McCarthy had to appease a faction of conservatives who refused to back him unless he gave in to their demands so that he could become speaker of the House.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) said on Sunday that, in exchange for his support of Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House, he would be put on the House Republican Steering Committee.
Donalds announced during his Sunday interview on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
McCarthy’s 15-vote victory in the House speaker race set the stage for his presentation. McCarthy had to appease a vocal minority of conservatives who refused to back him unless he gave in to their demands to secure the speaker’s position.
Donalds remarked, “I’m just thrilled that it’s all over with and that we achieved something transformative and sound for the American people.”
The committee’s task is to place Republican members of the House of Representatives on other committees. Donalds said that the nomination of “additional [Republican] voices on more committees” was facilitated by his membership on the Steering Committee.
Following his first vote in favor of McCarthy, Donalds joined a group of 20 conservative Republicans who declined to vote for McCarthy. His fellow Republicans eventually nominated him for the position, but not before he shifted to supporting Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
“From the beginning, I believed the best of Kevin. But it became obvious to me immediately that we were making no progress. In other words, it asked, “OK, how long is this going to go?” A natural question to ask is, “How will this develop?” A statement made by Donalds. To build a framework that all members of our conference could support, we needed to get everyone involved in the conversation.
This week, McCarthy’s ability to lead with a divided, tiny majority in the House of Representatives will be tested as he attempts to approve a rules package.
For legislators, writing and approving regulations is usually regular. However, this is McCarthy’s next big test in the current climate.
McCarthy had to give in to a tiny number of hardliners who would only back his rise to power once he bowed to their demands to become a speaker and win over doubters.
Some of those pledges are being formalized into legislation that can be voted on when lawmakers return this week for the first votes as the governing party.