In a conference call on Sunday evening, the California congressman put forward arguably his biggest concession to the GOP caucus by making it easier to oust a House Speaker—a move McCarthy himself has long fought against.

McCarthy confirmed that in a new GOP-controlled chamber there would be the opportunity to “vacate the chair” if five House Republicans support such a motion.

Currently, a majority of the House GOP is required to call for a vote to remove the House leader from the chair.

The five-person threshold has been called for by some of the more hardline conservative GOP members, with more moderate members of the party suggesting it is too low and may weaken McCarthy’s leadership and influence.

The move from McCarthy to show support for the “vacate the chair” threshold arrived as nine current and incoming House Republicans signed a letter warning that it would be a “continuation of past and ongoing Republican failures,” if McCarthy is elected House Speaker while urging him to throw out the current rules on how to depose a sitting speaker.

The letter, signed by GOP House members including Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry, Arizona’s Paul Gosar and Texas’ Chip Roy, said: “At this state, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient. This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo – not a continuation of past and ongoing, Republican failures.

“McCarthy’s statement also continues to propose to restrict the availability of the traditional motion to vacate the chair as a means of holding leadership accountable to its promises; we have from the beginning made clear that we will not accept following Nancy Pelosi’s example by insulating leadership in this way.”

Also signing on were Republican Reps.-elect Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona and Andy Ogles of Tennessee.

McCarthy needs 218 votes to be confirmed as the new House Speaker on January 3. However, with the GOP entering the new congressional term holding a slim 222 to 213 seat majority, McCarthy can only afford to lose four House Republican voters in his bid to be elected House Speaker.

While the nine Republicans who signed the letter have not indicated whether or not they will back McCarthy for Speaker, the group does not account for the five GOP congressmen who have said they will not support him for the role when the House assembles Tuesday to vote on a speaker, including Florida’s Matt Gaetz, and Arizona’s Andy Biggs.

Speaking to The Hillabout the “vacate the chair” concession, Rep. Scott Perry said McCarthy is trying to do “the bare minimum” to get the required votes to get him over the line.

“That’s not indicative of somebody that really wants to embrace new ideas, reject the status quo and unify all members in the conference,” Perry said.

However, even if McCarthy does not achieve a 218 vote majority, there are still a number of scenarios which could result in him being elected Speaker without a revote.

The House could agree to adopt a resolution to declare that a Speaker can be elected by a plurality rather than by a majority, although the last time this occurred in the House was in 1856.

McCarthy could also benefit from a lowered threshold if some House members do not vote. In 2021, Pelosi was elected House Speaker with just 216 votes as a result of vacancies and those who voted “present.”

McCarthy has been contacted for comment.