Republican allies of Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the 20 holdouts who are blocking him from becoming speaker of the House are no longer being clear about what they want out of negotiations other than a different nominee.
Nearly 20 Republican lawmakers held a conference in support of McCarthy as he tries to flip votes in his favor after six rounds of voting. The House took a four-hour recess ahead of another vote series later Wednesday night.
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“When you have troops that question decisions of leaders, without good basis for doing so, you either have to articulate that basis or get out of the way,” said Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS). “You have 20 people demanding that 201 surrender to them unconditionally. Well, I will not surrender unconditionally. If you have conditions, give them to us. We’ll consider them. Doesn’t mean we’ll do them, but you have to talk about them.”
“But we’ve asked and we’ve asked, ‘What is it you want — what is it you need?'” he continued. “We might surrender if you tell us the terms, but just so you know, we’re in the strong position: There’s 201 of us and 20 of them.”
The group, which was entirely composed of military veterans, said they were frustrated with the conservatives mounting a rebellion against McCarthy and backing Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) because they’ve already gotten the California Republican to agree to most of their terms.
“The frustration has been these conversations have been going on for months and months. … McCarthy has given concession after concession, many of them very good, many we agree with,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said. “This body does need to change, certainly after the last several years under Nancy Pelosi. I actually thought this was moving in the right direction, but this group has managed to kinda snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
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Waltz said they plan to support McCarthy “as long as he’s on the ballot” and that the kind of negotiations hard-liners such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) are willing to entertain are “holding us hostage.” Some of the detractors oppose McCarthy because he hasn’t conceded enough on the rules package, especially the motion to vacate the chair, while others oppose him on more personal grounds.
McCarthy took the recess to meet with some of the 20, and he needs 16 to change their votes to win the gavel. Democrats are resolutely supporting Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
