Show Notes
Updated 10:06 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023
- The House has adjourned until noon Friday after Rep. Kevin McCarthy suffered a stinging 11th defeat in the race for House speaker.
- After three days of voting, this is now the longest speaker contest in 164 years.
- McCarthy has continued to negotiate with a group of hardline Republicans who've derailed his bid, proposing key concessions in his push to get more votes.
- About this process: A nominee needs 218 votes, but the number required could change if members withhold their votes. The House can't kick off the new Congress or swear in new members until a speaker is elected.
Opposition: Twenty
Republican lawmakers, despite continued talks and concessions, have so far declined to support McCarthy. Republicans again nominated Rep. Byron Donalds for four of five of Thursday’s voting rounds. After getting a few votes on the eighth ballot, Rep. Kevin Hern was also officially nominated for the ninth, 10th and 11th rounds of voting. Notably, Rep. Matt Gaetz voted for former President Donald Trump during the seventh and eighth ballots, and he nominated the former president for speaker in the 11th ballot. Trump only received one vote in that round.
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“Motion to vacate”: In a series of new concessions
first reported by CNN Wednesday night, McCarthy agreed to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to
oust a sitting speaker, sources say. McCarthy had initially proposed a five-member threshold, down from current conference rules that require half of the GOP to call for such a vote.
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Other concessions: McCarthy also agreed to allow for more members of the Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee. While McCarthy’s allies are willing to swallow most of the deals, they are
drawing a line in the sand over one issue: committee gavels for the holdouts. Later, in a meeting with moderates, McCarthy downplayed the concessions he’s made so far.
A historic floor fight: This is the longest speakership bid in more than 160 years. It took nine ballots for
Rep. Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts to be elected speaker in 1923.
And in 1849, the House had been in session
so long without being able
to elect a speaker – 19 days – that members voted to elect their speaker with a plurality rather than a majority. Members ultimately confirmed the plurality election with a majority vote.
NYT Jan. 5, 2023Updated 11:09 p.m. ET
Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid failed for an 11th time, after his latest concessions failed to win over enough Republican hard-liners. The chamber has been deadlocked for three days and cannot move on to any other business until a speaker is chosen. Lawmakers will return at noon Friday.
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Note: To win, a member must receive the majority of votes cast for a person, not counting “present” votes. The Constitution specifies that House members choose the speaker, but the speaker does not have to be a current or even a former representative.
After a humiliating three-day stretch of 11 consecutive defeats in an election that is now the most protracted such contest since 1859, Mr. McCarthy dispatched his emissaries to hammer out a deal with the ultraconservative rebels, including agreeing to conditions he had previously refused to countenance in a last-ditch effort to sway a critical mass of defectors.
They included allowing a single lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the speaker, a rule that would effectively codify a standing threat that Mr. McCarthy would be at the mercy of the right wing at all times, and could be removed instantly if he crossed them.
As he left the House floor on Thursday night, Mr. McCarthy said that the negotiations had yielded “a little movement” and denied that the concessions he had offered would undermine his speakership.
“Has it undercut the power of all the other speakers?” he replied, after a reporter asked whether allowing for a snap vote for his removal would weaken him. “So why would it cut mine? It’d only be a weaker speaker if I was afraid of it.”
In fact, the specter of such a vote allowed right-wing lawmakers to push out John A. Boehner, the Ohio Republican, from the speakership in 2015, and the threat hung heavily over his successor, Paul D. Ryan, during his tenure.
The Republican leader had also committed to allowing the right-wing faction to pick a third of the party’s members on the powerful Rules Committee, which controls what legislation reaches the floor and in what form, according to a person who has been involved in the talks, who described them on condition of anonymity. Mr. McCarthy also said he would open government spending bills to a freewheeling debate in which any lawmaker could force votes on proposed changes, including those designed to scuttle or sink the measure.
The rebels have agitated for that change in an effort to give greater power over the federal purse strings to rank-and-file lawmakers, rather than the senior leaders who normally have carte blanche over such legislation. It could make it all but impossible to pass a spending bill in the House, leading to a government shutdown.
by The Hill staff - 01/05/23 8:09 PM ET
Lawmakers are still in negotiations but are touting progress.
The result will bring the House Speakership fight to a 12th ballot, tying it for the fifth-longest in history. The House will reconvene at noon on Friday.
Conservative holdouts mum on possible McCarthy deal
Conservative holdouts on Thursday night remained tight lipped over whether a deal has been struck that would help GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) become Speaker of the House in the coming days.
Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the head of the House Freedom Caucus, said that some of the 20 members who have opposed McCarthy are still “evaluating” the potential deal, which would include significant concessions for the group.
Perry and other conservatives were huddling in incoming House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (R-Minn.) office to hammer out an accord. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was also noncommittal, saying “we’re still working through everything.”
Roy also suggested, however, the group would come to some sort of conclusion by noon on Friday when the House is slated to reconvene and potentially hold more votes.
“We have a vote tomorrow at noon last time I checked,” Roy said.
Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a McCarthy backer, noted that there had been progress.
“I think there’s a lot of progress today,” Massie said, adding that he couldn’t say whether there will be a Speaker by week’s end.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who had received the votes of all 20 GOP defectors on several of the ballots, also said there was “positive dialogue,” but also declined to say whether McCarthy has the votes to win the gavel tomorrow.
By Melissa Quinn, Kathryn Watson, Stefan Becket, Caroline Linton
Updated on: January 5, 2023 / 11:24 PM / CBS News
The prolonged fight makes this the longest battle for the
speaker's gavel since 1860, which required 44 ballots to determine a winner.
The stalemate seemed to have no end in sight as the rebel Republicans remained united in voting against him, although several began backing Rep. Kevin Hern, who has been voting for McCarthy. Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the most high-profile of the group, voted for former President Donald Trump on the two ballots of the day, and then on the fifth ballot, Gaetz nominated him.
McCarthy made two key concessions to the 21 conservative holdouts on Wednesday, but none of them supported him in the four rounds of voting that took place over the course of more than eight hours on Thursday. With 433 members voting, a majority of 217 votes were needed to secure the speaker's gavel, meaning McCarthy could only afford a handful of defections within the House GOP's thin majority.
The continuing impasse leaves the House effectively in limbo, since lawmakers must first elect a speaker before moving on to other business in the new Congress.
McCarthy's conservative critics say he can't be trusted to lead the House GOP, and have largely thrown their support behind Rep. Byron Donalds from Florida, although he lost several votes to Hern on Thursday.
Democrats, meanwhile, have remained united behind New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black party leader in either chamber of Congress. Jeffries and his lieutenants said Democrats "are united and are committed to staying in Washington for as long as it takes to get the Congress organized."
Freedom Caucus would have more power under framework being considered
According to several Republicans briefed on Republican talks, the framework under consideration includes rules changes, budget promises and committee guarantees. Talks are fluid, but the framework being discussed to win over some of the McCarthy critics is coming together. Its key characteristic is that House Freedom Caucus members would be central in the House, not on the outskirts of the GOP.
If the deal does go through and McCarthy becomes speaker, the outcome could mean a House where McCarthy is speaker, but the House Freedom Caucus is at the table on every significant matter.
FOXNEWS Published January 5, 2023 11:00pm EST
Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., caused a stir on social media after voting for former President Donald Trump to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday.
A group of about 20 Republicans, including Gaetz, Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and others, have voted against McCarthy and labeled him a member of "The Swamp" as the vote for speaker has gone through 11 rounds over three days.
Paul A. Szypula, a former U.S. Senate candidate and conservative commentator, tweeted, "Rep. Gaetz just voted for Donald John Trump to be Speaker of the House. Trump wears a US flag pin on his jacket. McCarthy wears a Ukraine flag. That says it all."
"Imagine this scenario. Donald Trump elected Speaker of the House on January 6. I know it’s not gonna happen. It’s a dream but it would be fantastic," Carmine Sabia, a conservative writer, tweeted.
"Who wants President Trump elected Speaker so he can conduct the J6 investigations and expose Nancy Pelosi on the national stage?" Rogan O'Handley, who runs the DC_Draino newsletter asked.
Founder of Revolver News and former Trump speechwriter, Darren J. Beattie, said, "Donald Trump as Speaker is the only meaningful outcome to all of this."
FOXNEWS Published January 5, 2023 11:30pm EST
Republican
Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota served eight years in Congress before being elected governor in 2018, but she's happy not to be there this week.
"I’m glad I’m not there" Noem told Fox News Digital when asked about the inability of her former GOP colleagues in the House of Representatives to elect a speaker.
"I do hope Republicans can be unified around our shared values and elect Kevin to be the speaker and get past this," Noem emphasized.
Noem had some criticism for
Republicans opposing McCarthy, saying "honestly it would make me feel a lot better if these 20 members of Congress were negotiating for something that actually made the country better, that solved some of the big problems that we’ve got going on."
"To see them arguing and negotiating on behalf of themselves or committee chairmanship or position of power is extremely discouraging," the conservative governor added. "If they were arguing for reform that actually put our nation in a more secure spot, it would be much more understandable for me. So this kind of position and posturing for their own personal power is extremely discouraging for me."