Replacing Speaker John McCarthy in the House: Implications for Border Security and the Reform of the U.S.-Mexico Pandemic

McCarthy was given a standing applause by his colleagues at the private meeting. McCarthy promised that he would strip away power from Democrats, saying, if elected, he would kick Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee, according to a source in the room. He was able to point out his role in returning Republicans to power.

The Biden administration continues to rely on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule, known as Title 42, that allows border authorities to turn migrants away at the US-Mexico border. 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. It doesn’t mean that something won’t be used in the future.

McCarthy said that he was very supportive of Ukraine. There needs to be accountability going forward. … You always need, not a blank check, but make sure the resources are going to where it is needed. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.”

McCarthy’s comments represent a sharp escalation in his public pressure campaign against the five members who have signaled they plan to deny him the 218 votes he needs to become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January. McCarthy has spent hours behind closed doors negotiating a number of rules with the hardline group in order to weaken the speakership and empower their members.

It is proposed that making it easier for the Legislature to oust a speaker is one way the group wants to improve the situation. That is something that McCarthy is adamantly against and was wielded over former Speaker John Boehner before he eventually resigned.

Fentanyl and the Debt Ceiling: When will Congress get rid of the $fama$ embargo? How will the President and Senate look at the Mexican border?

When talking about the policy where migrants were not allowed to leave Mexico while waiting for their immigration proceedings in the United States, he said that “stay in Mexico” would be the right way to go.

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.”

The president will veto most bills and the Senate will need to raise the national debt limit at some point next year, but they will mostly be messaging efforts. It was McCarthy who signaled that Republicans would demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling.

“If you’re going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say you should change your behavior, so you just don’t keep raising and all the time?” He said that he did. You should not say I am going to allow you to keep spending money. It is not a household that should do that.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Congressional Position on House and Senate Committees: Corrupt Correlations Unnerve Paul Pelosi

Multiple senators said that McCarthy’s comment unnerved McConnell. The GOP leader had told the White House at a private meeting that he wanted a large spending deal to finish this year, but Republicans didn’t expect him to go against McConnell if he came out against it. McConnell had been trying to cut a massive funding deal that would have cleared the way for McCarthy to be elected. But as he continued, the House GOP leader voiced his opposition against it.

McCarthy wouldn’t say if he would risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. You don’t risk making a mistake.

To that end, McCarthy has vowed to reinstate freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to her committee assignments, despite being stripped of her assignments by Democrats last year for her inflammatory remarks.

McCarthy said there was no restrictions on which committees Greene could serve, when asked if he had a say in it. A seat on the House Oversight Committee will play a big role in the investigations of GOP-led investigations, as she told CNN previously.

“She’s going to have committees to serve on, just like every other member … He said that the steering committee would look at the request of the members. She can put through any committees she wants as long as she’s a member of our conference.

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.

Speaker’s Race for the House: What does the American public know about the future of the House of Representatives? A Freedom Caucus Viewpoint

He told the president to refrain from calling Half the nation idiots or saying things about them that have a difference of opinion. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. It will begin with the speaker as well.

During a meeting of the House Freedom Caucus in Washington, DC, last week, there was a discussion about whether he should be speaker. I believe we should have a very frank discussion about our 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.

A group of hardline Freedom Caucus members are in Washington, DC this week for a new member orientation, where they are crafting their strategy for the speaker’s race. They are going to use their leverage in the GOP-led House to get more power.

While discussions over retributions for McCarthy’s foes, which have not been previously reported, have not gone beyond casual conversations among rank-and-file members, the threat shows how Republicans – particularly moderates – are wrestling with ways to act as a counterweight to the so-called “Never Kevin” movement, which is threatening to derail the California Republican’s speakership bid.

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.

Norman said that the group wants to make a longer list of rules changes. They are pushing for the internal leadership elections to be pushed back, but there is no indication McCarthy will do so.

Norman said that the taxpayers who voted for their representatives deserve the credit for delivering the majority.

But there is at least one member who has said there is nothing McCarthy could do to earn his vote. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said McCarthy was not his first choice to be the leader, even though he was in the top 100.

Gaetz said that the C team shouldn’t start with a slim majority. “We need to put our star players in a position to shine brightest so that we can attract more people to our policies and ideas.”

What is wrong with McConnell’s superPAC and what is their influence on the outcome of the House and Senate leadership elections? Commentary of Rep. Scott Scott

Recriminations are occurring across the Capitol, where some House Republicans are questioning their leaderships embrace of theMAGA wing, lack of cohesive message on abortion, and decisions to spend resources in deep blue territory late in the game.

McConnell has been calling his colleagues over the last several days to shore up his support as his team plans to plow forward with leadership elections on Wednesday. The GOP is going to have an air-clearing session on Tuesday.

The conservative from Arizona doubled down on his commitment to stop McCarthy from being the most powerful member of congress after learning that the California Republican would be the most powerful member of congress.

The Senate leadership election, which is scheduled for Wednesday, is being called into question by the National Republican Senatorial Committee chaired by Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

“From a governing perspective, it’s important that Republicans don’t start January 3 by going face down and not having some clarity as to what we’re going to be able to accomplish” GOP Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas told CNN. We need to demonstrate that the American people were right in giving us a slim majority, even though it was just a small one.

Meanwhile, Trump aides and allies have been privately critical of Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, amid the GOP’s underwhelming midterm gains, especially on the House side. CNN doesn’t yet believe which party will have control of the lower chamber. Jim Banks, an ally of Trump Jr., is competing for the position of House GOP whip.

They have been measuring the drapes and putting together an agenda. They haven’t won it yet,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Depending on who was in the majority, they will make decisions about how we go forward after the election.

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.

But others in the party have placed the blame squarely on Trump, whose hand-picked candidates failed in key Senate races that determined control of the Senate. The Kentucky Republican and his allies were not going to be amused by the fact that McConnells superPAC spent more in Senate races than any other group.

Pat Toomey said that there is a high correlation between candidates with MAGA and big losses. “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.

Even though Scott wouldn’t have a good chance of succeeding, he was willing to challenge McConnell for the top spot.

McCarthy told Hugh Hewitt that they are still talking, but they have not moved. “And the difficulty here is that you know, we are the only Republican entity stopping the Biden administration. But we’re also going to be the only ones that can move forward. Getting committees up and running and being able to do the things we need to do from the beginning would be delayed.

One senior Republican told CNN that political physics shows that you can’t appease the moderates and HFC at the same time. If you straddle the fence, you should hope it’s not barbed wire.

The First Candidates for the House Leadership Elections: Trump’s Campaign Against Corresponding Particles and Embedding in the Media

Sources say Trump has spoken with McCarthy multiple times since the elections and his camp is hoping the endorsement will win over some of the Trump supporters who have been critical of McCarthy.

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.

A new Congress won’t be sworn in until January and control of the House has not yet been determined, but Republicans appear on track to recapture the chamber and the race to determine who will serve as the next speaker is underway.

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.

The Republicans are holding a candidate forum on Monday, followed by leadership elections on Tuesday, according to a copy of the schedule shared with CNN.

Democrats in the House will hold leadership elections on Wednesday, November 30. Voting will take place behind closed doors via secret ballot using an app.

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 run and no one wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes after the first round of voting will be eliminated and voting will proceed to a second round. That process continues until one candidate wins a majority.

The California Democrat isn’t asking anybody for anything but the Freedom Caucus: Why he’s planning to run in the next election

If there is not enough support from the Freedom Caucus, he could be forced to make deals to undermine the speakership, something he’s resisted for years.

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.”

Emmer is challenging Banks, the Republican Study Committee chair, and Ferguson, the chief deputy Whip, for the post.

“Of course. The California Democrat told Bash that he was not asking anybody, that people were campaigning and that was a beautiful thing. “And I’m not asking anyone for anything. My members are asking me to do something. Let’s just get through the election.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic Democrat, and the Freedom Caucus: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and his race for the House Speakership

The House majority whip is South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn. Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark serves in the role of assistant Speaker and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries serves as House Democratic caucus chair.

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 party’s campaign arm, DCCC chair, is starting to take shape up after the current chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York lost his reelection.

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.

Several members of the Freedom Caucus met with McCarthy in his office Monday as they seek to extract concessions from him in exchange for their speaker votes.

Bob Good, who said McCarthy faces an uphill climb to the speakership, asked McCarthy to bring to them his proposal for running the House.

Although they’ve been trying to get rules changes that will allow individual members to make decisions, that’s not the only thing they have to contend with.

He said they want to change the place to reflect the will of people and acknowledge how broken it is. It is incumbent on anyone wanting to lay out their vision and explain how they would change it, to do so.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is hoping to pass a crucial test on Tuesday in his campaign to become House speaker despite an underwhelming midterm election performance that launched a search among conservatives for a challenger.

Idaho GOP congressman Mike Simpson, who is republican, is in favor of McCarthy for leader. “He’s done a good job,” said Simpson.

McCarthy said that recruiting GOP candidates is not only taking longer. “It’s being prepared to not only defend the majority, but grow the majority.”

A source in the room stated that during the leadership candidate forum, Virginia Representative Bob Good complained about McCarthy and his support for pro- Trump candidates, while criticizes McCarthy for not calling to congratulate him when he won his primary. McCarthy replied that he directed $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.

The two sources familiar with the conversation say that McCarthy and his allies are trying to convince moderate Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar to switch parties in a bid to increase their margin. Cuellar flatly rejected the idea. The GOP leader was not involved in these conversations and they are not part of their strategy for the majority or for McCarthy’s speakership bid.

Still, McCarthy and Scalise appear to be in command of their leadership races, while the No. 3 House GOP position remains up for grabs, which would be the role of House majority whip, if Republicans win control of the chamber.

A source in the room said that during the private forum, Minnesota’s Tom Emmer was pressed on his vote for codifying same-sex marriage earlier this year. He said that divisive social issues should not be brought to the House floor.

Aside from plotting potential retribution, there is also concern among those who support McCarthy over what kind of deals he could be willing to make in order to secure the votes for speaker.

Bacon added if GOP hardliners don’t bend, then he would be willing to work with Democrats to find another more moderate Republican to secure the 218 votes to become speaker.

“If at some point, if Kevin did take his name out, then you would have good people (running). One Republican lawmaker thinks that scalaise would be the guy.

Scalise has repeatedly vowed to support McCarthy and refused to speculate on whether he would jump into the race if the GOP leader can’t get the votes.

No, I am not going to get into speculation at this time. It is our focus to get it resolved by January 3. There have been a lot of conversations with the members who have expressed concerns.

Jim Jordan, who’s going to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, ruled out jumping into the speaker race even though he’s been urged by Gaetz and other hardliners to do so.

“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. You’ll see more of it.

McCarthy needs to put more conservatives on key committees in order to get to 218 and their demands include a promise that leaders won’t play in primaries, restoring the motion to dismiss the speaker, and giving members at least 72 hours to read bill text before voting.

But as McCarthy struggles to shore up support for his speaker’s bid, he is facing immense pressure from his right flank to take a harder line on a number of policy issues, including on the spending package. Hardliners want to wait to fund the government until the new year when the House GOP will be in charge and thus have more leverage in the process.

McCarthy has been adamantly opposed to restoring the “motion to vacate the chair,” and a majority of the House GOP voted against the idea during a during a closed-door meeting last month. When asked by CNN on Thursday if he would visit the issue, McCarthy laughed and refused to answer.

The impact of January on the red wave was the idea that people were tired of the fighting and were sick of the noise. I know that wherever I go, the people in my district want you to just get things done.

As McCarthy scrambles to lock down speaker’s votes, he also delayed the GOP’s internal elections for committee chairmanships. There were rumors that if Buchanan did not win, he would retire early, which would make McCarthy’s math problem even more difficult. Buchanan disagreed with the notion.

Some Democrats have said they would entertain the idea, including Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas who told CNN some of his GOP colleagues have approached him “informally” about it.

Joyce also said some members have reached out to him about potentially running, but he dismissed it. Kevin will become the new speaker at the end of the day.

Hakeem Jeffries said that there are no behind the scenes conversations that he has had with Republicans to put up an alternative candidate. If McCarthy didn’t have the votes he could lose the speakership, but he refused to rule it out.

The Democrats are organizing the conference according to Jeffries. Republicans are getting ready for the Republican Conference. What will happen on January 3?

Retiring congressmen who voted for Donald Trump to be impeached included John Katko of New York and Fred Upton of Michigan.

The agreement of every single democrat and five republicans is required for that to happen. He is not going to be in Washington on that day, but he will 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.

Westerman, McCarthy, and the Wolf of the Deal: Where are we heading? How will we get there? What are we going to do next year?

Westerman said that he is concerned about January 3 getting here and not being able to form a congress and push the policy objectives he wants to push.

Westerman added that the discussion over changing House rules is good for the party. He said he wasn’t really excited about any destructive movement.

Just a few hours before McConnell declared on Tuesday that the deal in the works was broadly appealing, McCarthy told House Republicans that he was against the spending package. Congressional negotiators said Tuesday evening that they have reached a framework that should allow the legislature to complete a full-year government funding package.

And now as Congress is wrapping up its work for the year to fund federal agencies through next fall, McCarthy and McConnell are headed on a collision course, underscoring the competing political forces in their respective conferences that the two will have to work through next year when the GOP takes power in the House.

Asked if he was aware that McConnell felt betrayed by McCarthy, the senator said, “Yeah!”, while adding that he thinks that McConnell is reflecting on what is happening in the House.

McCarthy, whose office declined to comment, pointed to remarks he made after the November White House meeting where he said that continuing resolutions to fund the government “are not where we want to be.” If Democrats don’t work with us, a short-term patch will be needed, according to the California Republican.

The Senate and House are both fast- moving and slow- moving, so the Senate may need a single senator to break a tie and pass a bill and the House may need a simple majority to approve it. McConnell will be the majority leader of the Senate and McCarthy will lead the House in the new Congress. If McCarthy is elected Speaker on January 3, he’ll only be able to get the votes of four Republicans to pass legislation.

“Everybody’s probably got a reason at the moment to oppose it,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican and top GOP appropriator, said of McCarthy. They can oppose it on political and philistine grounds.

McCarthy pointed his finger at Democrats, instead of answering a question about McConnell supporting the emerging funding package.

“We’re on defense,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters. We are dealing with the cards we were dealt. He said that they were able to raise funding for defense programs and oppose Democrats’ attempts to raise money for other domestic programs.

Even as McCarthy signals his staunch opposition to the massive spending package, some of his critics are complaining about how the process is playing out.

The leader of the House Freedom Caucus said that there is a plan to roll the House of Representatives on an additional trillions of dollars in spending. Tell me the story of how something changes here. I’m curious to hear but I don’t see anything changing.

House GOP leadership is formally whipping against the one-week short-term spending patch to extend this Friday’s deadline until December 23, and Republican sources believe leaders will likely whip against the omnibus bill as well. McConnell is likely to vote for one of the packages.

If Mr. McCarthy does have a plan, he has not given it to members of his leadership team, which they perceive as a show of paranoia because he has not shared it with them. Instead, he has been spotted in recent days around the Capitol and the Republican National Committee headquarters nearby with Jeff Miller, a Republican lobbyist who is among his closest confidants.

Mr. Norman described his call with Mr. Trump as a private conversation, which was why he declined to talk about it. He said he was still undecided about whom he would support for speaker. Mr. Crane did not respond to requests for comment.

When Nancy Pelosi found herself short of the number of votes she needed to win the speaker’s gavel, she quietly picked off her Defectors, cutting deals to get the necessary votes. Ms. Pelosi, renowned for her ability to arm-twist and coax, won seven votes by agreeing to limit her tenure, picked up another eight by promising to implement rules aimed at fostering more bipartisan legislating, and won over her sole would-be challenger by creating a subcommittee chairmanship for her.

California Republican has made a number of pledges in order to appease the right flank of his party. He traveled to the southern border and called on Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, to resign or face potential impeachment proceedings. He promised Ms. Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments for making a series of violent and conspiratorial social media posts before she was elected, a plum spot on the Oversight Committee.

He is going to hold hearings on the security failures that led to the attack on the Capitol. He has been attempting to win over a group of conservative lawmakers. And on Monday night, he publicly encouraged his members to vote against the lame-duck spending bill to fund the government.

The Face of Congress: Kevin McCarthy’s 2012 Year-Ended Debate about the Capitol Insurrection and the State of the Art

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. Even a more comfortable majority could be made volatile by the ideological struggle waged by Trump extremists inside of the party.

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 having her committee assignments taken away and becoming a fringe figure in congress after promoting violent rhetoric against Democrats, she is certain to be the face of the GOP majority in congress. 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. It also shows that while Trump may be losing clout in other parts of the country, his influence over his followers in the House is still strong.

The steps McCarthy is taking to try to secure the speakership – and the future complications that may entail – were evident on Tuesday when he gave Greene, the Georgia Republican, a pass for her latest effort to mock the trauma of the Capitol insurrection. 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 claimed she was being sarcastic because of what the White House said about her comments.

This is the reason why this year’s year-end fight about whether to fund the government for a full year or only just a few months is so important because it could lead to a fiscal crisis if there’s no agreement.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speakership-battle-analysis/index.html

How anti-Kevin McCarthy caused the Midterms to go a little too fast: why the ship isn’t going anywhere

McCarthy shrugged it off and said that she thought she was being facetious. It was obvious that his attitude was a result of his attempt to rewrite the history of the worst attack on US democracy when he briefly said Trump bore responsibility.

The same dynamic was at play when McCarthy declined to directly criticize the ex-president for meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes at a dinner also featuring Kanye West, the rapper now known as Ye, who has recently made a string of antisemitic remarks. In a histrionic performance at the White House after meeting Biden and other congressional leaders last month, the House Republican leader falsely claimed that Trump had condemned Fuentes four times, when he hadn’t done so once.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said that McCarthy saying any bill sponsored by a Republican senator who supports the omnibus bill will be “dead on arrival in the House” is “silliness” on McCarthy’s part.

As frustration inside the House GOP has grown over a small band of anti-Kevin McCarthy lawmakers, an idea to strike back at the rebellious group has been floated among some Republicans: kicking these members off their committees, according to multiple members involved in the conversations.

With a razor-thin House majority, the dynamic offers a glimpse of what will happen next year when moderate andMAGA wings go head to head. A part of the reason for the divide is that centrist House Republicans who identify with the governing wing of the GOP feel appreciated after many extremists failed in the midterms.

“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. The way the Midterms were conducted was caused by the fact that people in the left and right of center were the most successful.

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the handful of Republican lawmakers to come out in firm opposition to McCarthy as speaker, also acknowledged the reality of a narrowly divided House.

We are all in the same community, he told CNN. If five people don’t row in that direction the ship isn’t going anywhere. And that’s true on impeachment, it’s true on the speakership vote, it’s true on the budget, it’s true on policy choices.”

The questions that remain unanswered are what other deals will be cut, what guarantees, what concessions are going to be made. “Who asked?” Womack asked. We have to be careful that we don’t give too much leverage away.

The GOP Freedom Caucus in the Presence of an Enough Bumper and the Electoral Candidate: Confronting the Problem of the Next Congress

Even though there is still no resolution on the controversial motion to leave the chair in the new Congress, McCarthy held a forum to let his members debate rule changes and other concessions even though there is no resolution.

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 recently sent a letter urging their colleagues to unite behind McCarthy.

“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.

Even amid the high-stakes negotiations, members from competing factions have had time to have some fun with one another. All of Capitol Hill came together for a Christmas party this week that included some anti-McCarthy lawmakers. Amid the Mountain Dew fountain and a charcuterie plate containing Cheez Whiz and Ritz crackers, he rode the skateboard of Gaetz’s wife.

The Utah Republican, who identifies himself as part of the governing wing, said there’s no reason for people to be worried about next year.

“I’ve said this over and over again: there is not this, like, enormous amount of drama,” Moore told CNN. I met with the Members of the House Freedom Caucus to talk about what we agree on. And it’s an enormous amount.”

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday that five conservative hardliners have not budged in their opposition to his speaker’s bid, offering dire warnings that their hard-fought Republican majority could be derailed if they don’t bend.

The five GOP members who have warned they may vote as a bloc will all vote on January 3.

The Wolf of the Throat: Kevin Trump, Paul Ryan and the GOB dysfunction in the House of Representatives (and the Future of the House)

“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard. In an interview with Breitbart News, Trump stated that he thinks he deserves the shot. Hopefully, he will be strong and good. and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”

It is a very dangerous game. There could be bad things that happen. Look, we had Boehner and he was a strange person but we ended up with Paul Ryan who was ten times worse,” Trump told Breitbart. “Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. He’s the worst speaker in history.

“We’re still continuing to talk, but they have not moved,” McCarthy told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, taking to the airwaves to argue that the detractors threaten to put the entire House Republican agenda in peril and that basic decisions on legislating and investigating will be “all in jeopardy.”

Delving into “GOP dysfunction since Election Day,” the editorial board said, “Republicans are the gang that couldn’t shoot straight – except at one another.”

He said that the emotions are high. We have different opinions about how best to fund the government and we are very close to a holiday. I understand. But in the end, I think it’ll get done and I think it will set the stage for next year and it seems to be at least in the House next year, that would be an advantage for them. They’ll start with a clean slate.

We are in the silly season of a campaign. 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.