The House of Representatives entered its third day of voting to select its next speaker on Thursday. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made fresh concessions overnight to the group of House Republicans who have kept him from securing the position in hopes of hitting the 218-vote threshold.
McCarthy agreed to reduce the number of House members needed to bring a vote to remove the speaker from five to one, according to reports. He also agreed to put more members of the Freedom Caucus on the Rules Committee, a powerful group that determines how legislation will be handled prior to being sent to the House floor for a vote.
Former Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., spoke with Straight Arrow News about the situation.
“There’s nothing that’s going to change. There are too many people that are completely locked in,” Ribble said. “There’s nothing that Kevin can give them beyond what he’s already offered that will move them to vote for him.”
Ribble said concessions on the motion to vacate could be a miscalculation on McCarthy’s part.
“I think it’s a mistake for Kevin to, to give them that, I think that there ought to be a threshold of maybe 15 or 20% of the majority to have a motion to vacate the chair,” he said. “But once you start negotiating with people who were not negotiating back with good faith, you’ve already lost the battle.”
While there has been discussion about the possibility of any Democrats ending the stalemate by supporting McCarthy, Ribble doesn’t see that happening, unless they simply give up on the process.
“The only way I think Democrats would actually help somebody win other than Kevin or even help Kevin win is simply by not showing up for the vote, they finally get tired of the circus,” Ribble added. “They just don’t come to the floor when a vote is called. And then the threshold required for Kevin McCarthy to become speaker goes down.”