McCarthy Wins Passage of Revamped House Rules

UPDATE Jan 9, 2023 7:45 PM CST

After starting their reign with a stalemate last week over choosing a speaker, House Republicans unified Monday evening to approve a series of changes in the chamber's operating rules. The new rules were part of the price Speaker Kevin McCarthy paid to receive the votes of members opposed to his candidacy, and there was unhappiness among other House Republicans, the New York Times reports. But they abandoned their opposition in time for the vote, when ended up 220-213, mostly along party lines. Just one Republican voted no.

Jan 9, 2023 1:38 PM CST

The nation will soon know whether—or to what extent—Kevin McCarthy will be bitten by all the concessions he made in his campaign to become speaker of the House. McCarthy faces what Politico Playbook calls his "first big test in governing" Monday evening when the House votes on the all-important rules package that will govern operations for the 118th Congress. The package “is the closest thing to a contract” between McCarthy and his critics in the Freedom Caucus, who appear to have exchanged their support for an outsize amount of power, per Politico.

The rules package includes a “motion to vacate” that allows one member call a vote on removing the speaker; an end of the omnibus, such that all spending bills will receive a separate vote; and the creation of a special judiciary committee to investigate the “weaponization” of the federal government. Major spending cuts are also baked into the rules package. Per USA Today, all 212 Democrats plan to vote “no,” leaving little wiggle room for McCarthy to sell a 10-year budget deal that caps federal spending at 2022 levels. Among other things, that would require a 10% cut for the Defense Department, a “horrible idea” according to GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who told CBS’s Face the Nation that he plans to vote against the existing package.

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McCarthy can afford only four GOP defections. And Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina said she’s “on the fence” heading into Monday’s vote, per the Guardian. Although she said she's in favor of the rules package as published, Mace is concerned about unknown “backroom deals” McCarthy struck with the Freedom Caucus. One such deal calls for the inclusion of three Freedom Caucus members on the powerful House Rules Committee. GOP Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News he’s all in favor of the package, including military cuts, which he says could be attained by eliminating “woke policies” and reexamining aid to Ukraine. (More Kevin McCarthy stories.)