Kevin McCarthy.Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Despite failing to secure enough support in six rounds of voting over a span of two days, Republican Kevin McCarthy says he is still determined to be speaker of the House.
Whispers circulating Wednesday evening suggested that McCarthy was prepared to offer major concessions to thefar-right Freedom Caucus memberswho oppose him if they agree to get behind his candidacy.
CNN’s Manu Raju and Melanie Zanonareportedthat McCarthy proposed allowing just one member to call for a vote to oust the House speaker, bringing votes on bills like term limits and border security, and putting more Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee.
While McCarthy’s path to the House speakership was never going to be easy, it’s been even rockier than expected.
On Tuesday,for the first time in a century, House representatives weren’t able to come to a consensus on who to elect as House speaker, effectively putting the congressional body into a standstill until a nominee can get the majority of votes.
To be elected speaker, McCarthy needs to get at least 218 votes, with room for only four Republicans to defect. But he only received 203 votes on the first go-around, sending the process into an overtime of sorts as lawmakers undertook a second, then a third, fourth, fifth and sixth round of voting. So far, McCarthy’s support hasn’t grown.
In fact, some lawmakers who voted for him initially now seem to be backing off their support. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, who supported McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker in the first two rounds of voting, began voting in line with the defectors in the third round. Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz began voting “present” in the fourth round of voting, despite voting for McCarthy in earlier rounds. Those who either don’t vote or who vote “present” reduce the minimum number of votes needed for a representative to secure a majority.
“I still have the most votes,” McCarthy said at the start of the session on Wednesday, theAssociated Press reports. “At the end of the day, we’ll be able to get there.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
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But exactly what day it is that will yield results remains less clear, with those on either side of the aisle coming to agreement on at least one thing: the vote is beginning to look embarrassing.
“I just think it’s really embarrassing it’s taking so long,” PresidentJoe Bidensaid when asked about the speaker vote on Wednesday,Politicoreports.
Biden’s remarks echoed those of former PresidentDonald Trump, who wrote on his social media site Truth Social that Republicans should support McCarthy, or risk turning “A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.”
source: people.com
