G.O.P. Fight Over Speaker Enters Its Second Day
The House is set to reconvene at noon to continue a
historic floor fight — the first in a century — prompted by the Republican
leader’s failure to secure a majority to become speaker.
Catie
Edmondson
By Catie
Edmondson
Jan. 4,
2023, 5:00 a.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/politics/kevin-mccarthy-house-speaker-vote-republicans.html
WASHINGTON
— Republicans began their second day in control of the House on Wednesday
without a leader and deadlocked about how to move forward, after Representative
Kevin McCarthy of California lost three votes for the top job amid a hard-right
rebellion that has prompted a historic struggle on the House floor.
Mr.
McCarthy’s successive defeats on Tuesday marked the first time in a century
that the House has failed to elect a speaker on the first roll call vote, and
it was not clear how or when the stalemate would be resolved. After adjourning
with no leader, the House was set to reconvene at noon on Wednesday to try to
resolve the impasse.
A mutiny
waged by ultraconservative lawmakers who for weeks have held fast to their vow
to oppose Mr. McCarthy paralyzed the chamber on the first day of Republican
rule, delaying the swearing in of hundreds of members of Congress, putting off
any legislative work and exposing deep divisions that threatened to make the
party’s House majority ungovernable.
Mr.
McCarthy has vowed not to back down until he secures the post, raising the
prospect of a grueling stretch of votes that could go on for days.
“I’m
staying until we win,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters between the second and third
votes on Tuesday. “I know the path.”
House
precedent dictates that members continue to vote until someone secures the
majority needed to prevail. But until Tuesday, the House had not failed to
elect a speaker on the first roll call vote since 1923, when the election
stretched for nine ballots.
It was not
clear how long it might take for Republicans to resolve their stalemate this
time, or what Mr. McCarthy’s strategy, if any, was for coming back from an embarrassing
series of defeats. He worked into the night on Tuesday, surrounded by allies,
to try to secure votes.
No viable
challenger has emerged, but if Mr. McCarthy continues to flounder, Republicans
could shift their votes to an alternative, such as his No. 2, Representative
Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
On Tuesday,
right-wing Republicans coalesced behind Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a
founding member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, as an
alternative to Mr. McCarthy, but Mr. Jordan, a onetime rival who has since
allied himself with Mr. McCarthy, pleaded with his colleagues to unite instead
behind the California Republican.
But the
party has so far refused to do so. The failed votes on Tuesday showed publicly
the extent of the opposition Mr. McCarthy faces. With all members of the House
present and voting, Mr. McCarthy needs to receive 218 votes to become speaker,
leaving little room for Republican defections since the party controls only 222
seats.
He fell
short again and again, drawing no more than 203 votes — far below a majority
and fewer than the votes received by Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New
York, the Democratic leader whose caucus remained united behind him.
Catie
Edmondson is a reporter in the Washington bureau, covering Congress. @CatieEdmondson
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário