McCarthy critics say concession on motion to vacate doesn't go far enough

Juliegrace Brufke

January 01, 11:23 PM January 01, 11:23 PM

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is continuing to struggle to lock down the votes needed to become the next Speaker just two days ahead of the floor vote, with conservatives stating that his major concessions laid out on a New Year’s day conference call fell short of what is needed to secure their support.

McCarthy told GOP lawmakers that he would lower the threshold for the motion to vacate the chair — a procedural tool used to oust a sitting Speaker that was changed under Democrats in 2019 from allowing any single member to initiate the motion to only be able to be brought up for a vote over the objection of leadership — down to five members despite pushback from moderates in his conference. While his defectors — who laid out a series of demands including the motion to vacate, placing more GOP hard-liners on “A” committees, a ban on leadership playing in primaries, cuts to spending and a return to regular order — said that changes to the rules is a step in the right direction, the California Republican still does not currently have the 218 needed to get him over the finish line.

MCCARTHY CRITICS TAKE AIM AT SPEAKER HOPEFUL'S TACTICS TO SWAY VOTES

During the course of the call, multiple members “said they won’t vote for it [the rules package] if Kevin is not Speaker,” one lawmaker told The Washington Examiner. Another member said moderates expressed grievances with the changes to the motion to vacate despite pro-McCarthy lawmakers attempting to sell the package to defectors in hopes it would shift critics' support toward the California Republican.

“They started [the call] with this new rules package that we're all about to see and are obviously saying the rules package - it's great, everyone worked so hard, we got all these great things and they're gonna be historic. And then [Gaetz] got on there and said, 'Well, if everyone wants the rules package, we should accept it no matter who the speaker is because if these are good rules are good rules, right?’” the lawmaker said. “But then the mods piled on and said actually, we hate the rules package."

The member said that McCarthy floated lowering the threshold down to a single lawmaker after Rep.-elect Mike Lawler (R-NY) asked Gaetz — one of the five “Never Kevin” members to initially come out against the California Republican — if it would change his position.

McCarthy stated "Well, if it's one will you vote for me?" Gaetz responded: "Is that an offer?" to which McCarthy responded: "There's other people that don't like five so they'll really not like one."

Shortly after the call, a group of conservatives released a letter stating the changes had fallen short of what they see as necessary to support him.

“Regrettably, however, despite some progress achieved, Mr. McCarthy’s statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd. At this stage, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient,” they wrote.

“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. For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”

The letter — spearheaded by House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) — asserted that “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.”

Due to the slim majority after Republicans fell short of their anticipated red wave, McCarthy can lose just four votes on the floor unless his critics opt to not vote or vote present to bring the threshold down from 218.