WASHINGTON– House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy offered fresh concessions to a group of Republican opponents ahead of the House of Representatives reconvening at noon to try yet again to elect a speaker.
The group of GOP opponents have sunk his past six attempts to get enough votes to win the job. The efforts to forge a compromise could weaken the job — if he gets it — and shows that governing the Republican-led House is going to be challenging this year, with infighting consuming what’s been a simple one-ballot vote for the past hundred years.
McCarthy has failed to meet the threshold needed to become speaker for a total of six ballots.
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Here are the latest developments:
- McCarthy cuts deals. In the hour before the House reconvened Wednesday night, the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Club for Growth came together to support McCarthy as speaker.
- A McCarthy comeback after losing six ballots? McCarthy has been nominated a total of six times and has lost each ballot. The Republican was the frontrunner for the speakership, but a bloc of Republicans have refused to back the California representative.
- What will happen on day three? Members will continue to vote. The vote will last until a speaker is selected. The House remains paralyzed with members-elect not sworn in, lacking security clearances and the lower chamber remains unable to conduct any legislative business.
Day one:House adjourns without a new speaker as McCarthy loses three rounds of voting
Day two:‘Groundhog Day’: House adjourns without a speaker as McCarthy loses round six
Perry, a McCarthy holdout, facing backlash at home
Rep. Scott Perry, one of the 20 holdouts against Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker, is being called out by progressives in his Pennsylvania district at home.
A rally planned Friday in remembrance of Jan. 6 will include a call to Perry to leave the House Freedom Caucus, which he chairs, according to organizers.
Members of Hershey Indivisible, a grassroots progressive organization, will meet on the Pennsylvania Capitol steps at noon Friday “to say MAGA Extremism is Fascism, Not Freedom,” the group said in a statement. “Let’s make sure Rep. Scott Perry doesn’t get away with his gross Freedom Caucus politics.”
Perry was a key figure in former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, according to the former House committee that investigated Jan. 6.
The Pennsylvania Republican refused subpoenas and interview requests from the committee and has denied that he ever sought a pardon.
Perry is now a ringleader in the effort against McCarthy and said on the House floor Wednesday the speaker fight is “hard” and “painful,” but necessary to fix a broken Washington.
— Candy Woodall
McCarthy’s outlook for Thursday
After two days of stinging defeats in six losses, Rep. Kevin McCarthy returned to the Capitol Thursday morning confident his bid for speaker is moving in the right direction.
“I think we’re making progress,” he said to reporters. “We’re all working together to find a solution.”
McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes, and there are at least five or more in his caucus who are still a hard NO on him. His allies see any movement toward him or the ability to prevent further losses as a win.
But does he have the votes yet to be speaker? “We’ll see,” McCarthy told reporters.
— Candy Woodall
McCarthy’s shifting support
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s first real win this week was an adjournment vote and it came in prime time with benefits and consequences.
One of his allies, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, said on CNN last night members should start discussing alternatives to McCarthy. He said the McCarthy holdouts are “dug in” and many of his 200 supporters could tolerate only “three or four” more votes.
Meanwhile, on FOX News, McCarthy was getting support from host Sean Hannity. “If you only have 30, to be clear, you will not withdraw,” Hannity said while interviewing McCarthy opponent Rep. Lauren Boebert, but you’re telling Kevin McCarthy and the 203 people who support him to withdraw.”
McCarthy also received support from Elon Musk, who said the GOP leader should be speaker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and others.
“Speaker fight is 10% vs. 90% of members. It’s simple math,” Huckabee said in a tweet. “Meanwhile the country goes to hell & Dems & Devil laugh.”
— Candy Woodall
A House without rules
Welcome to Day 3 in a House without rules, where for the first time in the modern era everything is in question – including the temperature in the chamber.
That’s not just the temperature of lawmakers disagreeing with each other, but also the actual temperature inside the room. The speaker of the House usually controls or dictates the thermostat, but without a speaker there have been some complaints this week that it’s too hot or too cold inside the chamber. Some gripes may be tongue in cheek and have offered some rare levity as the GOP, with a new and slim majority, struggles to organize its caucus.
Other changes in a House without rules this week have related to lobbyists on the floor. Some of them are former members or family of members, but normally paid lobbyists aren’t allowed on the House floor.
Also, without rules, there’s confusion, which was on display Wednesday night as both parties shouted at the clerk and each other as they decided to adjourn – first by voice vote, then a recorded vote.
The House without rules also has no members. All 434 are members-elect because they can’t be sworn in without a speaker.
— Candy Woodall
Democrats to hold press conference Thursday morning
The minority party in the House hasn’t been demure in pointing to its good week and hasn’t missed an opportunity to talk about the GOP majority struggling to lead without leadership.
Democrats will hold another press conference at 10 a.m. Thursday and will have a closed-door meeting at 11 a.m., as the House returns for a third day without a speaker.
Look for Democrats to have their full caucus together Thursday morning. They lost an adjournment vote Wednesday night because two of their members, Reps. Tony Cardenas of California and Adriano Espaillat of New York, were absent for it.
The GOP won the adjournment vote 216 to 214, though four Republicans voted with Democrats against adjourning.
— Candy Woodall
What to expect today
Based on members comments alone, Rep. Kevin McCarthy still doesn’t have the votes to be speaker.
But there could be a seventh vote when the House gavels in at noon Wednesday. Or there could be another adjournment. Neither procedure came easily yesterday.
McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes in House GOP’s slim majority, and there are still at least five who say they are voting against him: Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Bob Good of Virginia.
The reasons for their holdouts range from not trusting McCarthy, believing he’s too aligned with the Republican establishment they see as “the swamp” to complaining about spending bills he’s let move through the House.
Based on other reports in Politico Playbook and Punchbowl News, there are maybe a dozen firm NOs against McCarthy, but his camp remains optimistic. They believe if they can win some of the 20 detractors to their side, it will pressure the other holdouts.
However, some members like Gaetz told reporters Wednesday he will be a NO for weeks or months.
Though some of the hardliners say it will be worth monthslong negotiations to not have McCarthy as speaker, other members with military backgrounds continue to sound alarms this morning that not having a sworn-in House is putting national security risk. Without being sworn in, there are no committees to oversee the Department of Defense and other agencies, they may not have valid security clearances and can’t be briefed on threatening national security risks.
—Candy Woodall
Who is Kevin McCarthy?
In 1987, a 22-year-old college student named Kevin McCarthy was rejected from a congressional internship. More than 30 years later, that onetime intern hopeful could become the next speaker of the House.
Former California Republican Rep. Bill Thomas’ chief of staff, Cathy Abernathy, is the one who turned down the then-student from Bakersfield in the 80s. Never, she told USA TODAY, did she guess the arc McCarthy’s career would take.
“It’s absurd to ask a person ‘Did you see this coming?’” Abernathy laughed. “Of course not.”
— Ken Tran
Why do they keep voting for speaker of the House?
Prior the start of a new Congress, both parties hold a private meeting where they elect the party leadership for the next Congress. This takes place before Jan. 3, the official start of the new term when all House members vote for the speaker.
A candidate only needs a majority of votes from their respective party to win the nomination in the private meeting for leadership.
Even if a colleague votes against a candidate in the private caucus meeting, the party typically sticks together to back their nominee on the House floor in January, according to Matt Glassman, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute.
However, when the whole House votes, just a few votes in opposition to a candidate from their own party could cost them the speakership.
— Rachel Looker
Learn more here:What happens after McCarthy loses speaker vote multiple times? Here’s how the process works.
What happened Wednesday?
A chaotic and historic two days in the House were punctuated Wednesday night by a raucous vote to adjourn during a tumultuous session marked by shouting and confusion.
And still no speaker.
Republicans came to the floor at 8 p.m. ET and motioned to adjourn again until noon Thursday to give GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy more time to secure the 218 votes he needs to win the gavel. Democrats, in no hurry to resolve the GOP stalemate, tried to block the effort but failed.
A voice vote was too close in a House currently without rules, and Democrats shouted for the clerk to hold a recorded vote. Members filed up to the rostrum to cast their votes, as others stood behind them and anxiously looked up at the House scoreboard.
— USA TODAY staff
What happened Tuesday
The House of Representatives adjourned Tuesday without a new speaker after GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy lost three straight ballots in the face of hardline opposition, the first time in a century the usually pro-forma process has taken more than one vote.
The last time the vote for a new speaker went past the first ballot was 100 years ago, in 1923. The loss underscores how Republican infighting between moderates and hardliners will complicate the GOP’s majority in the House of Representatives.
Read the day one recap here:House adjourns without a new speaker as McCarthy loses three rounds of voting
— USA TODAY staff
