Warring GOP factions strike deal to raise threshold to oust a House speaker

House Republicans have reached an agreement on raising the motion to vacate threshold.

Currently, House GOP Conference rules dictate that just one lawmaker is needed to call for a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a chamber-wide vote on removing the speaker.

But the deal, brokered during a meeting hosted by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and involving lawmakers from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and the pragmatic Main Street Caucus, would raise the one-person threshold to nine.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., may get some breathing room with some new rules agreements. (Getty Images)

In exchange, Main Street Caucus members agreed to withdraw several proposed changes to House GOP rules that would have punished Republicans who vote against the will of the majority.

The one-person threshold was part of a deal that ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., struck with conservatives in January 2022 in order to win the gavel.

That eventually came back to haunt him when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., triggered the vote that ultimately led to his ouster by all House Democrats and eight Republicans in October 2023.

It’s also been a threat over Johnson’s head since he took over for McCarthy.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., notably triggered a vote to oust Johnson using the same rule in March. Enough House Democrats helped Republicans block the House-wide vote, however, by voting to “table” it indefinitely.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, triggered ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s, R-Calif., ouster via motion to vacate. (Getty)

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and Main Street Caucus Chairman Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., confirmed the deal in brief comments to reporters on Wednesday evening.

“ This started because Dr. Harris reached out this morning. He said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to cut a deal. We need to come together.’ Unity is important,” Johnson said.

“We spent more than an hour together. We made good progress. We understood that we had an opportunity to set the motion to vacate at a higher number…the motion to vacate will be set at nine, and in return for getting rid of some amendments that probably would have divided this conference.”

 The Main Street Caucus chair said Harris “did a good job of explaining to mainstream leadership why those amendments would have divided the Republican conference.”

Moderate and rank-and-file Republicans have been pushing to raise the threshold since late last year, arguing it would just continue to fuel chaos within the House GOP.

But GOP hardliners insisted it empowered members who were not in House Republican leadership.

A fifth person who spoke with Fox News Digital stressed the deal was tentative, categorizing it as a “proposed” deal and adding, “It isn’t over until it is.”

House Republicans are expected to vote on proposed changes to their conference rules on Thursday.

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Johnson was chosen as speaker after McCarthy was ousted. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The news comes just after Johnson won a unanimous vote by House Republicans to be their speaker again, two more sources told Fox News Digital.

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Conservative critics of Johnson’s handling of foreign aid and government spending had threatened to delay his victory by forcing a secret ballot vote rather than awarding him unanimous consent.

But they appeared to back off from that threat after the meeting, which delayed leadership elections by roughly an hour and a half.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.