House Republicans have opened the second day of the new Congress, with no clear off-ramp from the political chaos over electing a new speaker.
For a fifth time, Republicans nominated McCarthy as their speaker as the House plunged deeper into disarray. That came moments after the fourth vote showed 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support him, unchanged from the previous time around. He fell far short of the 218 votes typically needed to win the gavel.
"Sure, it looks messy," said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. But democracy is messy, he said. "The American people are in charge."Kevin McCarthy, Byron Donalds nominated for House Speaker, will head to fifth vote | LiveNOW from FOX Early Wednesday, Trump publicly urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy: "CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY," he wrote on his social media site. He added: "REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT."
Tensions flared among the new House majority as their campaign promises stalled out. Without a speaker, the House cannot fully form — swearing in its members, naming its committee chairmen, engaging in floor proceedings and launching investigations of the Biden administration. Lawmakers’ families had waited around, as what’s normally a festive day descended into chaos, with kids playing in the aisles or squirming in their parents’ arms.
Not since 1923 has a speaker's 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.
Railing against Democratic President Joe Biden's agenda, Scalise, himself a possible GOP compromise choice, said, "We can't start fixing those problems until we elect Kevin McCarthy our next speaker." The 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’s neither conservative enough nor tough enough to battle Democrats.
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