Incoming House GOP chairs ratchet up pressure on McCarthy’s detractors and call on them to not ‘squander’ their majority | CNN Politics

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CNN
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Republicans who will chair House committees in the next Congress are warning that if Kevin McCarthy’s detractors deny him the 218 votes needed to become speaker, they are at risk of undermining the slim majority they won in November.

“Let us not squander this majority before we even take back the gavels,” the incoming chairs write in a letter on Monday. “Time is of the essence, and the American people want us to get to work now. Majorities are earned, never given – and the American people will remember how we choose to begin ours.”

The letter is part of the growing public pressure campaign against the five GOP dissidents – Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Rosendale of Montana – who promise their numbers will only grow in a race in which McCarthy can’t lose more than four GOP votes. Former President Donald Trump has called on the five members to back off their opposition to McCarthy and the House GOP leader has contended that their opposition could put the Republican agenda “in jeopardy.”

The five GOP members have warned they may vote as a bloc on January 3, meaning they’ll all vote the same way. Biggs, who secured 31 votes when he lost the GOP nomination for speaker against McCarthy last month, has told CNN he’s “not bluffing” and plans to run for speaker when the full House votes next month.

If McCarthy doesn’t get 218 votes on January 3, the House will keep voting until someone gets the votes – something that hasn’t happened since 1923.

McCarthy in recent days has sharply escalated his public pressure campaign against the five members, arguing that the Republican majority could be derailed if they don’t bend.

He’s also spent hours behind closed doors negotiating a series of rules that the hardline faction wants in order to weaken the speakership and empower their members, including a willingness to bend on some of their key requests. But McCarthy has yet to agree to allow an individual member to call for a vote ousting a sitting speaker – a centerpiece of the hardliners’ demands that the California Republican has so far resisted.