WASHINGTON — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his conservative detractors on Wednesday night inched closer to a deal designed to flip some no votes to the yes column. But it appears unlikely such an agreement would give McCarthy the 218 votes he needs to win the speaker’s gavel.
A handful of hardline conservatives, led by Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, said they remained bent on derailing McCarthy’s bid for speaker. And because of the GOP’s new razor-thin majority, McCarthy can only afford four GOP defections on any speaker vote.
“If Kevin McCarthy doesn’t bow out, then he will have to live the entirety of his speakership in a straightjacket constructed by these rules that we’re working on now,” Gaetz said in a Fox News appearance Thursday night, nodding to efforts to water down McCarthy’s power.
“We have zero trust in Kevin McCarthy. … This is someone whose compass is like a wet finger in the wind,” Gaetz said.
Still, there were signs that McCarthy and leaders of the far-right Freedom Caucus were on the cusp of a breakthrough that could shake loose more votes for McCarthy — and shift momentum in his favor.
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“I felt very positive yesterday. I feel more positive today,” McCarthy said as he left the Capitol for the night.
The House is coming back into session at noon ET on Thursday, when more votes are possible.
During the past three days, McCarthy was defeated on 11 consecutive ballots as a band of roughly 20 conservatives held the line against him — a stinging public rebuke for the normally upbeat Californian.
But as Thursday’s failed roll calls were broadcast on national TV, negotiators privately huddled one floor below, hammering out the contours of a deal on a package of rules changes and prized slots on key committees. That includes giving a single lawmaker the power to force a vote to oust a sitting speaker in the middle of the term; previously, McCarthy had agreed that at least five members would be needed to make a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair.
The emerging agreement also would give Freedom Caucus members seats on Rules and other influential committees. Negotiators said completing a deal with the conservative group, chaired by Scott Perry, R-Pa., would get McCarthy close to the finish line.
“You never eat a sandwich in one gulp. It does take a number of bites,” Rep. Rusty Johnson, R-S.D., a McCarthy loyalist and the new chairman of the Republican Main Street Caucus, said in an interview. “If things come together, like it looks like it might, then this would be a major bite out of this sandwich.”
“Once you get the sandwich down to a smaller size, it gets frankly a lot easier to figure out how to finish it,” he said.
Leaving the talks, happening in Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s first-floor office, members of the Freedom Caucus refused to show their cards and did not say a deal had been reached.
“We’ll see,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, one of the 20 defectors, when asked if McCarthy will be speaker. “We’re still working through everything. It doesn’t do any good to debate this stuff in the public.”
“We’re evaluating and working,” added Perry.
One wild card: potential absences if the speaker vote drags on much longer. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., missed some votes on Thursday due to a reported medical appointment back home. There will be illnesses, funerals, family trips and new babies born that could cause lawmakers to skip votes and alter the speaker math equation.
Democratic leaders, however, are whipping hard to keep their troops in line and ensure any absences on their side of the aisle don’t inadvertently give McCarthy extra breathing room.
McCarthy allies are vowing to stick with their candidate no matter how long it takes.
“If it takes till tomorrow, it takes till tomorrow; if it takes till the 4th of July, it takes till the 4th of July,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the new chief deputy whip and No. 2 vote counter. “Kevin will be speaker.”
Haley Talbot, Kate Santaliz, Liz Brown-Kaiser, Julie Tsirkin, Olympia Sonnier and Gary Grumbach contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
