Welcome to Meet the Press Now.

I'm Chuck Todd here in Washington on the second anniversary of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, where so far a fourth day in a row, House Republicans have not been able to elect a speaker.

But for the very first time, Kevin McCarthy appears to have the gavel within his reach.

The House just adjourned until 10 p.m. Easter time this evening. It's giving time for a pair of McCarthy allies to make their way back to D.C. on planes right now for an evening vote.

And McCarthy believes he has the votes. Finally. After a night of bargaining,

McCarthy gained the sport of 15 holdouts today, flipping 14 votes on the 12th ballot and adding

Maryland's Andy Harris on the 13th ballot. It's still not enough to become speaker, but he now only

need to flip two of the remaining six holdouts or have some combination of present votes, things

like that. And right now he has something

he hasn't had all week momentum. Moments ago, Garrett Haight caught up with Leader McCarthy just

off the House floor, and he says he will have the votes tonight. You know, what's it going to take

to get over the top here? We'll get it done tonight. Just with the two coming back, I mean,

you still have some, at least some more members of your your conference you have to convince. I've got a couple members flying back. McCarthy was the top vote getter in the House on the 12th and 13th ballots for the first time all week. Not by much, but a plurality is something, so he'll take it. And it all comes, though, with a big price. The concessions McCarthy

appears to have made to get even this far are going to greatly decrease his power as Speaker,

if he gets there, and greatly increase the power of the ultra-conservatives in his conference.

Anyone of McCarthy's critics now is going to be able to call for a vote to remove him at any time.

And it means that a Speaker McCarthy will have to be

the most conservative speaker in modern political history, while also being the weakest

speaker in modern political history. The Never Ever Kevin Caucus now sits at six. They may be fewer

in numbers, but their opposition appears to be just as steadfast as it's been all week with the

rhetoric from Florida's Matt Gates turning downright acerbic on the House floor.

You only earn the position of Speaker of the House if you can get the votes.

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