Republican House speaker hopeful Kevin McCarthy is facing considerable resistance from his own party ahead of the new Congress, which convenes on Tuesday 3 January.
On Sunday, nine conservative Republican lawmakers penned a letter crticising Mr McCarthy’s bid for House speaker.
The letter came two days before the new Congress begins. Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives in November, but only by a narrow margin. Republicans will only have 222 seats, which is only four more than the required 218 majority Mr McCarthy has needed.
“The times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past and ongoing Republican failures,” the letter to Mr McCarthy said. “For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”
