SCOOP: 'CORRUPT BARGAIN' SEASON FOR McCARTHY — As House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy works to lock down the GOP votes he needs to win the speaker's gavel in January, he's getting squeezed from the right on a number of fronts. And he can expect to hear a lot of this phrase: "corrupt bargain." Jordain got an exclusive early look at a memo that Facts First USA , a nonprofit group co-chaired by former GOP Rep. David Jolly (Fla.) and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, will start circulating with allies on Monday. The document previews the group's plan for the next five weeks and what it wants to see from congressional Democrats. "Democrats should undertake a concerted messaging campaign over the next 5 weeks through January 3rd to brand McCarthy's struggling campaign to win the speakership as a 'corrupt bargain' he is striking with ultra MAGA extremists in the Republican caucus to attain the 218 votes he needs to secure the job," writes Facts First President and longtime Democratic activist David Brock. Where Republicans are going: Brock's group is one of a handful that have sprung up in recent weeks as White House, congressional Democrats and their network of allies gear up for a GOP-controlled House come January. House Republicans are vowing a series of high-profile investigations that will touch on Hunter Biden, Capitol security on Jan. 6, the "origins" of the coronavirus and the inner workings of the FBI and Justice Department, among other topics. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, estimated Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his panel would "investigate between 40 and 50 different things. We have the capacity. We'll have 25 members on the committee, and we're going to have a staff close to 70." Facts First is homing in on the gavels going to Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is expected to chair the Judiciary Committee, as a sign of McCarthy's (R-Calif.) plans to turn House oversight into a political weapon. Comer and Jordan joined more than a dozen GOP colleagues for a pre-Thanksgiving update on their investigation into the Biden family — which Brock slams in the memo as an "unhinged rant" — that ended up being the first press conference House Republicans held after winning the majority. What to watch: The Brock-led group is pushing congressional Democrats and the media to shine a spotlight between now and Jan. 3 on any deals McCarthy may make as he tries to secure 218 votes, describing the California Republican's "corrupt bargain with MAGA" conservatives as empowering them to "run wild with any conspiracy theory investigation or impeachment in exchange for their vote." That includes McCarthy's pledge to restore Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) committees next year after Democrats yanked her assignments following a series of incendiary comments and actions . (Greene wants a seat on the Oversight Committee, which would put her in the middle of the conference's high-profile investigations, though she's said she hasn't been promised one.) Republicans have told POLITICO that they also expect Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) to be added back to the Oversight Committee. McCARTHY'S MATH — If the Facts First push wasn't enough of a headache, McCarthy is coming out of the Thanksgiving recess with five on-the-record promises from within his conference to resist his speakership bid. But Rep. Bob Good (Va.) has said he expects at least a dozen colleagues to be hard no's for McCarthy, which has your Huddle host thinking: Who will be next to go public and who will wait in the wings? McCarthy's conference will be between 220 and 222 strong, which means even losing a handful of votes on the floor for speaker would put him in jeopardy. (But absences and "present" votes could lower the winning threshold from 218 votes.) McCarthy's open opponents right now are Reps. Good, Ralph Norman (S.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Matt Rosendale (Mont.). McCathy's decision to float a possible impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a pre-holiday trip to the border — a door he first cracked open in April – marked a clear effort to shore up his conservative flank. And as the House Republican conference meets again this week to finish sorting out their own internal rules, more criticism could emerge based on whether McCarthy backs changes proposed by different GOP factions. Republicans still need to resolve a proposal on banning earmarks after punting it until after Thanksgiving. McCarthy also needs to navigate proposals from Freedom Caucus members and other conservatives that would dilute his ability to shape the Rules Committee, remake the Steering Committee and formally require legislation to have support from a majority of the conference to come to the floor, among other debates.
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