Trust problems in the GOP House.
Focused like a laser beam on jobs, House Republicans are in conflict with each other over a 3-page document supposedly outlining the back-room deal cut between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and an insurgent group who tried to block him, mostly from the ultra-right Freedom Caucus — and that furthermore, the document might not even exist at all.
"Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his GOP allies insist that no back-room promises were made to land his gavel after 15 frenetic ballots, that no plum committee spots, precise spending cuts, or debt limit strategy were guaranteed in a quid pro quo," reported Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers. "Agreements and goals were reached with conservatives who initially withheld their votes from the speaker, GOP leaders say, but nothing was formalized in writing."
"As Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who leads the Republican Governance Group, put it: 'There’s all these people talking about a document that doesn’t exist,'" said the report. "But the debate surrounding the document has exposed a trust problem days into McCarthy’s speakership. There’s plenty of paper flying around summarizing handshake deals between the speaker and his members, and some GOP lawmakers have muddled their leaders’ message by talking candidly about what they secured in exchange for their speaker votes."
Owing to the razor-thin margin of the Republicans' House majority and faction-fighting between leadership and other lawmakers, McCarthy was the first House Speaker to be rejected on the first ballot since 1923, and the first to require more than nine ballots since the 1800s.
Many of the roughly 20 Republicans who sought to block him demanded specific rule changes to empower them, like extra seats for the Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee and a provision allowing any lawmaker at any time to file a motion to vote on removing McCarthy as Speaker. Others, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), stated they would refuse to vote for him under any circumstances.
"The situation has grown more complicated this week, as GOP leadership outlined the concessions that it prefers to interpret as agreements and as some House Republicans open up about what they got from last week’s frenetic talks," noted the report. "One McCarthy holdout, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), bluntly told Fox News when asked 'what did you get' that he would join the influential GOP Steering Committee 'as Speaker McCarthy’s designee.' McCarthy also informed members that the House would take its first-ever vote this Congress on a contentious national sales tax bill that Georgia Republicans — including McCarthy dissenter Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) — have pushed for decades."
Speaking of GOP trust;
As a torrent of calls for Santos to resign from key politicians in New York, including four Republican members of Congress, and the chair of the Nassau County Republican Party, which is part of his district. A fifth New York Republican congressman, Mike Lawler, is expected to call on him to resign today.
Despite all the pressure from members of his own party, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other members of GOP leadership have not called on him to step down, because Santos resigning would open up a special election, giving Democrats an opening to flip his seat and narrow the GOP's already precarious House majority.
On Thursday, CNN's Kristin Wilson reported that embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is now saying he will resign — but only if "142 people" ask him to do so.
"If 142 people ask for me to resign, I'll resign," said Santos to reporters while exiting his office, according to Wilson.
Santos reportedly did not clarify why it needs to specifically be 142 people, or whether he means any 142 people, 142 elected officials, or 142 members of Congress — or whether the 142 have to all be Republicans, or could be members of any party.
"Why 142?" Wilson wondered.
"Two-thirds of House GOP conference would be... 148? Maybe he's bad at math? (which would be surprising for a ex-Goldman guy)," said Jonathan Nicholson of HuffPost.
Santos is still facing a House Ethics Committee investigation and a criminal investigation by the District Attorney of Nassau County, who is probing, among other things, how he got the money to loan his own campaign $700,000.
Then there’s that Felony warrant in Brazil.
