Jan. 2 (UPI) -- House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has made some key concessions in his bid to become the new speaker of the House of Representatives, as the 118th Congress prepares to vote Tuesday.
"I think we're going to have a good day tomorrow," McCarthy told reporters Monday, saying he remains confident he will win despite some right-wing Republicans refusing to support him.
McCarthy has been working to secure the role of speaker of the House since the Republican Party gained control of the House in November's midterm elections, winning 222 of the 435 seats. If McCarthy wins Tuesday, he will replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.
McCarthy earned the nod of House Republicans as their nominee for speaker in a November vote, but faced a challenge from most right-winged members of his party.
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On Sunday, McCarthy announced several concessions in a proposed House rules package, including changes to how the speaker could be removed. The concession allows any five Republican party members to call for the speaker's removal at any time, rather than a threshold of more than half of the House GOP conference that Republicans adopted in an internal rule in November.
McCarthy also addressed a request from conservatives to have more representation on committees.
"I will use my selections on key panels to ensure they more closely reflect the ideological makeup of our conference, and will advocate for the same when it comes to the membership of standing committees," McCarthy said in a letter to GOP colleagues on Sunday. "This will facilitate greater scrutiny of bills from the start so they stand a greater chance of passing in the end."
Despite the concession, nine Republicans responded with a letter Sunday saying the concessions come "almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies."
"Thus far, there continue to be missing specific commitments with respect to virtually every component of our entreaties, and thus, no means to measure whether promises are kept or broken," the letter added.
If McCarthy is not elected during the first vote Tuesday, members of the House will conduct additional votes until someone wins a majority. Since there is no other viable candidate in the running for House speaker, McCarthy has vowed to continue fighting.
Until a House speaker is chosen, no business can be conducted including the swearing-in of new members of Congress.
As of Monday, McCarthy was still working to secure the 218 votes needed to be elected speaker, including from Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
"Nothing changes when nothing changes, and that must start from the top," Perry tweeted Sunday. "Time to make the change or get out of the way."
