Fmr. Speaker Newt Gingrich weighs in on current congressional fight and predicts how it will end

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighed in on the current fight for leadership in Congress during a phone interview on Thursday, and made pragmatic predictions about how the battle between GOP members will finally end. 

"I think they will eventually come together and get a deal done," he told Just The News. "It has less to do with budgetary concerns and more to do with [the fact] that there is a part of this group that simply doesn't want McCarthy, and a portion of them who want a strong guarantee he will be a conservative." 

Gingrich also highlighted the fragile dynamic of allowing 20 members to steer the ship of the entire Republican Party, describing such an arrangement as politically untenable. 

"You can't deal with the 20 members voting against McCarthy and risk alienating the other 200 members," he continued. "They've been outvoted 200-20 each time. So they have to find a way to form a committee to come together and work this out." 

The "Contract with America" author also cited past close votes in recent House history, adding that the biggest issue still seems to be the ability for conservative members to get their bills to the floor for an on-the-record vote. 

"Remember, Nancy Pelosi was once elected Speaker with 216 votes and Paul Ryan was elected with 216 votes. This is not as unprecedented as many people think," Gingrich added. 

"Their biggest concern seems to be with getting legislation on the floor for a vote," he concluded. "The more members the Freedom Caucus has on the Rules Committee, the more bills they can push. Now with such a slim majority it's unlikely that the House will be able to override the President or convince a divided Senate to advance the bill. In addition, they'd have to convince the president that it is critical to his reelection to sign the bill. And I don't see that happening much [in the current government structure]." 

As of Thursday evening McCarthy had been nominated 10 times in a historic happening, yet has failed to reach the necessary threshold to assume the speakership with each vote, and was unable to sway any additional members to his side to chip away at the GOP defectors camp.