Kevin McCarthy, the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House, is facing an uphill battle to secure the votes he needs to win the seat in January, with hold outs from within his own party posing the greatest threat to his victory.
McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News that the GOP holdouts would ruin the party's chances of taking control of the House.
McCarthy said that it's delaying the ability to govern. I'm hopeful that everyone will find a way to govern. This is what the Americans want. This majority will be wasted if we don't.
The position of Speaker, third in the line of presidential succession, is decided by the number of votes cast. The 118th Congress will have more Republicans than Democrats. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is expected to get the majority of the votes from the Democrats.
McCarthy said that everyone is respected in the House. We are going to sit at 222 members and any five of them can hold us back.
Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus have opposed McCarthy's bid for Speaker. According to The Hill, the group plans to vote for a candidate other than McCarthy.
Some of the conservative hardliners in the Freedom Caucus have proposed a new congressional rule that would allow them to vote for McCarthy in exchange for vacating the Speaker's seat.
During an interview with "This Week" on ABC, Joyce said the idea was stupid and that McCarthy had done the hard work necessary to bring together the majority.
The House will repeat its roll call vote if McCarthy fails to get the majority of votes. The last time multiple roll calls occurred was in 1923, when nine votes were required before a new Speaker was chosen.
"We're not going to be held hostage by a few members when the majority of the conference is in full support of Kevin," Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, told co-anchor Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" cooler heads will win. Kevin will be able to become speaker on January 3.
McCarthy's representatives did not reply to Insider's requests.
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