McCarthy-backer Rep. Mike Rogers says GOP will deal with Democrats if 'belligerents' won't fold

A powerful House Republican lawmaker who supports Rep. Kevin McCarthy's stalled bid for speaker says if a group of 20 arch conservative holdouts don't fall in line within days, rank-and-file Republicans will cut a deal with Democrats.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is in line to chair the House Armed Services Committee if Republicans manage to coalesce behind a leader, accused a rump faction he termed '20 belligerents' of being 'legislative terrorists' who are engaging in 'narcissistic behavior' by issuing demands McCarthy can't possibly meet.

If there isn't agreement by the end of the week, he raised the possibility, floated by a some rank-and-file Democrats, of trying to secure some of their votes for speaker in exchange for concessions to the minority.

'And so that's why I say I hope next week we come back – you'll find a lot of us will – we’ll either see there's a path, or we've got to go across the aisle,' Rogers told DailyMail.com while fellow Republicans were battling inside the House chamber.

He said rank-and-file members would start working with Democrats to see how to accommodate them on rules or policy matters, and that the group of 202 lawmakers had 'hardened' in their support of McCarthy. 

'The 200 of us are getting more annoyed and hardened. And then you will see us move to a different direction, if we find this is not an option,' he said.

'You get to a point and you say, Kevin, we love you, but you're not – we're not dealing with [them] anymore. Because it's not about McCarthy. This is about the conference. They want to go around the conference and get the things they want by dealing with one person – they've got a gun to his head. You don't negotiate with terrorists, whether they're Islamic terrorists who have a sword to somebody's head, or these people with, basically a political gun to Kevin’s head,' he said.

'You don't negotiate with these kinds of people. These are legislative terrorists who have no problem killing the hostage, and you can quote me on that,' he added for emphasis. 

Rogers spoke after a few Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), had held informal talks with Republicans, while longtime rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), floated the idea of a 'unity caucus.'

Rogers wasn't talking about going so far to entice Democrats to such a creation, but was instead suggesting buying off sufficient votes with rules or even policy gestures to establish GOP control.

'Oh, we’ll give them something. One thing about votes in the minority: they’re always rentable. Sometimes they’re expensive, but they’re always rentable,' he joked.

He brushed off the unity government gambit, in an institution where the majority wields near total power.

'It wouldn’t be that. Trust me there are things that they would like to have in exchange for that,' he dangled.

'I mean, there's a whole host of things that would be beneficial to them in the minority, that a lot of us would find more more palatable than dealing with' the GOP holdouts, he said. 'It’s very malleable, the universe of things that that are negotiable,' he said.

Rogers, whose committee staff is sidelined until a speaker is elected, works on one of the few panels in the House that tends to work in bipartisan fashion.

'I run the Armed Services Committee with Adam Smith. We come out with a completely bipartisan bill every year. It's very doable. When you're not an ass****, you can get a deal cut in this place. Democrats don't all have horns coming out of their heads. So that's why I say time is on our side. We'll work with these people as long as we can, but once we realize we can’t, we'll deal with the other options. And they’re there.'

He said McCarthy 'told a bunch of this morning that he has been having some productive meetings with the 20 belligerents and and that he thinks that progress is being' made and that things might be at a 'good point for tomorrow.'

But the Californian who has long dreamed of being speaker lost on multiple floor votes again Wednesday. 

Rogers said of the holdouts: 'They love the attention. This is all narcissistic behavior. It's all it is. They love it. They're not going to love it so much after it goes on for a while. People back home start recognizing what they're doing to this country.'

During an angry GOP conference meeting Tuesday, he suggested kicking Republicans who refuse to back McCarthy off committees. Rogers serves on the Steering Committee, which makes panel assignments, and which the speaker influences but does not completely control.  'I promised it,' he said of the threat. 

Whether Democrats will actually be open to a deal that would bail out McCarthy remains to be seen.   

'I haven't heard of any offers or anything. And I just don't know what they can offer that would be appealing to make Kevin McCarthy the speaker,' Rep. Joaquin Castro told DailyMail.com. 

Trying to elevate a moderate Republican like former Michigan GOP Rep. Fred Upton could be even more far-fetched. 

The turmoil on the floor is not incentivizing Democrats to come to the GOP's rescue. 

'The chaos that you see weighs against the American people. The Republican Party is an almost non-functioning Party right now. And that's what the American people are seeing,' Castro said.

'I mean there's always a possibility,' said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), whose January 6th Committee has already been disbanded, with Republicans vowing to pore through its records and archives.

'I'm just not sure what's been offered already to the people who didn't accept it that would be tolerable to our side. More importantly, getting elected is one thing. But being able to govern once you're elected ... l and  think this demonstrates that that's a missing equation right now.'

'I think what the three votes yesterday, what the public saw was exactly what's going on: chaos.'