McCarthy commits to key concession in call with frustrated lawmakers but it’s no guarantee he’ll win speakership

By Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox, CNN

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy outlined some of the concessions that he has agreed to in his campaign for speaker on a Sunday evening conference call — including making it easier to topple the speaker, according to multiple GOP sources on the call. But McCarthy could not say whether he would have the votes for the speakership, even after giving in to some of the right’s most hardline demands.

The California Republican told his members that after weeks of negotiations, he has agreed to a threshold as low as five people to trigger a vote on ousting the speaker at any given time, known as the “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair, and pitched it as a “compromise.” CNN first reported last week that he was supportive of that threshold.

But there’s still uncertainty whether this will be enough to clinch McCarthy the gavel.

Some moderates — who fear the motion to vacate will be used as constant cudgel over McCarthy’s head — pushed back and expressed their frustration during the call, sources said.

Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said he wasn’t happy with the low threshold McCarthy agreed to, though he indicated he would swallow it, but only if it helps McCarthy win the speakership. Other members made clear that the rules package that was negotiated will be off the table if McCarthy’s critics end up tanking his speakership bid.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida pressed McCarthy on whether this concession on the motion to vacate will win him the 218 votes. But he did not directly answer, though McCarthy said earlier on the call that people were “slowly” moving in the right direction.

However, later in the call, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz — one of the five “hard no” votes for McCarthy — said they would not back McCarthy, despite all the concessions.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida then repeated Diaz-Balart’s question, asking McCarthy to answer it. McCarthy’s response, according to sources, was that they have a couple days to close the deal, and they need to close.

Rep.-elect Mike Lawler of New York asked Gaetz if he would back McCarthy if he agreed to bring the motion to vacate threshold down to a single lawmaker, which is what it used to be before Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, changed the rules. Gaetz replied that McCarthy had refused to entertain that idea, but if he is making that offer now, than he would consider it.

McCarthy said he disagreed with Gaetz’s characterization, arguing that the rest of the conference can’t support the threshold as low as one person. “It’s not about me,” the California Republican said. However, he asked Gaetz if he could get to “yes” if McCarthy came down to a one-person threshold, to which Gaetz was still non-committal and said if it was a real offer, he would entertain it.

House Republicans are planning to release their final rules package, which will formalize a number of these concessions, later Sunday evening. But sources cautioned that nothing is truly final until the package is passed.

After the House elects a speaker and swears in members, lawmakers vote on the rules package, which governs how the House operates.

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