House passes Rules package that was at heart of McCarthy's speaker battle
Posted 68 days ago
From WWW.CBSNEWS.COM
Washington — The House on Monday narrowly passed a package of rules governing its operations for the 118th Congress and laying out the Republican majority's priorities, fresh off a grueling speaker's election that spanned more than four days and ended on a historic 15th ballot.
The package passed with opposition from all Democrats and all but one Republican. GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas had publicly said ahead of the vote that he would not be voting for it.
The 55-page proposal is the culmination of weeks of negotiations between newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bloc of conservative lawmakers who withheld their support for his bid for the gavel until they were able to extract a series of concessions from the Republican leader. Those concessions have sparked concern from Democrats and even some Republicans, and will significantly weaken McCarthy's leverage as speaker. The new rules will also strengthen the position of members of the House Freedom Caucus.
Fresh off a bruising speaker's election that spanned more than four days and ended on a historic 15th ballot, the House convened Monday evening to consider the package of rules governing its operations for the 118th Congress and laying out the new Republican majority's priorities.
Gonzales announced his opposition to the rules package ahead of the vote. A second, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, revealed Sunday that she was "on the fence" about the proposal.
In an interview with "Face the Nation," Mace said she supported the rules package, but took issue with the closed-door negotiations surrounding it that led the group of McCarthy's detractors to ultimately support his election or vote "present." The South Carolina Republican also indicated that GOP lawmakers who were not involved in the talks between McCarthy's leadership team and the conservative holdouts have been left in the dark about what other promises he made.
"We don't have any idea what promises were made or what gentleman's handshakes were made. We just have no idea at this point," she said. "And it does give me quite a bit of heartburn."
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