Historic failure in Washington: Republican Kevin McCarthy is not elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives in his first attempt. The second and third attempts also failed. Eventually the meeting was adjourned. The last time it happened a hundred years ago, a vote for a powerful office required more than one ballot and a parliamentary group refused to support its candidate in the first round.
The first major act of the newly elected House of Representatives is the election of the Speaker. Until the presidency clarifies, nothing will work: the Congress Chamber cannot begin its work, and even new MPs cannot take office. McCarthy received only 203 of the 434 votes he received in the first round – he would have needed 218. 19 members of the party refused to vote for him.
After the first phase of voting, the second phase of voting began. This once again showed the turmoil within the Republican Party. Representative. Jim re-nominated Jordan McCarthy and urged his fellow party members to come closer. MP Matt Gaetz, one of McCarthy’s staunchest opponents, insisted that appointing Jordan would be better off choosing someone who doesn’t want the job so seriously. In a short nomination speech for McCarthy, Jordan showed more visions for the future than he had already heard from him. Jordan then received 19 votes and finally received 20 votes in the third round.
One of the Republican rebels was Chip Roy from Texas. He told CNN he voted against McCarthy because the House “needs to work differently.” So Roy worries that votes on spending are often tied together. For example, he would have voted separately on U.S. aid to Ukraine, but it was attached to a larger budget bill.
Republicans took control of the chamber in the election — and in the Senate, President Joe Biden’s Democrats still have a narrow majority. The position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, occupied in recent years by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, ranks third in the U.S. national rankings behind the president and vice president.
133 votes were recorded
Many party colleagues rebelled against McCarthy early and announced they would not support him before the vote. Given the narrow majority, it was indicated that McCarthy would miss the required majority on the first ballot.
Just before the session McCarthy fought back, saying, “I hold the record for the longest speech in the House.” He had no problem setting the record for the highest number of votes cast for the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Recorded 133 votes and dates Since 1856.
Each ballot is longer because all MPs are called individually to nominate their preferred candidate. Even if McCarthy ultimately won, he would emerge from the conflict weakened and would have some difficulty building a majority in the House of Congress for years to come.
After weeks of debating with his opponents behind closed doors, McCarthy, visibly angry, went on the offensive before the first ballot and publicly attacked his critics. McCarthy said they were all about personal advancement, not the country.
Long attempts at reconciliation
The 57-year-old spent a long time in internal negotiations with all kinds of concessions to change the minds of his critics. McCarthy revealed on Monday that he was told that he would only get the necessary votes if he gave some of the committee members certain offices and budgets. One of his opponents, Republican Congressman Matt Gates, bluntly said he didn’t care if the Democratic nominee won the election, McCarthy said.
His critics did not care about America, but only themselves, he lamented. “I will always fight to put the American people first — not just a few individuals trying to get their own way.” So there may be a “battle” in the chamber’s full session, but it’s about the whole group and the country, “and that’s fine with me,” he said.
Behind the McCarthy controversy lie fundamental Republican conflicts over future direction and leadership. The party is divided between right-wing supporters of former President Donald Trump and moderate party members. This is especially true of faction in the House of Representatives.
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