.

He made his case for the speakership in a letter to his colleauges, offering to make sure that the ideological groups are better represented on committees.

Not long after Sunday’s call, a group of nine hardliners – who had outlined their demands to McCarthy last month – put out a new letter saying some of the concessions he announced are insufficient and making clear they’re still not sold on him, though they did say progress is being made.

“Thus far, there continue to be missing specific commitments with respect to virtually every component of our entreaties, and thus, no means to measure whether promises are kept or broken,” the letter, obtained by CNN, states.

The moderates who fear that the motion will be used as constant cudgel over McCarthy’s head, pushed back and expressed their frustration during the call, sources said.

Gimenez then repeated the question, asking McCarthy to answer it. McCarthy told them that they have two days to close the deal, according to sources.

Gaetz’s answer was, “Yes, if he agreed to bring the motion down to a single lawmaker.” The rules were changed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi so it used to be possible for a single lawmaker to pass a motion to vacate the threshold. McCarthy had refused to entertain that idea, but if he is making that offer now, he would consider it.

The package released late Sunday includes giving five Republicans the power to call for a vote on deposing the sitting speaker; restoring the ability to zero out a government official’s salary; giving lawmakers 72 hours to a read bill before it comes to the floor; and creating a new select commit to investigative the “weaponization” of the Justice Department and the FBI.

The discharge petition process will not be changed, despite the rules package, because it allows lawmakers to force a bill to the floor with the support of at least 218 lawmakers.

Other notable items that might be of interest: The rules package prohibits remote hearings and markups, does away with staffer unionization efforts and allows the House Ethics Committee to take ethic complaints from the public.

Four days before the House speaker vote, when his critics were still noncommittal about their support for his speakership bid, even after the California Republican had offered a number of key concessions – including making it easier to oust the sitting speaker – he attempted to give them the hard sell.

Despite McCarthy warning them that they were still not sold and even after he gave in to some of their most ardent demands during a Sunday conference call, a group of at least nine Republicans have made clear that they are not sold.

“To be honest, we are preparing for a fight. Not the way we want to start out in our new majority, but you can’t really negotiate against the position of ‘give us everything we ask for and we won’t guarantee anything in return,’” Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, a member of the centrist-leaning Republican Governance Group, told CNN.

“I give Kevin a ton of credit. He worked very hard to figure out a way forward after bringing everyone in. A way to make this place run better. But I get the feeling that not everyone is negotiating in good faith.”

McCarthy spent the week in between Christmas and New Year’s in deal-making mode, working the phones with critics and supporters alike to find consensus on rules changes designed to win over holdouts.

A Bipartisan Battle over the House Speaker: Sen. Patrick McCarthy’s Failure to Win a Preliminary Senate Recommender

He can only afford to lose four votes on the House floor, and so far, at least five Republicans have vowed to oppose him, with nearly a dozen other GOP lawmakers publicly saying they’re still not there yet.

The group still wants a single member to be allowed to call for a vote to topple the speaker, and they would like a commitment from leadership that they will not play in primaries.

In another strategic move, McCarthy postponed races for any contested committee chairs until after the speaker vote. The Freshman members were supposed to have input in the process, but they believe it was a way for him to be protected from criticism from people who lose their races.

In phone calls and text messages during the holidays, McCarthy’s defenders vowed to him and each other they wouldn’t let a handful of members control their conference.

Though the Freedom Caucus has been divided over McCarthy, the opposition is still playing hardball and working in tandem.

The committee in charge of administrative matters sent a letter last week outlining the practical implications and pitfalls of a drawn-out speaker’s fight. According to the memo, committees will not be able to pay staff without an approved House Rules package.

Student loan payments for committee staff wouldn’t be disbursed if the rules package isn’t adopted by mid-January according to the same memo.

One of the ways a battle over the next speaker could endanger the House and the Republican majority is to bring about harsher penalties on rank-and-file staffers.

Even with the race far from settled, boxes from McCarthy’s office were spotted by CNN being moved into the speaker’s suite last week – a standard protocol, but a sign he’s committed to seeking the job.

“It is a bizarre game of chicken where both sides have ripped the steering wheel off the dashboard and are just going pedal to the metal,” one member said of the ongoing standoff between pro- and anti-McCarthy factions.

The challenge of running for the floor: Will Scalise have the 218 votes to become the Speaker? A warning warning for Republicans in the 118th Congress

Yet another complicating factor: It is far from clear whether Scalise himself could get the 218 votes to win the speakership, underscoring the prospects that Tuesday could devolve into a long and drawn-out floor fight the chamber has not experienced in 100 years and one that could undercut Republicans’ ability to govern just as they come into power in the 118th Congress.

Don says that Steve is trying to be very supportive. “He has been public that he is supporting McCarthy. Someday, I think he wants to be a speaker. so he’s got to be tactful.”

Many House Republicans want to maintain the current threshold of 51 percent, but some of them want to lower it to just one member who can call for a vote.

One GOP member thinks that if it becomes clear that KMC won’t get their vote, people will become more set against rule and operational changes.

Indeed, asked if Scalise would need to agree to the same concessions as McCarthy, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told CNN: “Of course. The McCarthy concessions are a baseline for anyone.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/02/politics/mccarthy-floor-fight-steve-scalise/index.html

Rep. Dusty Dent’s “chaotic agent” will not be the next speaker of the House GOP conference on Tuesday, and if so, what will they do?

Good said a new candidate would emerge on Tuesday and that they shouldn’t be rushing to make a bad decision. He declined to specify the member and also declined to comment about Scalise.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican, said that he found it “incredible” that the same members pushing for a more “open and transparent” GOP conference are getting behind a “shadow candidate” they plan to “ambush” Republicans with at the start of the new Congress.

“I think members are growing increasingly frustrated with the intransigence of some of the holdouts,” Johnson told CNN, calling some of them “chaos agents who are trying to cause trouble.”

One GOP lawmaker said that people should not believe it’s a noble cause. “No one should believe that this is anything other than self aggrandizement. They are trying to push procedures that no one cares about outside of Washington only to give themselves more power.”

Mullin, who is a Republican and outgoing House member, met with McCarthy on Monday. Mullin, who has been helping to lobby House members to back McCarthy, said he and others have been encouraging McCarthy with a simple message: “Stay put.”

Even if Republicans do not choose the next speaker on Tuesday, they will still double down on the hard-edged politics that most voters rejected in the last election.

Dent, like Davis, believes that aggressive investigation will produce worthwhile revelations, including some that are inevitably uncomfortable for the Biden administration. But Dent acknowledges the potential for the hearings to backfire on Republicans if they appear shrill or focused on far-right grievances and conspiracy theories. “It’s the way you do things and the tone that matters,” Dent says. They have all sorts of issues to jump on that, but won’t play well. With the public. The speaker is going to be in this position to have to mediate these disputes constantly.”

The GOP has lost ground since Donald Trump took office: Empowered, extreme MAGA candidates will win if they can win, but they will not vote

Since then, the only selection that has required more than a single ballot came in 1923, when Republicans holding only a narrow majority comparable to their advantage this year took nine ballots to select their speaker. The problem was that a minority of progressive Republicans resisted the conservative Speaker Frederick Gillett.

“I think he prevails because there is no other candidate with his experience and fundraising ability and at the end of the day the party base will close ranks because nothing happens until you have a Speaker: No investigations… nothing,” former GOP Rep. Tom Davis, who served as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote me in an email. “And the vast majority of the Conference is loyal to him.”

“In some ways, win or lose [for McCarthy] it doesn’t matter,” says Leslie Dach, a senior adviser to the Congressional Integrity Project, a Democratic-aligned group established to respond to the coming House investigations of the Biden administration. The next two years will see the death of people because of the power and podium these people have.

By ensuring that hardline Trump allies such as Jordan and Greene will be highly visible – and authorizing them to pursue conservative grievances like the charge that the FBI has become “weaponized” against the right – Dach and other Democrats believe the House majority will reinforce the GOP’s image as the party of Trump precisely as more party strategists, donors and elected officials are insisting Republicans must move beyond him.

“The real show is going to be these empowered, extreme MAGA types,” Dach insists. “Every day that they are on a committee, every day they are on television, is a bad day for the entire Republican Party.”

The GOP has lost ground since Trump took office, according to Michael Podhorzer.

There were only one Democratic governor, four Democratic Senators, no speaker of the state assembly and no majority leader in the senate when he was inaugurated in 2017, according to Podhorzer. In a month, four of the five states will have Democratic governors, 9 of the 10 Senators are Democrats, and three of the state legislative chambers are led by Democrats. Since 2016, he adds, Democrats in those places “have done nothing but win because those states are not going to elect MAGA” Republicans.

“It was two midterms happening at the same time – depending on whether you were in a place where that new bubble of Democratic voters believed they had to come out to beat MAGA again,” Podhorzer argued.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/politics/right-house-speakership-election/index.html

Do We Really Need a Speaker in the House? Sen. Scott Perry’s Recriminant Tweet on New Year’s Day: “Nothing changes when nothing changes”

That’s unlikely to create many problems for Republicans in the places where they are already strong. In the mid-term elections of 2010, Republicans consolidated their control of America and held governorships and state legislatures in many states that have pursued the most conservative agendas over the past two years.

Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Scott Perry, a leading McCarthy critic who signed onto a letter with nine other Republicans circulated on New Year’s day, tweeted: “nothing changes when nothing changes.” He cited the letter, which states “the times call for a radical departure of the status quo — not a continuation of the past, and ongoing Republican failures.”

But nothing else can happen in the House of Representatives until a speaker is elected. The only leadership position mentioned in the constitution is it.

McCarthy’s allies have been pushing the concept of an “O.K.” strategy and have been talking about trying to rally around a consensus candidate. There is potential for the process to drag out for hours or even days if McCarthy is unable to convince some of the holdouts to back him.

A senior GOP source tells CNN that McCarthy is defiant despite opposition and that people close to him are summing up his mentality as, “We’re going to war.” Don’t back down.

Reply to the “Comment on McCartney’s Way to the Speaker of the House” by J.D. Jordan

A candidate for speaker of the House needs to win a majority of votes in order to become speaker. That amounts to 218 votes if no member skips the vote or votes “present.”

McCarthy got 203 votes while Jim Jordan got 19 on the second ballot. Jordan, to show that he is not vying for the job, nominated McCarthy ahead of the vote on the second ballot. That move did not deter McCarthy critics from voting for Jordan, however.

But when a red wave never materialized in the November midterms, the razor-thin majority that resulted for Republicans empowered a small band of conservatives – long distrustful of McCarthy – to make demands.

The last two months has seen an all-out scramble for the Speakership, with strategy sessions with allies on Capitol Hill, intense negotiations over rules changes and non-stop phone calls with members.