Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on Jan. 8 that he believes Republicans can pass a House rules package that was subject to negotiations with holdouts during the election of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker last week.
“I think we’ll get the 218 votes we need to pass the rules package,” Jordan told “Fox News Sunday.” “What this rules package is designed to do is to stop what we saw happen literally 15 days ago, when the Democrats passed a $1.7 trillion monstrosity of a bill.”
During his bid for speaker, McCarthy had to make concessions to a group of about 20 Republicans until he was elected during the early hours of Jan. 7—after 15 rounds of voting. Some of the rule changes include lowering the threshold for a lawmaker to issue a motion to vacate, allowing members to oust the House speaker, as well as allowing a vote to allow term limits on members of the chamber.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did away with the “vacate the chair” rule when Democrats regained the majority in 2019.
“If a CEO is not doing the job, you can fire him—the same thing in politics,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of the holdouts who was won over by McCarthy by the rules changes.
McCarthy also committed to spending cuts, including slashing spending on defense. Congress faces an agenda of must-pass bills to fund the government, restock a military that has seen its supplies depleted by military aid to Ukraine and decades of war, authorize farming programs, and raise the nation’s borrowing limit to avert a federal default.
“We got a $32 trillion debt, everything has to be on the table,” Jordan said during the Jan. 8 interview. “When you’ve got numbers like that ... frankly, we better look at the money we send to Ukraine as well.”
McCarthy won 216-212 in the 15th round of voting, with all Democrats voting for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and six GOP holdouts to McCarthy voting “present.”
“Let’s remember that a little temporary conflict is necessary in this town in order to stop this town from rolling over the American people,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who was one of the holdouts, told CNN on Jan. 8.
Roy dismissed tensions that erupted during the 15 rounds of voting, which culminated in Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) being restrained after he appeared to lunge at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of the holdouts.
“I don’t think anybody on either side of the aisle could say with a straight face that they think that Washington is doing good work for the American people on a regular basis and isn’t broken. We have to work to fix this place,” Roy said.
During the voting, he ultimately backed McCarthy after earlier nominating Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
What McCarthy Said
As McCarthy took the gavel on Jan. 7, he promised to carry out a conservative agenda and tackle the crisis along the U.S.–Mexico border, cut funding for the IRS, and fix left-wing indoctrination in schools. Long-term challenges such as U.S. debt and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must also be addressed, he said.“No more ignoring this crisis of safety and sovereignty,” he said. “We must secure our border.”
President Joe Biden issued a statement congratulating McCarthy on his election as speaker at roughly 1 a.m. local time on Jan. 7.
“Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House,” Biden said. “I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.”
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