Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told Newsmax Wednesday that the 20 House Republicans opposing Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in his bid to be the new speaker of the House are not negotiating "in good faith" regarding concessions they want to cast their vote for him.
"[McCarthy's opponents are] not bargaining in good faith. As [he] concedes on points, they're moving the goal post on what it is that they want," Steube said during "American Agenda" Wednesday. "They're negotiating for things, and then they're getting concessions; yet they're not willing to then vote for Speaker McCarthy — our leader McCarthy — to be able to move the ball forward."
A group of 20 of the new 222-member GOP majority is adamantly opposing McCarthy's bid, despite his being elected internally by the Republican caucus 188-31 in November.
Through six votes in two days, McCarthy has failed to garner the 218 votes needed to win the speakership, The Hill reported.
"We're having ongoing conversations. They've actually been more productive in the last two hours than they've been in a long time," the news outlet reported opposing GOP Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, telling reporters Wednesday. "There's genuine, good faith, 'hey, let's get this done' conversations."
Roy and the other 19 members holding out on the former House minority leader have asked for several rule concessions for the House; and Steube said they received several, despite continuing to withhold the votes McCarthy needs.
"That's one of the frustrating things being on the side of the majority right now," said Stuebe, who supports McCarthy as speaker. "We're making all these concessions to you. We're trying to work with [McCarthy's opponents] on what it is exactly that [they] want."
Steube said the "frustrating" thing is that the group has voted for three different candidates during the rounds of voting and appears to be more interested in blocking McCarthy than believing in someone else for the job.
"They started off all supporting [Rep. Andy] Biggs, R-Ariz. And then they all went to [Rep. Jim] Jordan, R-Ohio, who, by the way, is passionately supporting Kevin McCarthy for speaker," Steube said. "Now suddenly, [Rep.] Byron Donalds, R-Fla., comes out of nowhere. And it's the same bloc voting for three different people. So if they really feel strongly about who they think should be the speaker, they've changed their vote on who the speaker should be three times."
While things could change, Steube said he sees little chance of the group moving to McCarthy.
"[McCarthy's] got 202 out of the 222 Republican members, and you have a 10% of the overall conference that is basically holding the rest of the conference and the country, quite frankly, hostage," Steube said.
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