“We’re supposed to be hitting the ground running here, but instead it’s just a big belly flop. Believe me, it’s not just members of the Freedom Caucus who are aggravated. As the days and hours trickle on, the more aggravated people become.”

— A GOP lawmaker, quoted by Politico.

New York Times: “If Republicans are unable to muster the votes for a speaker, it will make very clear from the outset they cannot be counted on to fulfill the body’s basic responsibilities, such as funding the government or preventing a credit default by lifting the debt ceiling, both of which will be required later this year.”

Punchbowl News: “The fate of Kevin McCarthy must be decided, including whether he has the votes to become the next speaker of the House. RIght now, the answer is no. And the signs aren’t good for the California Republican.”

“There are between five to 10 House GOP lawmakers who may oppose McCarthy during Tuesday’s speaker vote on the floor. Even close allies privately worry that it’s ‘hard to see a path’ for McCarthy to get the 218 votes he needs.”

“Yet so much remains fluid at the moment. And one can never underestimate how difficult it is for a member to publicly vote against their party leader for speaker.”

“If McCarthy were to fall, it would represent a new level of chaos for House Republicans, who have spent much of the last dozen years at war with the leadership of their party. Under this scenario, expect outright war between the middle of the conference and the 10 or so conservatives who blocked him from capturing the gavel.”

Playbook: “There’s no way to sugarcoat this: Seven years after his last, failed bid for the speakership, Kevin McCarthy’s dreams of wielding the gavel are again in peril. Despite years of political contortions aimed at winning over his critics on the far right, with just over 24 hours left until the critical floor vote, the California Republican’s math problem is getting worse, not better.”

Nine conservative Republican House members released a letter Sunday night saying the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has made do not go far enough for them to back him as speaker, CNN reports.

From the letter: “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.”

Wall Street Journal: “If a candidate doesn’t win a majority of House members voting and present on the first ballot, likely to be set at 218 votes, then another roll-call vote is taken. Both Mr. McCarthy’s supporters and opponents have indicated they think the vote could go to a second ballot, which hasn’t happened since 1923. That year, it took nine ballots to select a speaker.”

House Republicans plan a new Judiciary Committee panel with the working name “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” Axios reports.

“It’s part of the aggressive posture planned by the GOP, which takes the House majority when the new Congress opens Tuesday.”

“House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy outlined some of the concessions that he has agreed to in his campaign for speaker on a Sunday evening conference call – including making it easier to topple the speaker,” CNN reports.

“But McCarthy could not say whether he would have the votes for the speakership, even after giving in to some of the right’s most hardline demands.”

“The California Republican told his members that after weeks of negotiations, he has agreed to a threshold as low as five people to trigger a vote on ousting the speaker at any given time, known as the ‘motion to vacate’ the speaker’s chair, and pitched it as a ‘compromise.’”

New York Times: “He has not answered telephone calls, text messages or emails asking him to respond to The Times’s reporting. Earlier this week, Mr. Santos’s lawyer responded to an email asking about his campaign’s unusual spending, saying it was ‘ludicrous’ to suggest the funds had been spent irresponsibly. Mr. Santos did not answer an email sent to him and his lawyer on Friday asking for comments about new reporting on the discrepancies in his past.”

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), a former House Ways and Means chairman who has served in Congress for 25 years, said that Rep.-elect George Santos (R-TX) would have “to take some huge steps” to regain trust and respect in his district, the AP reports.

Said Brady: “This is troubling in so many ways. Certainly, he’s lied repeatedly. He certainly is going to have to consider resigning.”

At 4 p.m. today, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will host a call with the House GOP Conference to try to iron out a deal to get the speakership, Politico reports.