The House Republican Party is proposing a rule change to grant powers to interim speaker

The rule change would take effect “in the event of a vacancy in the Office of the Speaker” and would allow any member designated as interim Speaker to “exercise all powers of the Office of the Speaker as may be necessary and appropriate are.”

The proposal comes after the historical expulsion from former chairman Kevin McCarthy last year. It resulted in a three-week period of inactivity as then-Chairman Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) was unable to exercise any leadership authority until a new chairman was elected.

The rule change is included in a document being distributed to House Republicans before the conference reconvenes next week.

Republicans will hold their leadership elections on Tuesday to choose the top members of their conference before voting on the potential rule changes two days later. The changes would not take effect until the next Congress.

Republicans in the House of Representatives are set to re-elect their current leadership as the top three Republican leaders are all running for the same positions, according to Dear Colleague letters sent to lawmakers this week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will run for another term as speaker, which will be decided in a vote of the entire Congress early next year.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) will run for another term as House Majority Leader and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) will jockey for a second term in his third position.

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A question mark over the leadership of the Republican Party is the position of Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chairwoman of the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives, who is seeking re-election to the post.

Stefanik took the fourth highest position in May 2021 and quickly established himself as a loyal and close ally of newly elected President Donald Trump. That loyalty put Stefanik on his first shortlist for vice presidential candidates and eligible for a position in his second administration.

Stefanik sent a letter to Republican lawmakers Thursday announcing her intention to run for office again and laying out her priorities for the next Congress.

“We have one chance to save America and this is it!” Stefanik wrote. “We must start working immediately with President Trump to communicate and deliver real results and conservative victories for the American people! This will not be easy, we will have to work every day to combat the noise and attacks from the mainstream media and the radical Democratic Party.”