December 8, 2022 2:00am EST
McCarthy plays hardball with GOP rebels over committee assignments
Delay comes as Andy Biggs mounts campaign against McCarthy on House floor
By Haris Alic | Fox News
House Republicans are delaying decisions on prime committee assignments and chairmanships for next year, a move that could help Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy undercut challenges to his bid for speaker.
The internal House GOP steering panel was set to meet with candidates this week for contested committee chairmanships, but that schedule was scrapped. Instead, those meetings could be delayed until January, when the panel will also meet with candidates making uncontested bids to chair a committee.
Officially, the delay will only affect three committees: Ways and Means, Budget, and Homeland Security. But the move essentially freezes assignments for all other committees given that the tax-writing Ways and Means is a prize assignment for more than a dozen members.
"If you can't decide who is chairman, you can't decide who is on the committee either," said a senior GOP aide. "If there winds up being two openings on a committee after the chair is decided, that doesn't mean there are just two seats to fill. Members leave other committees for better ones; it creates a big shuffle down the line."
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mccarthy-plays-hardball-gop-rebels-committee-assignments
