What we know about the deal that won Kevin McCarthy the speakership

After a dramatic and prolonged series of votes for House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy was able to secure the gavel by brokering a deal to win over a block of conservative holdouts.

Part of that deal included changes to the House rules package, which heads to the floor for a vote Monday night. It also includes commitments to cut government spending, according to lawmakers involved in negotiations.

The full written agreement has not been made public. But it's clear that key provisions could empower the conservative wing of the party and ultimately weaken the office of the speaker.

Among the key rules changes conservatives won are:

The deal also makes a path for massive spending cuts

Rep. French Hill, a McCarthy ally who was involved in negotiations, told reporters that the framework sets an "aspirational goal for domestic discretionary at fiscal year 2022 levels," but does not include specific budget caps. The FY22 budget was approximately $1.5 trillion.

Fiscal conservatives have long been pushing for spending restraint. But the agreement has raised concerns about cuts to the defense budget.

Rep. Chip Roy, one of the initial McCarthy holdouts who negotiated the agreement, said it would set a "top level spending mark."

"What we're doing is setting top-level spending marks – $1.471 trillion — now go figure out how to spend your money," Roy told reporters Friday. "That's how you operate at home. Why do it any differently? The American people are tired of writing endless blank checks."

In order to curb spending, House Republicans will seek to advance 12 individual government funding bills each year rather than one large omnibus package. Raising the federal debt limit will need to be accompanied by measures to cut spending, according to the framework.

"We don't want to agree to a debt limit, you know, without some sort of a control mechanism, budget reform, spending reforms," Hill said.

The government is supposed to hit the debt ceiling by this summer.

And it makes room for more conservative representation on committees

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are expected to gain seats on key committees like Rules and Appropriations thanks to the deal.

"The agreement centers on making sure that all the standing committees of Congress are reflective of all of the viewpoints inside our conference," Hill told reporters.

Roy said on The Mark Levin Show on Sunday that McCarthy agreed to appoint conservatives to the powerful Rules Committee. "We're now going to have conservative representation on that committee," Roy said. "Now we can help control that we get good bills to the floor and advance conservative bills for the American people."

Republicans will vote on the proposed rules package Monday evening, and it could be just the next of many floor fights to come for McCarthy.

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales said he'll vote against the package. He expressed concerns about cuts to defense spending, and said the one-member threshold on a motion to vacate the chair could lead to "nightmare after nightmare" for House Republicans.

With a razor-thin majority, Republicans can only afford to lose four votes and still pass legislation along party lines.

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