Dec. 15, 2022: Scoop: Why GOP moderates are blocking for McCarthy
On Friday, after a group of seven House conservatives issued a public letter outlining the demands that GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy would need to meet to win their support in his bid for speaker, a key McCarthy backer quietly reached out to several moderate Republicans with a request, according to people familiar with the conversations.\nThe Freedom Caucus rabble-rousers had reiterated their demand that McCarthy restore a 200-year-old, now-infamous House rule known as the \u201cmotion to vacate,\u201d which allows any one member to force a floor vote to oust the speaker at any moment.\xa0\nMcCarthy\u2019s camp wanted the centrists to push back hard on the proposal, which the speaker-hopeful fiercely opposes. If they did, McCarthy would be able to point to their opposition, say his hands are tied and refuse to give in to conservatives\u2019 demands. McCarthy\u2019s office declined to comment to Playbook.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host and Senior Editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.