\n\n“Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his GOP allies insist that no back-room promises were made to land his gavel after 15 frenetic ballots, that no plum committee spots, precise spending cuts, or debt limit strategy were guaranteed in a quid pro quo. Agreements and goals were reached with conservatives who initially withheld their votes from the speaker, GOP leaders say, but nothing was formalized in writing.”
…
“One McCarthy holdout, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), bluntly told Fox News when asked \u201cwhat did you get\u201d that he would join the influential GOP Steering Committee \u201cas Speaker McCarthy\u2019s designee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCarthy also informed members that the House would take its first-ever vote this Congress on a contentious national sales tax bill that Georgia Republicans \u2014 including McCarthy dissenter Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) \u2014 have pushed for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was part of the negotiation. The 20 conservatives who were holding out, one of the things that they wanted was to see it come to the floor for a vote,\u201d Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Another McCarthy promise was to diversify the membership on coveted House panels, which in practice means adding more Freedom Caucus members and other conservatives. That has begun to happen: Four speaker-race holdouts \u2014 Clyde, Donalds, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) \u2014 were awarded spots on prime committees”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Clyde stressed: \u201cThere\u2019s no secret rules addendum. There\u2019s just an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rumored existence of a binding secret document, however, prompted multiple GOP lawmakers to approach their leaders about it, texting each other in search of the missing paper.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Some House Republicans argue that the most divisive of the concessions floating around are \u201caspirational\u201d \u2014 particularly on issues like spending and the debt limit, which would need to get buy-in from the Democratic Senate and White House to go anywhere.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n