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GOP leadership is angling to diminish the motion used to oust a House speaker in order to avoid a repeat of the mutiny against Kevin McCarthy that crippled the lower chamber for some three weeks in 2023.
Under a new rules package that is slated for a vote Friday, the motion to vacate the chair will require a lawmaker in the majority party to garner eight co-sponsors in the same party in order to get a vote.
That means a minimum of nine Republicans will have to back an effort to topple their speaker in order to trigger a vote. Given the GOP’s slim control in the House, if a rep meets that threshold, the speaker will be successfully ousted unless Democrats intervene.
Various Republican factions had reached a deal on the rule change in November. The threshold for a vote on the motion had previously been one.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) exploited the low threshold to oust then-House Speaker McCarthy, a first in US history.
At the time, Gaetz had seven Republicans backing him. A subsequent failed bid by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-La.) to depose Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last April had 10 Republicans who blocked efforts to quash her motion. Democrats bailed Johnson out at the time.
Some Democrats have railed against the rules change. Typically, the rules packages at the start of the new Congress are partisan pieces of legislation.
“The American people did not vote for whatever the hell this is — and you better believe that Democrats will not let Republicans turn the House of Representatives into a rubber stamp for their extremist policies,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass) fumed, per Axios.
Another key change in the rules package, which was rolled out on Wednesday, includes dissolving the congressional Diversity & Inclusion Office, which Republicans have long maligned.
Republicans are also planning to rename the “House Committee on Oversight and Accountability” as “the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform;” and the “Office of Congressional Ethics” as the “Office of Congressional Conduct.”
The soon-to-be-named Office of Congressional Conduct is an independent watchdog that investigates possible wrongdoing by lawmakers and can refer matters to the House Committee on Ethics.
In addition to those adjustments, the 36-page rules package also tees up votes on multiple Republican-backed upcoming pieces of legislation, including a border security bill and a measure demanding proof of citizenship to vote in elections, which already passed the House last year but wasn’t taken up in the Senate.
A vote on the rules package has been scheduled for Friday when the 119th Congress is sworn in, though that is not guaranteed as it is slated to occur after the speakership vote.
Johnson is staring down a very arduous speakership vote on Friday and can only afford to lose one vote if all members of the new Congress are present.
Already, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has indicated that he will vote against Johnson and other such as Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Andry Harris (R-Md.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) have suggested they are on the fence.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has also ruled out throwing Johnson a lifeline again.
McCarthy waited through a record 15 rounds of votes before nabbing the speaker’s gavel at the start of the 118th Congress — and in a concession to lead his conference, changed the rules on the number of members required to move to a motion to vacate.
President-elect Donald Trump has endorsed Johnson for speaker and the Louisianian trekked down to Mar-a-Lago Thursday to map out a game plan with the Republican leader.
Still, Trump’s stamp of approval seemingly did little to budge the undecideds — at least based on their public statements. Republicans who have soured on Johnson have groused over his stewardship when Democrats controlled the Senate and White House.
Johnson argued things will be different when Republicans have the trifecta and has conveyed confidence that he will ultimately prevail.
“It’s a numbers game. We have the smallest margin in U.S. history,” Johnson told “FOX & Friends” Thursday. “We will have a margin of probably two votes tomorrow during that. So we can only afford to lose one or two.”
“I think we’ll get it done. I really do, Lawrence. I’ve talked to every single one of those friends and colleagues over the holidays,” he added. “We’re shifting into a brand new paradigm.”
