Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he's "not convinced" members of the 118th Congress won't issue a motion to vacate the newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
"Well, I'm not convinced we can go the entire Congress without having it," Comer, the incoming House Oversight Committee chair, told host Chuck Todd.
According to Axios, after 15 rounds of voting, McCarthy won the speakership, while making concessions to hard-liners opposed to him. They included reinstating the threshold for forcing a vote to oust the speaker to just one lawmaker. Still, such concessions mean nothing until the House passes its rules package. The House is slated to vote on it Monday.
But speaking on the motion to vacate, Comer said, "If that's used, I believe that right now the overwhelming majority — and when I say overwhelming majority, 218 plus Republicans — realize that Kevin McCarthy needs a chance to govern, and we're going to give him a chance.
"So I'm not going to say there won't be one person who tries to abuse that motion, but I'm confident that McCarthy's going to be able to be given the green light to govern and to lead this conference and do the things that we told the American people we were going to do during the midterm election."
Among some of the concessions McCarthy agreed to, Rep. Andrew Ogles, R-Tenn, told The Epoch Times, are:
- A "Church"-style commission to look into the weaponization of the intelligence agencies such as the FBI.
- A vote to determine term limits.
- Single-subject bills and 72 hours to read them, not omnibus bills accompanying a slew of earmarks.
- The ending of COVID-19 mandates, as well as all funding for them, including emergency funding.