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Republican lawmakers have been negotiating to end a stalemate and bring enough votes in for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to become the next House speaker.
The Republican-majority House of Representatives met for a fourth day of votes on the speakership on Friday. Ahead of voting on Friday, McCarthy agreed to some concessions from holdout Republican members and managed to garner new support in the 12th and 13th rounds of voting.
The block of holdout Republicans—many of whom are in the House Freedom Caucus—asked for McCarthy to make several concessions for their support. One of the major concessions McCarthy reportedly offered was to revise the rules allowing lawmakers to make a motion to the chair and call for a vote on a new speaker. McCarthy had initially opposed adding the rule, but eventually agreed to a version that would have required five lawmakers to support the motion before it could proceed. Now, McCarthy is reportedly conceding even further on that rule by lowering the threshold to just one lawmaker.
Other requests that the holdout members have made included expanding the number of seats available to them on the House Rules Committee, imposing a 72-hour waiting period between when a bill is posted and when members can vote on it, and holding a vote for a constitutional amendment that would impose federal limits on serving in the House and Senate.
“I do believe we are making significant progress towards getting a resolution here,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told NTD News.
Lawler, who has supported McCarthy’s bid for the speakership from the start, said he favors many of the concessions the Republican holdouts had requested.
“I don’t have a problem with the rules changes. I embrace many of them. The budgetary process changes, I support that. We have to rein in wasteful spending. You cannot continue to spend at the level that the Biden administration, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer spent over the last two years, it’s unsustainable,” Lawler said.
“So to be able to rein in out-of-control spending is absolutely critical.
