House Republican factions agreed Wednesday night on a change to the chamber’s rules that would make it tougher to oust the speaker in the manner that ex-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lost his job last year, and after some threatened the current speaker, Mike Johnson, with the same fate earlier this year.
The deal struck between members of the hard-line Freedom Caucus and the more centrist Republican Main Street Caucus would raise the bar for members to offer a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair by requiring additional members to sign on to such a privileged resolution.
During the 118th Congress, a single lawmaker could trigger such a motion, which Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — who tendered his resignation Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate him for attorney general — used to strip McCarthy’s gavel. Under the deal worked out Wednesday, nine lawmakers would be required to support a motion to vacate before it could be entertained on the floor.
