If House Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is able to win enough votes to catapult him into the Speaker’s chair at the end of Friday night’s 10 PM vote – and Fox News reports they have been assured he will – he is expected to immediately be sworn in and then swear in Members of Congress, then force through a vote on the rules package, which currently does not detail any but one of the currently secret concessions he has made to secure votes from the extremist “Never Kevin” caucus.
McCarthy says he is certain he will win on the next vote, which would be the fourteenth.
He has not, however, revealed all the secret promises he has made to the insurrectionists in order to gain the gavel, but presidential historian Michael Beschloss says it’s “essential” to find out.
“Essential to know exactly what secret concessions McCarthy has made to flip House Republicans who had been strenuously opposing him.”
The Daily Beast’s Washington Bureau Chief, Matt Fuller, agrees.
“Hey, you know what seems conspicuous? That we don’t know EXACTLY what conservatives got for their votes,” he tweeted. “GOP leaders aren’t saying and neither are conservatives. It’s almost like no one wants the rest of the conference to know…”
“Does anyone even know what’s in the rules package at this exact moment?” he asks. “How soon after they elect a speaker is the House holding votes on the rules package? A good harbinger for all those procedure complaints…”
He’s correct. And it’s not good.
The rules package is 55 pages, and if McCarthy forces it through immediately after the swearing-in, some could argue he would be in violation of Republicans’ demands that they would not vote on any bill until it’s been posted for 72 hours. The rules package is not technically a bill, but at 55 pages it should be studied before being approved.
Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram notes, “Republicans were often apoplectic about Democrats passing big bills “in the dark of night,” et al.”
Despite all of that, as CQ Roll Call’s Lindsey McPherson reveals, only one of the countless concessions McCarthy made is actually included in the rules package.
That’s the agreement that any single House Member could call for the Speaker, presumably McCarthy, to “vacate” – be removed, or thrown out. It would take a majority vote, but it could easily make managing his contentious caucus even more difficult.
Assuming the rules package will pass may be premature. According to veteran journalist Brian J. Karem, so-called “moderate” Republicans, angered by McCarthy giving away so much to the extremists in their party, may align with Democrats and vote down the critical resolution.
Karem reports, “a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package.”
Talking Points Memo editor and publisher Josh Marshall warns the next two years will be dangerous.
“To become Speaker McCarthy has handed control of the House to the hard right authoritarian caucus that brought us the insurrection and was repudiated at the ballot box. It will be a dangerous two years.”
McCarthy, who has been in House Republican leadership for 14 years, including Minority Leader for three, told reporters Friday afternoon, “because it took this long” to convince holdouts to vote for him, “now we learned how to govern.”