Republican Kevin McCarthy confident he will become Speaker after protracted internal fight
A fierce Republican fight that has paralysed the US Congress for longer than any time since 1859 could be on the verge of being resolved.
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A four-day standoff that has paralysed the US Congress for longer than any time since 1859 is on the verge of being resolved.
Republican Kevin McCarthy says he is now confident he has the votes to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives – which would make him second in line to the president – after losing 13 ballots in a row.
His party had been unable to immediately unite behind a candidate for the speakership this week despite its majority in the House – the first time that had happened in a century.
But after hours of intense negotiations, Mr McCarthy managed on Friday night in Washington DC to split a pack of 20 hard-right Republicans who had refused to back his bid for the leadership post.
He offered sweeping concessions – including a House rule change that would allow an individual lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the Speaker – that won over 15 of the rebels.
On the 13th ballot, Mr McCarthy again fell short of the 218 votes he needed for victory in the 435-seat House, but he said he was confident he would reach that tally later on Friday.
“We’ll come back tonight and I believe at that time we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all,” he told reporters.
“At the end of the day, I think we’ll be more effective, more efficient, and definitely the government will be more accountable.”
Asked how he expected to be able to manage the House after such intense opposition to his leadership, Mr McCarthy said: “Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern, so now we’ll be able to get the job done.”
The next ballot is expected to be held at 10pm in Washington on Friday (2pm on Saturday AEDT).
The House is not able to begin its work of considering legislation and starting committee investigations until a Speaker is elected, allowing members to be sworn in after November’s midterm elections.
DONALD TRUMP CAN’T BREAK REPUBLICAN IMPASSE
Earlier, Donald Trump’s diehard supporters ignored the former president’s intervention in the chaos gripping the US Congress.
In a once-in-a-century drama, the Republican Party was unable to use its majority to elect a new Speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday (AEDT), with 20 rebels blocking Kevin McCarthy’s ascension.
Mr McCarthy had the backing of Mr Trump, who later weighed in on his social media platform to tell his acolytes to “TAKE THE VICTORY AND RUN!!!”.
“VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL,” he posted.
“REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.”
But on Thursday, the rebels once again refused to vote for Mr McCarthy, extending the paralysis gripping the House which cannot function until a Speaker is elected.
Lauren Boebert, one of the Republicans leading the charge against Mr McCarthy, hit back at Mr Trump and told him he should push for the party’s leader to drop out of the race.
Republican congressman Don Bacon, a supporter of Mr McCarthy, blasted the “Taliban 20” who were refusing to strike a deal on the leadership of the House.
“There’s anger because we negotiated in good faith and gave a lot more than we ever wanted,” he said.
Mr McCarthy had already moved into the Speaker’s office in the US Capitol prior to being defeated in multiple ballots.
That prompted Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, one of his most vocal critics, to try and have him physically removed.
“No member can lay claim to this office,” he wrote in a letter to congressional authorities.
“How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?”
As Mr Trump complained about the “unnecessary turmoil in the Republican Party”, President Joe Biden travelled to Kentucky to tout his bipartisan infrastructure agenda with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
Asked about the chaos gripping the Congress, Mr Biden said: “It’s a little embarrassing it’s taking so long, and the way they are dealing with one another.”
“It’s not a good look, not a good thing. This is the United States of America and I hope they get their act together,” he said.
“How do you think this looks to the rest of the world?”
The Republicans have 222 members in the 435-seat House of Representatives, with 218 votes required to elect a Speaker.
At the start of a fifth vote for the speakership, Republican Warren Davidson pleaded with his hard-right colleagues to “let cooler, more rational heads prevail”.
“Let us unite as Republicans,” he said as he urged them to support Mr McCarthy.
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