GOP plans for House committees delayed as McCarthy grapples with speaker vote
by Juliegrace Brufke, Congressional Reporter
December 06, 2022 06:30 AM
With House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) prospects for locking down the speakership remaining uncertain, the House GOP’s steering committee has opted to push back its date for deciding contested races for committee chairmanships, with the panel only set to take up uncontested chair races on Wednesday, multiple senior GOP sources confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The steering committee is tasked with deciding which members sit on and lead certain panels. The speaker of the House is allotted a disproportionate number of votes — four, the No. 2 GOP member in leadership receives two, and all other steering members receive one.
Two GOP lawmakers said they believe the steering proceedings could be pushed back to after the Jan. 3 floor vote, when the floor vote for speaker is slated to take place.
Facing a razor-thin majority, McCarthy is currently struggling to secure the 218 votes needed on the floor to become the next speaker. Five conservatives — former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who challenged McCarthy in the internal election, Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Bob Good (R-VA) — have publicly come out against the California Republican, vowing that they won’t even vote "present" on the floor to bring down his threshold needed for the position. Multiple GOP lawmakers said additional members are expected to voice opposition to McCarthy in the coming weeks.
“That looks incredibly weak for McCarthy — if he has to delay that until after the speaker vote, he’s got serious problems,” one GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/gop-plans-for-house-committees-delayed-as-mccarthy-grapples-with-speaker-vote
