The Republican Party candidate to preside over the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has again been rejected in a tenth vote in Congress after the internal rebellion suffered by conservatives since Tuesday, which means that the House continues to be blocked , since it cannot start its activity without the appointment of a president.
The ultra rebellion of the Republican Party maintains the blockade in the US Congress
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This Thursday, four votes were held to elect president – three were held on Tuesday and another three on Wednesday – and McCarthy has not managed to convince any of the rebellious conservatives despite his concessions.
The majority needed to become president stands at 218 votes if all members of the House vote. Republicans control 222 seats to Democrats’ 212. That narrow majority means that virtually all Conservatives have to vote for the same candidate to get elected. However, there are 20 wayward congressmen – plus one abstention – who are preventing his appointment. McCarthy has obtained between 200 and 201 votes in the three votes this Thursday. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic candidate, has gotten 212.
Florida ultra Republican Matt Gaetz, highly critical of McCarthy, has voted for Donald Trump, even though he doesn’t stand a chance. Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz has once again abstained.
Representative-elect Gaetz votes for Donald John Trump for Speaker of the House. pic.twitter.com/zvAIH4tujZ
—The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) January 5, 2023
The regulation does not contemplate any other alternative to continuing to repeat votes until someone achieves the necessary majority. As long as the Lower House fails to appoint a president, it will not be able to start its activity with the new congressmen elected in the mid-term elections last November in which the Republicans won the majority.
McCarthy is the first House speaker candidate in more than 160 years not to win the first ballot. The last time it took 10 ballots to elect a spokesperson was in 1859.
concessions
Republican opposition to McCarthy has been led by some members of the House Freedom Caucus, a far-right group that has pushed for changes in House rules.
On Wednesday, McCarthy agreed to some demands from the rebels, as reported by CNN. The concessions, which have not been enough for the rebels, are related to internal rules in Congress to more easily initiate a vote to expel the speaker from the House of Representatives. Wayward congressmen also want to increase the presence of Freedom Caucus members on the powerful House Rules Committee. In addition, they want to allow floor votes to set term limits for members and enact specific legislation on border policy.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry has insisted that “there is no deal.” Perry has accused the McCarthy camp of “leaking” which “makes it harder to trust.” the congressman has been “totally dissatisfied”. “I will not give in to the status quo”, he has concluded he.
A deal is NOT done. When confidences are betrayed and leaks are directed, it’s even more difficult to trust. Totally unsatisfied. I will not yield to the status quo.
— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) January 5, 2023
Some moderate Republicans have bristled at the concessions, reports The Washington Post. They vowed in December that they would never support a package of rules that gives a House member the power to call for a vote to oust the president. Currently, it is necessary for half the party to agree for the vote to take place.
The McCarthy-linked funding group Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) also reached an agreement on Wednesday not to invest money in campaigns where Republicans are assured of the seat, a key demand of wayward Republicans. Some of these representatives accuse the Republican candidate of financing more moderate candidates in the November mid-term elections, in which the conservatives managed to wrest control of the Lower House from the Democrats, but fell far short of the good results they achieved. many media predicted.
“I am willing to vote all night, all week, all month and never for that person,” the ultra Republican Gaetz said on Wednesday, according to the AP agency.
It is not the first time that the most conservative wing of the Republican Party leaves McCarthy without the presidency of the House. In 2015 he had to drop his candidacy for not being able to get the necessary support from the conservatives.
“Shameful,” says Biden
This Wednesday, shortly before the three votes, Donald Trump unsuccessfully asked the Republicans to support McCarthy. However, hours before refused to say whether he would continue to support the candidate. “Republicans, don’t turn a huge win into a giant, embarrassing loss. It’s time to celebrate, you deserve it. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a great job,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Before the start of voting on Wednesday, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, described as “shameful” the blockade of the House of Representatives by divisions between Republicans and warned conservatives that “the rest of the world is watching them”. . The leader of the House of Representatives is the third authority in the country, after the president and vice president, Kamala Harris, who also chairs the Senate.
