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\n

House centrists are warning Speaker Mike Johnson to not cut side deals with conservatives to win the gavel.<\/p>\n

The verbal red flag comes as Johnson is heading toward a showdown over keeping his speakership, with a vote set to begin shortly after noon. He doesn\u2019t appear to have the votes to secure it on the first ballot, as one Republican vows to oppose him and about a dozen others are publicly undecided.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s right flank is making several demands, including seeking commitments on slashing spending. But it\u2019s one significant ask \u2014 a bid to give Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) the Rules Committee gavel \u2014 that is sparking the biggest heartburn. Unlike most top committee spots, who gets the Rules gavel is up to the speaker alone. That powerful panel controls what party-line legislation heads to the floor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like \u201cputting Stalin in charge of Amnesty International,\u201d centrist Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said about giving Roy the gavel.<\/p>\n

Members of the Freedom Caucus are pushing for Roy to get the Rules chairmanship \u2014 with some going so far as to publicly say if Johnson gives into the demand that he will win the speakership on the first ballot.<\/p>\n

But Roy hasn\u2019t made his vote in the speaker’s race contingent on getting the Rules gavel, according to two people familiar with his thinking who were granted anonymity to speak frankly. One added that the Texas Republican relayed that message in a closed-door Freedom Caucus meeting on Friday.<\/p>\n

Johnson has said that he is open to talking over \u201cprocess changes\u201d but has warned that he won\u2019t cut deals in order to secure the gavel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t make deals with anyone, there\u2019s no quid pro quo here. I don’t do anything in exchange for a vote other than commit to make this institution work as effectively and efficiently as possible,\u201d he told reporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnson allies are also adamant that he won\u2019t cut a deal to make Roy chair of the panel in order to secure his speakership, and centrists have also privately warned that he should generally avoid making the types of deals that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy did. Many of those agreements with conservatives ultimately paved the way for McCarthy\u2019s ouster just months later, and significantly weakened House GOP leadership generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will cause problems elsewhere,\u201d said one Republican lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

Bacon added that members of the GOP business-oriented Main Street Caucus \u201dare in lock step: No side deals. [Conservatives] move the goalposts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniella Diaz and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House centrists are warning Speaker Mike Johnson to not cut side deals with conservatives to win the gavel. The verbal red flag comes as Johnson is heading toward a showdown over keeping his speakership, with a vote set to begin shortly after noon. He doesn\u2019t appear to have the votes to secure it on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}