Republican lawmakers who obstructed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s path to the gavel secured broad concessions to their demands for how the House should conduct business.
But some of them will reap personal rewards for agreeing to support McCarthy’s speakership bid, or at least for switching their votes from “no” to “present.”
GOP RULES CHANGES ARE A HODGEPODGE OF GOOD, BAD, AND THE MISGUIDED
The individual benefits doled out to members who held out over the first 14 rounds of votes for speaker could create an uneasy dynamic with the members who backed McCarthy from the beginning.
For at least a few, such as Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), McCarthy’s horse-trading yielded a rules package that they found hard to swallow.
Gonzales said Sunday that McCarthy should not have let “the insurgency caucus take hold and dictate” how the 118th Congress should begin.
Other lawmakers who supported McCarthy on every ballot could find their loyalty rewarded as well.
DONALDS TO STEERING
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) landed a coveted spot on the House Steering Committee after joining conservatives in opposing McCarthy’s bid during the first rounds of voting.
On multiple ballots, some McCarthy dissenters threw their support behind Donalds, despite Donalds not pushing aggressively to make himself speaker.
Donalds publicly confirmed that he received a seat on the powerful Steering Committee during the negotiation process. The Steering Committee makes decisions about committee assignments for House members, and more representation on the key panel was a demand of the conservative House Freedom Caucus for months ahead of the speaker vote.
Donalds said his presence on the committee is intended “to make sure that the entire conference, you know, the ideological spectrum if you will, is represented through all committees.”
THREE CONSERVATIVES MAKING THE RULES
McCarthy told Freedom Caucus members that three of their own can sit on the House Rules Committee, the panel that determines which bills come to the floor for consideration and when.
Which three members would land the seats remained unclear late Monday afternoon, a person familiar with the talks told the Washington Examiner.
But whoever joins the Rules Committee will wield influence over legislative priorities — and conservatives have voiced a particular interest in waging wars against government spending.
RUMORED MOVES
Speculation is swirling around the posts that some of McCarthy’s most vocal critics may have landed as a result of relenting during the speaker race.
Unconfirmed reports suggest Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pushed for and may have received the gavel of a subcommittee on the House Armed Services Committee, on which he presently serves.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) may also secure a spot on the high-profile House Judiciary Committee, according to other reports.
Gaetz and Boebert positioned themselves as the faces of opposition to McCarthy, even though House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) led much of the substantive negotiating on behalf of conservatives.
LOYALISTS ELEVATED
Conservative members who lent McCarthy’s speaker bid credibility at a time when it was flagging are poised to benefit from the new speaker’s generosity as well.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is likely to land what will almost certainly be a high-profile role heading the select subcommittee to investigate “the weaponization of government,” which McCarthy pledged to form as part of his deal with conservatives.
Jordan backed McCarthy consistently, despite receiving some votes for speaker himself from the dissenters.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reportedly may have earned back the right to serve on congressional committees after Democrats and a handful of her GOP colleagues voted to strip her of committee posts during the last Congress over her controversial past statements.
Like Jordan, Taylor Greene broke with her fellow Freedom Caucus members to support McCarthy from the outset of voting.
NO PAY-BACK TIME
McCarthy agreed not to retaliate against the members who refused initially to support him, people familiar with the deal told the Washington Examiner.
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That means that even if McCarthy had not directly rewarded the dissenters with committee positions, he would not have been able to take any away, either.
A person involved in the talks noted that the entire deal would not have worked absent a pledge from McCarthy not to go after the side that demanded it.
