House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reportedly clashed with some far-right members of his conference who are still opposing him for Speaker during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
With a narrow 222-212 majority in the House, McCarthy can only lose four votes if he plans to become the Speaker and at least five members of his conference have said they will not support him. These lawmakers’ position haven’t change despite McCarthy making some key concessions in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote.
McCarthy’s frustration with his detractors reached a boiling point during a tense closed door meeting on Tuesday with him insisting that he “earned this job!” according to Politico.
“I earned this job. We earned this majority, and God dammit we are going to win it today,” McCarthy said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) reportedly responded, “bullshit”.
Boebert had been withholding her support for McCarthy over a rules change which would give members the power to remove the Speaker. On Tuesday she explicitly stated she will not back McCarthy for Speaker.
Sources inside the room told Politico that supporters of McCarthy also pushed back at his detractors with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) floating the idea of stripping them of committee assignments.
In addition to Boebert, five House Republicans have said they will oppose McCarthy for Speaker. They are Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mt.) and Bob Good (R-Va.)
Good emerged from Tuesday’s meeting saying “nothing’s changed”. Norman said he will be voting for Biggs.
McCarthy reportedly said at the meeting that at least 20 members of his conference will not vote for him for Speaker but he remains defiant.
“I have the record for the longest speech ever on the floor. I don’t have a problem getting a record for most votes for Speaker, too,” McCarthy said after Tuesday’s meeting.
[Featured image by Eric Lee/Bloomberg]
