CNN –
As frustration within the House GOP has grown over a small band of anti-Kevin McCarthy lawmakers, some Republicans have floated an idea for attacking the renegade group: Kicking those members off their committees, according to several members involved in the talks. . .
While discussions about paybacks to McCarthy’s enemies, which have not previously been reported, have not gone beyond casual conversations among rank-and-file members, the threat shows how Republicans, especially moderates, are struggling with ways to act as a counterbalance to this. -called the “Never Kevin” movement, which threatens to derail the California Republican’s bid for the presidency.
In addition to uprooting McCarthy’s committee assignments, several members are considering other ways to eliminate the threat from their right-wing colleagues. That includes weighing whether to oppose a rules package if it includes reinstating an arcane tool that would allow any member to bring a plenary vote to expel a speaker at any time, as well as the idea of long length to join across the aisle with Democrats to pick a speaker if the race goes to multiple ballots and no one moves.
“Teams win. Fractured teams lose,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, co-chairman of the centrist Main Street Caucus, told CNN, noting McCarthy’s broad support among the conference. “We can’t let a handful hold the conference”.
It’s unclear, however, whether moderates will be willing to continue with the same tough tactics often used by the far right, especially if it could end up backfiring for McCarthy. Opposing the rules package, for example, could overturn any careful negotiations between McCarthy and his detractors, so GOP sources don’t think McCarthy’s supporters will ultimately reject it.
And during a recent meeting involving Republicans who serve on the same committee, there was a “heated debate” about offering a resolution to strip McCarthy retainers of their panel assignments if they don’t recant, according to lawmakers familiar with the situation. But they eventually agreed that it might not be the best move, at least for now.
“You can’t afford to throw people off the island if that takes you below 218 votes,” one member said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Biggs, one of the chiefs of the anti-McCarthy crew, said he was not daunted by the prospect of retribution.
“When you do the right thing, if somebody wants to punish you for doing the right thing? That’s on them,” Biggs said.
The dynamic offers a preview of the tensions between the moderate and MAGA wings that will likely spill over next year with a thin House majority. Part of what’s fueling the division: House Republicans who identify as centrists or part of the GOP’s so-called government wing feel validated after a midterm cycle in which many hard-line candidates failed .
“People need to recognize that we shouldn’t be doubling down on failed policies and failed candidates,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina. “There’s a reason why the average tests were the way they were: the people who are left of center and right of center were more successful.”
While hardliners have made a long list of demands for the GOP leadership, by a narrow margin, moderate lawmakers, largely known as the party’s majority leaders, know they can wield just as much influence above all, from legislation to investigations. And moderates want to flex their muscles starting with the speaker’s run, who they hope will set the tone for their new majority, even as they struggle to settle on their best options to counter hard-line conservatives without provoking the same chaos that McCarthy’s critics have accused. to create
“From a governance perspective, it’s important that Republicans don’t start Jan. 3 with their heads down and without some clarity on what we’re going to be able to accomplish,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, told CNN. “We have to be able to step up and show the American people that the trust and confidence they’ve given us in giving us a majority, albeit a narrow one, was a good decision.”
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the few Republican lawmakers who strongly opposed McCarthy as speaker, also acknowledged the reality of a closely divided House.
“We are in a community of common destiny,” he told CNN. “We have to recognize that the ship isn’t going anywhere if five people don’t row in that direction. And that’s true of impeachment, it’s true of the president’s vote, it’s true of the budget, it’s true of policy choices.”
Aside from planning for potential payback, there is also concern among McCarthy’s backers about what kind of deals he might be willing to make to secure votes for speaker.
The Republican Governance Caucus, a centrist-leaning group of lawmakers, met with McCarthy on Wednesday to get a sense of where his head is at, according to lawmakers who attended. During the meeting, they told McCarthy they would have his back and pledged to vote for him on multiple ballots if it came down to it. And they also handed out “OK” buttons, meaning “Kevin Only,” in a joking nod to McCarthy’s opposition.
“Some of the questions that remain unanswered are what other deals will be cut, you know, what guarantees, what concessions will be made?” Womack asked. “We have to be careful not to give away too much of that power.”
“I think he’s focused on some issues and probably willing to talk about others as he should,” Womack added after the meeting.
But one member told CNN they also conveyed their concerns to McCarthy about restoring the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. The tool was consistently used over former Speaker John Boehner’s head before he eventually resigned, and most Republicans are concerned it hampered his ability to govern effectively.
McCarthy is also against the idea, but some sources believe he may have to concede some ground on the issue or find a compromise to unlock the remaining votes he needs to become speaker. The GOP leader has addressed the five people who have come out publicly against him directly, GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of the five, told CNN, and is continuing ongoing talks with various factions of the Republican conference.
GOP Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, told CNN that McCarthy is making deals: “He has to do what he thinks he has to do as long as he doesn’t compromise our values as a conference.” Burchett acknowledged that if McCarthy agreed to the demand to add the vacant chair to the rules package it would be “total chaos, but if McCarthy supports it and can live with it, I’ll be all for it.”
At an all-conference meeting on Wednesday, the last in a series before the new Congress, McCarthy held a forum to allow his members to continue debating possible rule changes and other concessions, though there are still no no resolution on the controversial motion to leave the chair.
“He’s open to a lot of things,” Norman told CNN, including taking the motion to drop the chair rule.
At this point, many members are still preaching unity, calling for private deals to be made as part of the process, and emphasizing that the conference will meet when the new Congress begins on January 3. his colleagues to rally behind McCarthy.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise that Republicans are out there having conversations and talking about different points of view,” Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told CNN.
Even in the midst of high-stakes negotiations, members of competing factions have had time to poke fun at each other. Burchett hosted a Christmas party in his office this week, where all corners of Capitol Hill gathered, including some anti-McCarthy lawmakers. Amid the Mountain Dew fountain and the “charcuterie plate” of Cheez Whiz and Ritz crackers, Burchett at one point rode Gaetz’s wife’s skateboard.
Rep. Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah who identifies as part of the government wing, said at the end of the day that the various factions agree on most things and rejected the idea that it would be tense next year.
“I’ve said this over and over again: There is no such thing as an enormous amount of drama,” Moore told CNN. “I’ve met with members of the House Freedom Caucus to talk about what we agree on. And it’s a huge amount.”