Republicans turn their attention to House rules after drawn-out leadership fight

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will face one of the first tests of his leadership since finally winning control of the gavel.

The U.S. House will vote starting Monday on a rules package to govern the 118th Congress, and one provision that's included would make it far easier for his opponents to remove him from power, reported the Washington Post.

The California Republican can afford to lose only four Republican votes, and GOP Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Tony Gonzalez (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) have publicly questioned whether McCarthy gave too many concessions to the right-wing Freedom Caucus in exchange for the speakership.

Crenshaw has raised concerns about a rule change that would allow a single member to call for a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, which he said “degraded and diminished and insulted” the office, but the new speaker insisted the contentious voting period had been a learning experience.

IN OTHER NEWS: Supreme Court denies case seeking to remove Biden and reinstate Trump

“See, this is the great part," McCarthy said, "because it took this long, now we learned how to govern, so now we’ll be able to get the job done."