McCarthy's Day Of Reckoning!

Kevin McCarthy let the nuts run the show.

Republican governance so far...... No successes.

1. Rep-elect George Santos (R-NY) accused of lying about his past. 

2. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and a handful of far-right lawmakers vow to oppose California lawmaker's bid to become Speaker of the House.

3. Moderate Republican Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said he may work with Democrats if things don't work.

As we begin the 118th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives will make their first vote. Who will be the House Speaker?

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has the support of most Republicans to be the House Speaker. It appears that only 14 members will likely oppose his bid which could cause chaos within the party. If there's no vote for Speaker of the House, the U.S. Congress can't govern. No member will be able to get a committee assignment and of course, it shows the country that Republicans can't govern.

Originally it was only five members of the party, but now it grew. The far-right members have said that McCarthy is a member of the "establishment." 

Ironic, they have the nerve to call him an "establishment!" They're establishment as well.

During a Sunday night conference call with members of the GOP conference, McCarthy (R-Calif.) acceded to a key demand pressed by members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who had insisted on allowing the process to remove a speaker — known as a “motion to vacate” — to be initiated by just five Republican members instead of a majority. 

A “motion to vacate” was filed in 2015 by then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and triggered the resignation of then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The rule was changed in 2019 by Democrats.

Nine hardline Republicans — Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Chip Roy of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andy Harris of Maryland, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Rep.-elects Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Eli Crane of Arizona — rejected McCarthy’s proposed rules changes as “insufficient.”

McCarthy’s “statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead” of the new Congress, they wrote.

“It cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient. This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures,” the group of nine wrote in their response.

They added that “Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”

The eleventh-hour concession is an indication of how far the California Republican has to go to shore up the 218 votes needed to attain the speaker’s gavel when the full House votes on Tuesday. 

With 222 Republicans set to be sworn in and all Democrats expected to oppose McCarthy’s nomination, the Californian can only afford to lose four members.

McCarthy also faces a challenge for the gavel from Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a member of the five-person “Never Kevin Caucus” that includes Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Ralph Norman of South Carolina. 

Failure to reach the 218-vote threshold could lead to a protracted floor vote.

The Freedom Caucasians.

“Sometimes it’s taken days, sometimes it’s taken hours, sometimes it’s taken weeks. So hopefully that’s not going to happen,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), an avowed McCarthy backer, told Fox News Monday.

Good, in an interview Monday on “Fox & Friends,” said McCarthy has done nothing to “earn my vote” and ripped the former House minority leader as “part of the swamp cartel.”

​”There’s nothing about Kevin McCarthy that indicates that he will bring the change that’s needed to Washington or that’s needed to the Congress, or he’ll bring the fight against the Biden-Schumer agenda and represent the interests of the voters who sent us to Washington to bring real change,” he said.

Good went on to predict that “there’ll be, I suspect, 10 to 15 [GOP] members” who vote against McCarthy on the first ballot Tuesday.

“I think you’ll see, on the second ballot, an increasing number of members vote for a true candidate who can represent the conservative center of the conference [and] can motivate the base,” he added.

Good did not specify who the “true candidate” might be, only saying: “You’ll see that name tomorrow on the second ballot.”

McCarthy himself put on a brave face Monday, telling reporters: “I think we are going to have a good day tomorrow.” However, he declined to say if he had the votes to become speaker on the first ballot: “And take away all the excitement?”

When asked if he’d be willing to make more concessions, the Republican leader only said: “I hope you all have a very nice New Year’s.”