{"id":36455,"date":"2023-01-04T16:22:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T23:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mccarthy-rejected-for-house-speaker-with-gop-in-disarray\/"},"modified":"2023-01-04T23:22:23","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T23:22:23","slug":"mccarthy-rejected-for-house-speaker-with-gop-in-disarray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mccarthy-rejected-for-house-speaker-with-gop-in-disarray\/","title":{"rendered":"McCarthy rejected for House speaker with GOP in disarray"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rep.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., left, and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., right, speaks with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>Alex Brandon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 House Republicans flailed through a second day of multiple balloting Wednesday, unable to elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority.<\/p>\n

For a fourth, fifth and sixth time, Republicans tried to vote McCarthy into the top job as the House plunged deeper into disarray. But the votes were producing almost the same outcome, 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support him, and leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to win the gavel.<\/p>\n

In fact, McCarthy saw his tally slip to 201, as one fellow Republican switched to vote simply present.<\/p>\n

Seeing no quick way out of the political standoff, Republicans voted abruptly late Wednesday to adjourn as they desperately searched for an endgame to the chaos of their own making. They were due back at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s Groundhog Day,\u201d said Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., in nominating McCarthy on the sixth ballot.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cTo all Americans watching right now, We hear you. And we will get through this \u2013 no matter how messy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the right-flank conservatives, led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Donald Trump, appeared emboldened by the standoff \u2013 though Trump publicly backed McCarthy,<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., center, accompanied by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., right, walk out of the House chamber as voting continued for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/span>Jose Luis Magana<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThis is actually an invigorating day for America,\u201d said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who was nominated three times by his conservative colleagues as an alternative. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of members in the chamber who want to have serious conversations about how we can bring this all to a close and elect a speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy, the California Republican, vowed to keep fighting despite the grueling spectacle, unlike any in modern times, that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. Animated private discussions broke out on the chamber floor between McCarthy supporters and detractors searching for an endgame.<\/p>\n

The House gaveled in at noon, but no other work could be done \u2013 swearing in new members, forming committees, tackling legislation, investigating the Biden administration \u2013 until the speaker was elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have the most votes,\u201d McCarthy said at the start of the session. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019ll be able to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the dynamic proved no different from Day One, as Democrats re-upped their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for speaker, and Donalds offered his challenge to McCarthy in another history making moment. Both Jeffries and Donalds are Black.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country needs leadership,\u201d said Rep. Chip Roy, the Texas Republican noting the first time in history two Black Americans were nominated for the high office, and lawmakers from both parties rose to applaud.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., listens to votes being cast in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>Alex Brandon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote, but McCarthy appeared undeterred. Instead, he vowed to fight to the finish.<\/p>\n

The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden, departing the White House for a bipartisan event in Kentucky with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, said \u201cthe rest of the world is looking\u201d at the scene on the House floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s really embarrassing it\u2019s taking so long,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI have no idea\u201d who will prevail.<\/p>\n

Tensions flared among the new House majority as their campaign promises stalled out. Not since 1923 has a speaker\u2019s election gone to multiple ballots, and the longest and most grueling fight for the gavel started in late 1855 and dragged out for two months, with 133 ballots, during debates over slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.<\/p>\n

A new generation of conservative Republicans, many aligned with Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again agenda, want to upend business as usual in Washington, and were committed to stopping McCarthy\u2019s rise without concessions to their priorities.<\/p>\n

But even Trump\u2019s strongest supporters disagreed on this issue. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a firm Colorado conservative who nominated Donalds the second time, called on the former president to tell McCarthy, \u201c`Sir, you do not have the votes and it\u2019s time to withdraw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., nominates Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>Alex Brandon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Earlier Wednesday, Trump had done the opposite, urging Republicans to vote for McCarthy. \u201cClose the deal, take the victory,\u201d he wrote on his social media site, using all capital letters. \u201cDo not turn a great triumph into a giant & embarrassing defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the spectacle of voting dragged on, McCarthy\u2019s backers implored the holdouts to fall in line for the California Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think members on both sides of this are getting a lot of pressure now,\u201d said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. \u201cSo I think the message from home is, \u2018Hey, sort this stuff out, we don\u2019t have time for the small stuff and the egos.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

he standoff over McCarthy has been building since Republicans won the House majority in the midterm elections. While the Senate remains in Democratic hands, barely, House Republicans are eager to confront Biden after two years of the Democrats controlling both houses of Congress. The conservative Freedom Caucus led the opposition to McCarthy, believing he\u2019s neither conservative enough nor tough enough to battle Democrats.<\/p>\n

To win support, McCarthy has already agreed to many of the demands of the Freedom Caucus, who have been agitating for rules changes and other concessions that give rank-and-file members more influence in the legislative process. He has been here before, having bowed out of the speakers race in 2015 when he failed to win over conservatives.<\/p>\n

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