House GOP leadership announces new rules package raising motion to vacate threshold

House Republicans announced Wednesday night an agreement to raise the threshold to invoke a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, in exchange for amendment changes.

House Republicans announced Wednesday night an agreement to raise the threshold to invoke a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, in exchange for amendment changes. The motion to vacate rule currently allows just a single member of Congress to call for a no-confidence vote against the speaker. The new agreement raises that threshold to nine. The conservative House Freedom Caucus and governing-focused GOP Main Street Caucus had been in talks – along with Speaker Mike Johnson – about changes to the motion to vacate, according to three Republicans involved in the discussions. An internal party rule change would defuse the procedural weapon used to remove Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, from power. In exchange, GOP lawmakers would not push for changes that would punish members for voting against rule. If Johnson can successfully raise the threshold, it would eliminate a key problem for him in the next Congress, where CNN projected on Wednesday that Republicans will have a majority in the House. The GOP conference would need to approve the deal on Thursday. Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said the new agreement would be able to “eliminate the controversial issues” in order to “deliver on” President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. “We know who our speaker designate is right now, and we’ve been able to work across the conference to eliminate the controversial issues that could have divided us and move forward together to deliver on the president’s agenda,” Harris said. “That’s it. That’s what the American people expect us to do, and the first steps were taken today, very concrete steps.”