WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS? House Republicans emerged from two days of closed-door meetings this week declaring a truce on some of their biggest internal sticking points and preaching unity heading into January’s GOP trifecta in Washington. But that doesn’t mean House Republicans, or Speaker Mike Johnson, are on a smooth path going into next year — a fact GOP lawmakers acknowledged even as they managed to defuse the first round of their rules fight. Most notably, conservatives agreed to raise the threshold on forcing a vote to oust a speaker to nine members and centrists dropped their push for punitive actions against Republicans who defied leadership’s wishes. The former would be a critical change in the new Congress, but only if it’s ultimately approved in January as part of the House rules package. When asked about raising the threshold to boot a speaker, known as the motion to vacate, up from just one member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) responded: “That has to be voted on. That’s the spirit of the agreement and, to be clear, I’m not walking that back or anything, I’m just saying there are people who agreed to that, there are people who didn’t.” Notably, some of Johnson’s most vocal critics weren’t part of the negotiating team that locked in the rules agreement. We got a further taste of possible hurdles ahead this week, when that last-minute rules agreement appeared to be on the brink of unraveling after Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) said he hadn’t agreed to drop his amendments. He had proposed two that would have punished members for opposing a conference-blessed speaker nominee or blocking GOP legislative priorities. One member, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told us the deal was meant to “force team play.” But they sidestepped when asked if they thought it would stick, deferring to negotiators. (They also recounted being confused when Huizenga approached them — while the lawmaker was working out — to talk about the rules drama on Thursday morning.) In the end, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and other Main Street Caucus members got Huizenga on board. But it’s a reminder that, with the House GOP’s narrow majority, Johnson has to have a full lock on almost his entire conference — a group full of members who see themselves as independent actors. “Yeah we’re going to run into some speed bumps, but if we don’t get rid of the motion to vacate at one, we are totally going to run into a brick wall, without question,” said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio). Even as conservatives helped negotiate the rules deal they aren’t yet committing to actually voting for Johnson during the speaker's race, set to start on Jan. 3. They want to see how a coming spending debate plays out, especially. “We still have to get through December, you know, we’ve got to see how negotiations go in the lame duck. … All of this adds up to, how are decisions going to be made? What is the organization of the House?” Roy said. – Jordain Carney GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Nov. 15, where there are major TGIF feelings around the building (incoming members excluded).
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