CNN
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House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy described some of the concessions he made in his campaign for the speaker during a conference call Sunday night — including facilitating the speaker’s ouster, according to multiple GOP sources during of the call. But McCarthy could not say whether he would have the votes for the presidency, even after giving in to some of the harshest demands from the right.
And shortly after the call, a group of nine hardliners – who had made their demands to McCarthy last month – released a new letter saying some of the concessions he had announced were insufficient and stating that ‘They were still not sold to him, although they said progress was being made.
“Thus far, specific commitments to virtually every element of our demands are still missing, and therefore no way to measure whether the promises are being delivered or not,” the members wrote in the letter obtained by CNN.
This group is still pushing to give a single lawmaker the power to call for a vote to overthrow the president, and they also want a commitment that the leadership won’t play out in the primaries, among other things. Given that McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes in the House, that means he still has a lot of work to do before Tuesday.
The California Republican had told his membership on Sunday’s call that after weeks of negotiations, he had agreed to a threshold as low as five people to trigger a vote on ousting the president at any time, known as the name “motion to leave” the president. President, and presented it as a “compromise”. CNN first reported last week that it supported that threshold.
Some moderates – who fear the rescission motion will be used as a constant cudgel on McCarthy’s head – pushed back and expressed frustration on the call, sources said.
Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said he was unhappy with the low threshold accepted by McCarthy, although he indicated he would swallow it, but only if it helped McCarthy win the presidency. Other members have made it clear that the rules package that has been negotiated will no longer be on the table if McCarthy’s critics end up rejecting his candidacy for president.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida asked McCarthy if that concession on the nullification motion would net him 218 votes. But he didn’t respond directly, although McCarthy said earlier on the call that people were “slowly” moving in the right direction.
However, later in the call, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz — one of five “no hard” votes for McCarthy — said he wouldn’t support McCarthy, despite all the concessions.
Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez then repeated Diaz-Balart’s question, asking McCarthy to answer it. McCarthy’s response, sources say, was that they have a few days to close the deal, and they need to close.
Representative-elect Mike Lawler of New York asked Gaetz if he would support McCarthy if he agreed to introduce the motion to overturn the one-legislator threshold, which it was before Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, don’t change the rules. Gaetz replied that McCarthy had refused to accept the idea, but if he made the offer now, he would consider it.
McCarthy said he disagreed with Gaetz’s characterization, arguing that the rest of the conference can’t stand the threshold as low as one person. “It’s not about me,” the California Republican said. However, he asked Gaetz if he could come to a “yes” if McCarthy went down to a one-person threshold, which Gaetz still did not commit to and said that if it was a real offer , he would accept it.
House Republicans plan to release their final set of rules, which will formalize a number of those concessions, later Sunday night. But sources have warned that nothing is truly final until the package is passed.
After the House elects a speaker and swears in members, lawmakers vote on the rules package, which governs the operation of the House.
