House GOP wallowing in mire, ire
Prolonged fight to choose new speaker will continue Friday
WASHINGTON — For a long and frustrating third day, divided Republicans left the speaker’s chair of the U.S. House sitting empty Thursday, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again in an excruciating string of ballots to win enough GOP votes to seize the chamber’s gavel.
Pressure was building as McCarthy lost seventh, eighth and then historic ninth, 10th and 11th rounds of voting, surpassing the number 100 years ago, in a prolonged fight to choose a speaker in a disputed election. By nightfall, despite raucous protests from Democrats, Republicans voted to adjourn and return Friday to try again.
With McCarthy’s supporters and foes locked in stalemate, feelings of boredom and desperation seemed increasingly evident with no quick end in sight.
One McCarthy critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, cast votes in two rounds for former President Donald Trump, a symbolic but pointed sign of the broader divisions over the Republican Party’s future. Then he went further, formally nominating the former president to be House speaker on the 11th ballot. Trump got one vote, from
Gaetz, drawing laughter.
As night fell before the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters trying to overturn Joe Biden’s election, Democrats said it was time to get serious.
“This sacred House of Representatives needs a leader,” said Democrat Joe Neguse of Colorado, nominating his own party’s leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, as speaker.
McCarthy could be seen talking, one on one, in whispered and animated conversations in the House chamber. His emissaries sidled up to holdouts, and grueling negotiations proceeded in the GOP whip’s office down the hall. McCarthy remained determined to persuade Republicans to end the paralyzing debate that has blighted his new GOP majority.
McCarthy’s leadership team had presented a core group of the Republican holdouts with a deal on paper in exchange for their support, said one of the opponents, conservative Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, as he exited a late-day meeting. It included mandating 72 hours for bills to be posted before votes, among others, though details were scarce.
Holdouts led by the chamber’s Freedom Caucus are seeking ways to shrink the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence — with seats on key committees and the ability to draft and amend bills in a more open process.
“We’re having good discussions and I think everyone wants to find a solution,” McCarthy said hours earlier.
The House, which is one-half of Congress, is essentially at a standstill, unable to launch the new session, swear in elected members and conduct official business.
Yet despite endless talks, signs of concessions and a public spectacle unlike any other in recent political memory, the path ahead remained highly uncertain. What started as a political novelty, the first time since 1923 a nominee had not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter Republican Party feud and deepening potential crisis.
Jeffries won the most votes on every ballot but also remained short of a majority. McCarthy ran second, gaining no ground.
McCarthy resisted under growing pressure to somehow find the votes he needed or step aside so the House could open fully and get on with the business of governing.
The incoming Republican chairmen of the House’s Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence committees all said national security was at risk.
“The Biden administration is going unchecked and there is no oversight of the White House,” Republican Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas, Mike Rogers of Alabama and Mike Turner of Ohio wrote in a joint statement. “We cannot let personal politics place the safety and security of the United States at risk.”
But McCarthy’s right-flank detractors appeared intent on waiting him out, as long as it takes.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the leader of the Freedom Caucus, asserted McCarthy cannot be trusted, and tweeted his displeasure that negotiations over rule changes and other concessions were made public.
Republican Party holdouts repeatedly put forward the name of Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, assuring that the stalemate, which increasingly carried undercurrents of race and politics, would continue. They also put forward Republican Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, splitting the protest vote.
Donalds, who is Black, is seen as an emerging party leader and GOP counterpoint to the Democratic leader, Jeffries, who is the first Black leader of a major political party in the Congress and on track himself to become speaker some day.
A new generation of conservative Republicans, many aligned with Trump’s agenda, are committed to stopping McCarthy’s rise without concessions to their priorities.
To win support, McCarthy has already agreed to many of the demands of his opponents. One of the holdouts’ key demands is to reinstate a rule that would allow a single lawmaker to seek a motion to vacate the chair — essentially to call a House vote to oust the speaker.