Republican front-runner Kevin McCarthy suffered a shock defeat in the race to become the new incumbent Speaker of the US House of Representatives late Friday amid shocking scenes of bitter infighting after failing to quell a mutiny within his own party ranks.
McCarthy was expected to finally win a majority to lead the Republican-controlled House after a short four-day term, but his victory lap was derailed as he was the only one of a cast of more than 400. Failed by vote.
As Matt Gaetz voted “present” to deny. McCarthy Frustrated Republican leaders went to speak with the Florida lawmaker-elect.
Getz pointed the finger at McCarthy, who started backing away after Alabama’s Mike Rogers tripped over Getz and had to back off.
Amid the chaos, the adjournment vote failed and the House was expected to go to a 15th round of voting — in which McCarthy could have won.
“Sit down, let’s go one more time,” McCarthy was heard saying, as his members responded: “One more time.”
Republicans, who hold a razor-thin majority, have been locked in an internecine battle as McCarthy has lost consecutive ballots for the prestigious role, with about 20 conservative hardliners blocking his path since Tuesday.
But the 57-year-old Californian managed to pick up more than a dozen votes from defectors in the 12th and 13th rounds on Friday after offering major concessions.
McCarthy claimed he finally had the support to secure the gavel — only to be humiliated in a floor vote to wall-to-wall coverage on American news channels.
“Just reminds me of what my dad always told me,” McCarthy told reporters. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And now we have to finish for the American people.”
confidence
The contested, bitter 2023 contest has drawn more votes than any speaker election since the Civil War.
McCarthy has exuded confidence all week, even as he bleeds votes instead of adding to the base of about 200 Republicans who have supported him.
His party’s takeover of Congress is expected to herald an end to cross-party cooperation, a shutdown of the legislative process and an aggressive agenda of investigating Republican President Joe Biden’s administration and most aspects of his family. are promising
Democrats and some of McCarthy’s own supporters, privately, worry that he is offering his far-right critics radical policy promises that would make the House impenetrable.
There were reports, which AFP has not confirmed, that they had agreed to a proposal to keep spending at 2022 levels, including a cap on military funding that would have the effect of cutting $75 billion. will be equal.
It has raised alarm bells among defenders pushing for a show of force on the U.S. amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s assertive stance on Taiwan.
No single lawmaker, no matter how senior, has the authority to set the budget, but the fact that the proposal was being taken seriously would signal a shift toward isolationist Republicans under Donald Trump. Is.
Other elected lawmakers were complaining that McCarthy was pushing hard-line plum committee position and rules changes that would severely curtail the speaker’s role.
The poisoned chalice
Republicans are understood to have reversed their votes in exchange for a rule change that made it possible to oust the speaker in a vote called by just one member.
They are also asking for a bigger role in deciding which bills come to the floor and how they are handled.
The length and carelessness of the speaker’s selection process highlighted how difficult it would be for McCarthy to win votes in the 118th Congress if he were eventually elected.
Democrats said the role would be poisoned, as the compromise McCarthy made would leave him as the weakest speaker in modern history.
“He’s moved steadily to the right and he’s capitulated to these extremist elements at every turn in the GOP,” Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin told MSNBC. Referring to the Republicans by their nickname, the “Grand Old Party”.