GOP House Roundtable

When it comes to getting all corners of House Republicans to work together, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has settled on a unique strategy — make his disparate lawmakers an offer they can’t refuse.

McCarthy (R-Calif.) has given a seat at the leadership table to each of the five ideological caucuses in the House Republican conference — which he’s nicknamed the “Five Families.” It’s a nod to New York’s major Mafia clans popularized by the movie “The Godfather.”

He’s betting that by having diverse voices and viewpoints at the table, problems with legislation can be identified and addressed early.

“We’re talking more than we ever have,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD).

The caucuses are:

• The "far-right" Freedom Caucus
• The right-of-center policy-oriented Republican Study Committee
• In the center, the Republican Main Street Caucus
• The moderate Republican Governance Group
• Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus

Note: The first four would all be right of center, the fifth being center.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a Freedom Caucus leader, hopes there aren’t too many similarities between the GOP and their cinema namesakes.

“Did you ever watch the movies?” he said. “There’s some unfortunate endings for some of the family members, and we would not like to think of ourselves in that context.”