The Club for Growth, an influential Republican organization, issued a statement Monday calling for more House rules reform before electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy to the speakership.
"The Club for Growth urges all Representatives to vote for a Speaker of the House of Representatives that will provide transformational reforms to the House, build a bold pro-growth legislative agenda, and restore the individual rights and powers of the rank-and-file membership," the group said in a statement Monday. "If a candidate for Speaker refuses to support and adopt the reforms outlined below – Club for Growth urges all Representatives to vote against that candidate for Speaker."
Voting for the new speaker of the House is one of the first things the new Congress will do after taking office Tuesday, but an increasing number of the new GOP majority appear to be opposing McCarthy's bid.
Nine Republicans sent a letter Sunday saying they will oppose McCarthy during the House floor vote.
"The times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past and ongoing Republican failures," The Hill reported the letter saying. "For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure."
Among the key issues McCarthy is facing with his GOP colleagues is reversing some of the rule changes made by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has run the chamber since 2018 and did not allow House members to vote to remove the speaker from the position.
According to The Hill, McCarthy has little margin of error with such a slim majority of 222 GOP House members when 218 votes are needed.
He won an election as the GOP nominee for the position last month during a vote inside the caucus, but even that vote was shy the magic 218 number of votes.
Five GOP members have remained opposed to McCarthy since that November vote, and with the letter Sunday, and statement from the Club for Growth on Monday, that number is increasing.
The club's President David McIntosh said Dec. 1 that several rule changes need to be enacted in Congress for the new session before the group would endorse McCarthy, including allowing "open rules" so legislation could be amended by members before a final vote, barring the Congressional Leadership Fund from using its money to primary incumbent GOP members, and including a "true conservative" in the GOP House leadership team.
"For far too long, the House Leadership from both parties has consolidated power into the select few, rather than embracing the diverse viewpoints of the rank-and-file Membership representing constituents across America," McIntosh said at the time. "Instead of mimicking Nancy Pelosi's regime, the new Speaker of the House should adopt the following reforms in order to return democracy to the House of Representatives."
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