[ad_1]
For the third long and frustrating day, Republicans are divided to keep the seat of Speaker of the US House sitting empty there, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again in an excruciating string of ballots to win enough Republican votes to seize the chamber gavel.
Overnight, despite vociferous protests from Democrats, Republicans voted to adjourn and return Friday at noon to try again.
The pressure was mounting as McCarthy lost seven times, eight times, and nine times and 10 times on the ballot, surpassing the number of times that last happened, 100 years ago, in a long battle for the Speaker in a disputed election. House then moved to the 11th round, which McCarthy continued to lose again.
With McCarthy’s supporters and opponents locked in a stalemate, the House could not formally open for a new session of Congress. And the feeling of boredom, despair and irritation seems to increase.
One of McCarthy’s critics, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, even cast his vote in two rounds for Donald Trump, a symbolic but pointed sign of wider divisions over the future of the Republican Party. Then he went further, moving the day from protest to absurdity by officially electing the former president as Speaker of the DPR in the 11th election.
As night falls on the eve of the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters who tried to overturn the election of Joe Biden, Democrats say it’s time to get serious.
“This hallowed House of Representatives needs a leader,” said Democrat Joe Neguse of Colorado, nominating his own party leader, Hakeem Jeffries, for Speaker.
Deal on the table
McCarthy can be seen talking, one by one, in a whispered conversation in the House chamber.
His emissaries came to a standstill, and difficult negotiations took place in the office of the Republican whip in the hall. McCarthy remained determined to persuade Republicans to end the paralyzed debate that had destroyed the new majority.
McCarthy’s leadership team has presented the core group of Republican holdouts with a deal on paper in exchange for support, said one of his opponents, conservative Republican Ralph Norman from South Carolina, when he left the meeting last day.
“Good,” Norman said, of the changes that would include a 72-hour mandate for bills to be submitted before a vote, though details are scarce.
In order for hope to be ahead of reality, he noted, “This is round one.”
What started as a political novelty, the first time since 1923 that the nominee did not win the hammer in the first vote, has devolved into bitter Republican Party hostility and deepening potential crisis.
Chris Galdieri, a professor of politics at Saint Anselm College, explains why no Republican party has refused to withdraw in the Speaker election, resulting in a stalemate in the US House.
Democrats continued to win the most votes
Jeffries from New York was repeatedly renominated by his fellow Democrats. He has won the most votes in every poll but is still short of a majority. McCarthy ran second, failing to place.
Republican Party holdouts repeatedly put forward the name of Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, and later added Hern, ensuring the stalemate brought by the undercurrents of race and politics will continue.
Donalds, who is Black, is seen as the leader of the developing party and the Republican counterpoint to the Democratic leader, Jeffries, who is the first Black leader of a major political party in the US Congress and is on track to become Speaker in a few days.
Another Black Republican, newly elected John James, nominated McCarthy on the seventh ballot as a nominee to be a roll call of Republican Rising Stars. Brian Mast of Florida, a veteran, appeared to wipe away tears as he nominated McCarthy in the eighth, insisting that the California Republican is not like past Republican Speakers who were despised by conservatives.
For the ninth ballot, conservative Freedom Caucus member Troy Nehls of Texas made the nomination. For the 10th it was newly elected Juan Ciscomani from Arizona, an immigrant from Mexico whose speech attracted chants of “USA! USA!”
McCarthy is under pressure from restless Republicans, and Democrats, to find the necessary votes or get rid of him, so the House can fully open and resume the business of governing.
The Republican chairmen of the foreign affairs, armed services and intelligence committees of the House of Representatives have all said that national security is at risk.
“The Biden administration is unchecked and there is no oversight in the White House,” Republicans Michael McCaul, Mike Rogers and Mike Turner wrote in a joint statement. “We cannot allow personal politics to risk the safety and security of the United States.”
Although Kevin McCarthy won the US House Speakership, the past few days have shown that the narrow majority held by Republicans could easily be disrupted by the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, said Ursula Perano, political reporter for The Daily Beast.
Holdouts seek to minimize Speaker power
The longest battle for the hammer began in late 1855 and dragged on for two months, with 133 ballots, during the debate over slavery during the Civil War.
The House of the new Republican majority is not expected to be in the session on Friday, which is the anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The long and divisive Speaker’s fight almost certainly underscores the fragility of American democracy after an attempted coup two years ago.
To win support, McCarthy has agreed to many demands of Freedom Caucus members, who have been agitating for rule changes and other concessions.
One of the keys they’re asking for is the reinstatement of a rule that would allow single lawmakers to seek a motion to vacate the seat — essentially calling a House vote to remove the Speaker. It’s the same rule from the pre-tea party era that Republicans used to threaten the removal of Republican Speaker John Boehner, and McCarthy has refused to reinstate it.
But those who oppose McCarthy do not all have the same complaints, and may never be able to win over some of them. A small core group of Republicans appeared reluctant to vote for McCarthy.
“I was ready to vote all night, all week, all month and never vote for that person,” Gaetz said.
Thursday’s ballot continued to produce similar results, with 20 conservatives still refusing to back McCarthy and leaving him far short of the 218 he normally needs to win the gavel.
In fact, McCarthy saw his support drop to 201, as one of his fellow Republicans switched to voting only now, and later to 200. With a Republican majority of only 222 seats, he could not spare a vote.
[ad_2]
Source link