Republicans in Congress will try this Friday for the fourth day to elect a new speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
A group of 20 far-right lawmakers have successfully blocked California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from becoming president for three days because they believe he is not conservative enough.
On the third day of the election, the situation in the 435-member chamber was not much different from the previous two, when McCarthy, who has been a representative for 16 years and is the current leader of the Republicans, failed to reach the 218 votes needed to become President.
A total of 201 Republicans gave him their support in rounds 7 and 8 of the vote, the same result he achieved in some of the first six attempts on Tuesday and Wednesday, despite the fact that he made some concessions to the splinter group to try to conquer them.
In rounds 9, 10 and 11 of voting, McCarthy got 200 votes because Republican Rep. Ken Buck was absent for a medical appointment.
After the eleventh round, the chamber adjourned the session to this Friday at noon.
McCarthy has given no sign that he is willing to drop his candidacy, which would make him second in line for the US presidency.
Republicans hold a narrow 222-212 margin over Democrats in the new session of the 118th Congress, with one current vacancy meaning McCarthy can lose the support of up to four Republicans and still achieve a 218-majority.
McCarthy has already agreed to several of the right-wing lawmakers’ demands, including allowing a single member to call a snap House internal election to vacate the presidency if he doesn’t approve of his legislative policies or the way he oversees the chamber. .
He also promised them key committee assignments and votes in the House of Representatives on some of his legislative priorities, such as imposing term limits on lawmakers and tougher border controls to stop immigrants from coming across the border with Mexico.
It has been 100 years since a Republican or a Democrat did not win the presidency of the House of Representatives on the first ballot.
The election of a speaker of the House is the first order of business for the legislative apparatus when a new session of Congress opens. Without a president, the lawmakers, all newly elected or re-elected in last November’s national legislative elections, have not been sworn in.
As such, the new Republican majority cannot form House committees to begin considering bills, launch promised investigations into President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, or provide services to voters in their constituencies.
Three aspiring leaders of the House national security committees, Congressmen Michael McCaul on foreign affairs, Mike Rogers on the military and Mike Turner on intelligence, are supporters of McCarthy and suggested that the delay in selecting a House chairman the Chamber could endanger the national security of the United States.
“We cannot allow personal politics to jeopardize the security of the United States,” the three lawmakers said in a statement.
Wednesday’s fourth vote to try to end the deadlock came hours after former President Donald Trump publicly called for the election of McCarthy as Speaker of the House, a lawmaker he described as “My Kevin.”
Trump warned the slim Republican majority “Don’t turn a big win into a big, embarrassing loss. It’s time to celebrate, you deserve it. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a great job, just watch!” .
But Trump’s new statement, following calls in recent days to some of the dissidents who oppose McCarthy, had no effect, not shifting a single vote in favor of McCarthy.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, part of the anti-McCarthy caucus, told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that Trump “needs to tell Kevin McCarthy, ‘Sir, you don’t have the votes and it’s time to step down.'”
For his part, Biden said Republican infighting in the House was “not” his problem, but added: “I think it’s a little embarrassing that it’s taking so long and the rest of the world is watching. They’re watching you, you know, we have to get our act together.”
It’s unclear whether McCarthy will be able to persuade enough dissidents to eventually support him. The 20 opponents voted Wednesday for Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida lawmaker entering his second term in Congress, and did the same in the seventh round of voting. In the eighth round, Donalds got 17 votes and other lawmakers got three votes.
McCarthy, 57, a staunch conservative, has sought for years to lead the House. Over the past few weeks, he has repeatedly met with his Republican enemies to secure their support, but to no avail.
Whoever the Republicans choose will replace outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains a member of the House and voted for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic House minority leader.
All 212 Democrats have voted for Jeffries in all 13 House speaker races, but he has no chance of winning as no Republican plans to vote for him to help him reach a majority of 218.
Democrats, who have been stuck in a 50-50 split with Republicans in the Senate for the past two years, gained a lead in national congressional elections nearly two months ago and will hold a 50-49 majority in the upper house, even after just one shot.
Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she is now an independent, but would not change her voting philosophy. Typically, she has voted with Democratic lawmakers and Biden.
The new senators were sworn in on Tuesday.
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