Mace a ‘yes’ on rules package after saying she was ‘on the fence

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) plans to vote for the House rules package slated to be considered today, according to a source close to her office, just a day after the lawmaker said she was on the fence about approving it.

Mace floated the idea that she may not support the package over the weekend.

The rules package was at the center of the fight over who would become the next Speaker. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made concessions over the rules to a group of Republicans blocking his election.

More than a dozen of those Republicans backed McCarthy for Speaker as the deal was being negotiated. Another half-dozen Republicans voted “present” in a final ballot, which sealed McCarthy’s Speakership.

The negotiations had raised questions about whether they would raise problems with some of McCarthy’s supporters, and Mace in a weekend interview acknowledged her concerns.

“What I saw last week was a small faction … trying to cut backroom deals in private, in secret without anyone knowing what else was going on,” Mace said on “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan on Sunday. “So my question today is what backroom deals were cut?”

Mace said the negotiations between McCarthy and his group of detractors were a cause for “significant heartburn” and emphasized that lawmakers were not yet aware of all of the concessions the GOP leader made.

Mace made clear that she supported the substance of the rules package, but did not appreciate lawmakers attempting to make “backroom” deals in private.

One House Republican, Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas), wrote on Twitter Friday that he would be opposing the rules package because he believed deals McCarthy had cut would lead to a reduction in defense spending.

“How am I going to look at our allies in the eye and say, I need you to increase your defense budget, but yet America is going to decrease ours?” he wrote.

Emily Brooks contributed.

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