McCarthy elected House speaker following high-drama floor fight

Juliegrace Brufke

January 07, 12:31 AM January 07, 12:51 AM

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) won enough votes to become the next speaker of the House on Friday night after a heated, dayslong stalemate that broke when the GOP leader finally agreed to a series of concessions to his Republican opponents.

All of the remaining GOP holdouts voted "present" on the 15th ballot, lowering the threshold enough for McCarthy to get a majority of the votes. The vote followed a high-drama 14th ballot in which Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) could be seen pulling Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) back as he appeared to nearly get in an altercation with Gaetz over his vote, which tanked McCarthy in that round.

The GOP leader ultimately received 216 votes, to incoming Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries's (D-NY) 212.

The California Republican’s path to the speakership was rocky, with a group of conservatives withholding their support unless their demands for substantial rules changes were met. Multiple members cast doubt that he could ever get across the finish line after coming up significantly short on the first 13 rounds. But after reaching a consensus with the conservative hard-liners, caving to the majority of their asks, McCarthy was able to gain momentum on the fourth day of ballots, leaving just six "no" votes for his allies to flip.

After days of negotiations, McCarthy reached an agreement with most of his critics to allow a single member to force a vote to oust a sitting speaker; place more conservatives on coveted committees, including the powerful Rules Committee; cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels; establish a “church”-style committee to investigate the “weaponization” of the federal government; require that a raise in the debt ceiling be paired with spending cuts; and ban McCarthy’s super PAC from interfering in open primaries.

House Republicans falling short of their projected red wave in November left McCarthy with little room for error.

Thirty-six GOP lawmakers voted against him during their internal conference election on Nov. 15, putting before him a daunting task, as he could only lose four votes to get to 218 unless critics voted "present."

Five conservative hard-liners — former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) — quickly came out against him as “Never Kevin" members.

While the group pledged they would vote as a bloc and would not vote present to bring down the threshold, McCarthy was ultimately able to pick them off.

MCCARTHY CRITICS TAKE AIM AT SPEAKER HOPEFUL'S TACTICS TO SWAY VOTES

For weeks, the California Republican held forums on rules changes and meetings with members hesitant to back him, making compromises on an array of issues in hopes of flipping defectors. As his opponents dug in, he insisted he would bring the battle to the floor until he got the votes.

His efforts ultimately proved successful, with pro-McCarthy lawmakers working up until the final hours ahead of the vote late Friday evening.

“Persistence paid off,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner.

Former President Donald Trump was enlisted to make calls in hopes it would get conservatives on board, with McCarthy also enlisting the help of lawmakers popular among the base such as incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

McCarthy has long sought the speaker’s gavel, unexpectedly dropping out of the race to succeed former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) prior to the internal leadership elections in 2015 amid conservative opposition. Critics at the time took aim at a gaffe related to the Benghazi committee and raised questions about his personal life.

McCarthy was first elected to Congress in 2006 and saw a swift ascent in the leadership ranks, first being tapped to serve as chief deputy whip in 2009, then elected to serve as whip in 2011 before becoming House majority leader in 2014 and minority leader in 2019.

WATCH: Tiana Lowe 'sympathizes' with GOP fears that McCarthy won’t abate spending

Steff Thomas

January 05, 02:58 PM January 05, 02:58 PM

Washington Examiner commentary writer Tiana Lowe said she is “incredibly sympathetic” to House Republicans’ fears that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) won’t be able to hold the line as speaker when it comes to combating excessive spending.

“I am incredibly sympathetic to the fear of McCarthy not being able to hold the line, but the issue is, that’s not a McCarthy problem. That is a Republican problem, right?” Lowe said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria.

“But the fact that, you know, McCarthy’s leadership style with [President Joe Biden] has been to wait until the last minute, flail, and try and block the budget. Then we just spent $1.7 trillion on top of our $31 trillion national debt,” she added, referring to the omnibus spending bill signed by Biden last week.

ENDGAME: THREE WAYS HOUSE SPEAKER CHAOS COULD FINALLY BE RESOLVED

Cutting down on government spending has been a stated priority for House Republicans now that they have secured a majority in the House of Representatives. One of the concessions McCarthy’s opponents have pushed is for more restrictions that block members from earmarking spending on unrelated bills for their own projects.

Republicans in both the House and the Senate are expected to use the nation’s debt ceiling as leverage to push for policy changes. Lowe argues that decisions shouldn’t be made hastily, as raising the debt ceiling or defaulting will bring its own problems.

"So the issue that I think everyone’s focusing on is the debt ceiling, right? But let’s think about what that fight really means. We have unfunded liabilities. Do we want our national credit rating to go down? We can’t afford that,” Lowe said.

“We cannot afford to have all of our creditors believe that we cannot pay them back. And that’s what letting the debt ceiling default or not voting to increase it does in effect,” she added.

Lowe explained that this is why the House needs a speaker in place who can hold the line on cutting the spending that has been prevalent in the last two years of the Biden administration and under Democratic control of both chambers of Congress.

“You need someone to be able to hold the line at the beginning, and if you aren’t going to raise taxes ... if you’re not going to start taxing the endowments of the universities, if you’re not going to start going after these things that we’ve effectively federalized, then you need to cut spending,” Lowe said.

“[But] no one wants to talk about it,” she added.

To secure the gavel, McCarthy needs 218 lawmakers to vote for him. In the new Congress, the GOP only holds a nine-vote advantage in the House, giving the California Republican a challenge as he faces growing opposition within his party.

After failing to make headway in three rounds of roll call votes on Wednesday, McCarthy proposed a new bout of concessions to some of his most stubborn opponents in a last-ditch effort to win their support.

The House reconvened Thursday afternoon for its third day of the speaker election.

Four reasons the new Republican-controlled House is already in disarray

W. James Antle III

January 04, 06:50 AM January 04, 07:53 AM

What transpired in Pennsylvania’s race for House speaker hasn’t happened on Pennsylvania Avenue — yet.

Nevertheless, intraparty divisions are putting the new Republican House majority’s ability to elect a speaker in doubt.

Conservative defections did lead to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the expected minority leader, receiving more votes for speaker in the early going than Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The House adjourned with no one getting the required majority for the speakership.

GOVERNING VS. GRIEVANCE: THE GROWING REPUBLICAN DILEMMA

Jeb Bush warned that Donald Trump was a “chaos candidate” before the businessman and reality TV star became the Republican nominee and president. This GOP House majority may be the chaos Congress. A few factors are in play as the chamber gets ready to start all over again Wednesday afternoon.

Kevin McCarthy has a conservatives problem

McCarthy has bested former House Speakers John Boehner (R-OH) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) in one regard: He is facing a conservative revolt even earlier than either of them did. Nor is this McCarthy’s first time facing this predicament.

In 2015, McCarthy was poised to succeed Boehner after conservatives pushed the Ohio Republican out of the big chair. But these conservatives weren’t done, threatening to withhold their support from McCarthy. Enter Paul Ryan, who took up the gavel. The Californian stayed on as majority leader, then ascended to the top spot as minority leader when Democrats took the House and Ryan departed for greener pastures.

A subset of conservatives hasn’t warmed to McCarthy in the years since, denying him the votes to become speaker on multiple ballots on Tuesday. Some want reforms to how the House does business, some want a different speaker, and still others just want someone in leadership to pay a price for Republicans underperforming in the midterm elections. It won’t be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), so McCarthy becomes the logical sacrifice bunt.

The GOP is in transition

Republicans are in the process of a messy breakup with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the party’s business wing. But the transformation into a populist workers’ party isn’t complete.

In the midterm elections, the GOP gained ground with Hispanic and black voters but still lost both blocs, while Democrats largely sustained their momentum with white suburbanites Republicans shed under Trump. This became a problem in a number of key races, with Republicans failing to win majorities in some contests and requiring considerable resources to get over the finish line in others that should have been easily winnable. Republicans ended up losing a Senate seat and having a much smaller House majority as a result.

This has also complicated McCarthy’s pitch to the whole caucus and given populists like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) renewed incentives to oppose him.

Freedom Caucus support isn’t free

The Freedom Caucus was founded when some House Republicans felt the Republican Study Committee had gotten too big to be an effective conservative pressure group within the GOP conference. They were willing to withhold support from legislation as a way of pushing House Republicans to the right on various issues, especially federal spending.

Sometimes, however, that meant legislation would end up passing with Democratic votes even when Republicans were in charge of the House. Other times, it led to resentment among a majority of Republicans who felt they were being run by a minority of the caucus.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the Freedom Caucus’s current chairman, and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), a past one, are applying this tactic to the speaker’s vote. Perry now says McCarthy has missed his window to become speaker. Only five defections are sufficient to defeat the California Republican since the new House majority is so narrow.

Freedom Caucus members overwhelmingly hail from safe red districts, so they are unlikely to be harmed by national perceptions that GOP ideological infighting renders the party incapable of governing.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing vs. All about the base

Republicans also have a fundamental split over what went wrong in the midterm elections. Some want to pursue a base mobilization strategy, arguing that Senate GOP compromises demoralized conservatives and opposition to things like ballot harvesting handcuffed get-out-the-vote efforts. How important is candidate quality really when Democrats can consistently win the nominees like President Joe Biden and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)?

Other Republicans say the votes were there but that the nominees in too many swing states and districts alienated the people who could have put the party over the top. In Georgia, for example, no other Republican statewide candidate lost besides Trump-backed Senate contender Herschel Walker.

Why does this matter for the speaker’s race? Because which problem Republicans consider most important helps determine what kind of leadership they need for the next two years. It will be the 2024 election before you know it, and every single member of the House will be up.

The House is the first place where these battles will be fought this year as voters look for signs Republicans can coalesce and govern.

Just as the last two Democratic administrations did after losing control of the House, Biden’s team will shine a spotlight on anything showing otherwise.

McCarthy scrambles for support on eve of Speaker vote

Juliegrace Brufke

January 02, 10:34 PM January 02, 10:34 PM

On the eve of the Speaker vote, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made an eleventh hour push to get the votes needed to lock down the support needed as a group of conservative defectors continue to threaten to derail his ability to get the gavel.

In the Speaker’s office in the Capitol — which McCarthy has moved into despite uncertainties over whether he will prevail on the floor — the California Republican met with a group of his supporters followed by a short meeting with three of his defectors — Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), with members trickling in-and-out in hopes of getting the backing of the 218 members needed to secure the position.

MCCARTHY CRITICS TAKE AIM AT SPEAKER HOPEFUL'S TACTICS TO SWAY VOTES

Gaetz — one of the five early “Never Kevin” conservatives along with former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) — called the meeting “brief and productive,” but asserted he remains a hard no. One source familiar with the meeting stated that conservatives reiterated their demands for substantial rules changes, with critics arguing that McCarthy’s major concession in lowering the threshold on the motion to vacate the chair — a mechanism used to oust a sitting Speaker — down to five, asserting their call that it should be restored to its original form.

His critics are calling for additional changes, including placing conservative hardliners on “A” committees, a ban on leadership playing in primaries and “allowing ‘open rules’ on all major rule legislation” to provide rank-and-file members with more opportunities to amend bills, with outside conservative groups including Club for Growth pushing members to reject any Speaker who does not agree to implement their demands,

Both McCarthy allies and foes have voiced skepticism that he can get the gavel on the first ballot, with both sides asserting that they will stand by their respective positions as long as it’s necessary.

The Monday night meetings come on the heels of McCarthy — who won the internal leadership election with 36 GOP members voting against him — holding calls, meetings and forums on the rules in an effort to show that he is taking strides to hear conservatives concerns. But despite his efforts, due to the razor-thin majority after Republicans fell short of their anticipated red wave, the California Republican has faced significant hurdles similar to his first attempt to become Speaker in 2016, when members of the House Freedom Caucus voiced they would not support him on the floor, leading him to ultimately drop out of the race and remain on as majority leader.

While McCarthy has vowed to bring the fight to the floor this time around, his conservative critics have continued to cast doubt that he has a path to the position, with some voicing that they have concerns beyond the rules package, with some stating they have overarching trust issues.

Some members in the “Only Kevin” faction have asserted that they will vote down the rules package if anyone by McCarthy is elected

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a McCarthy advocate, has repeatedly stated he is willing to work across the aisle to find a moderate alternative if conservatives take down McCarthy.

Conservatives have largely remained mum on who they would like to see as a “consensus candidate,” with names including House Majority Leader-elect Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Financial Services Committee Chairman-elect Patrick McHenry (R-NC), House Rules Committee Chairman-elect Tom Cole (R-OK) and House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-LA) as potential contenders that they could support for the role.

Bacon told reporters on Monday that moderates have not ruled out putting up a candidate even if Scalise is pushed toward the position by conservatives, but noted that he maintains a good working relationship with the Louisiana Republican.

And conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has gone to bat for McCarthy, expressed frustrations with conservative holdouts.

“The problem is the people need to realize that, you know, the art of the deal. They're all Trump supporters, and you can't be successful if you're not willing to take the wins when you get them,” she said. “... Anyone that is going in there making deals for positions, committees, things for themselves, that's not the right thing to do.”

The House Republican conference is slated to meet at 9:30 a.m. to discuss a path forward on Tuesday, with the House gaveling in for official proceedings at noon.

Joe Biden set to work with a House speaker he has called a 'MAGA Republican'

W. James Antle III

November 18, 06:31 AM November 18, 06:31 AM

President Joe Biden was effusive in his praise for departing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — but he will soon have to work with a man he has described as a member of a democracy-threatening political faction: a MAGA Republican.

Biden called to congratulate House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), likely the next speaker of the House, when Republicans won their 218th seat Wednesday night.

"I congratulate Leader McCarthy on Republicans winning the House majority, and am ready to work with House Republicans to deliver results for working families," the president said in a statement.

But numerous times in the run-up to the midterm elections, Biden referred to “Kevin McCarthy and his fellow MAGA Republicans” while campaigning for Democrats.

DOES PELOSI STEPPING DOWN GIVE DEMOCRATS ENOUGH CHANGE FOR BIDEN TO RUN AGAIN?

Biden was always vague about who exactly was a MAGA Republican. Sometimes he hinted he was only referring to politicians who refuse to accept electoral defeats as legitimate. At other times the MAGA label seemed to be applied more broadly to standard conservative positions that predate former President Donald Trump’s political career.

Still, Biden has said the designation describes “a minority of the Republican Party.” As recently as the day after the election, he said, “I think the vast majority of the members of the Republican Party, we disagree strongly on issues, but they're decent, honorable people.”

Biden has been especially careful not to indict GOP leaders he may have to work with on legislation. He has never described Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a MAGA Republican. The White House in September declined to answer a question about whether McConnell qualified as one.

“It didn't matter if you were a Republican, or independent, or Democrat — he asked for folks to come together and stand against what we were seeing: these attacks,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said while dodging the McConnell question after a Biden prime-time anti-MAGA speech. “And you don't have to look further than Jan. 6 of 2021 to see what the attack was."

Unlike McConnell, McCarthy reconciled with Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump endorsed McCarthy, and the California Republican encouraged the former president to play a role in the midterm elections.

While mostly blocking Biden’s agenda in the Senate except when Democrats could avoid filibusters through the reconciliation process, McConnell cooperated with Biden on a few big-ticket bipartisan items. This most prominently included infrastructure, gun legislation, and the semiconductor bill, all of which passed with McConnell’s vote. McCarthy’s team whipped against these bills in the House.

Biden served in the Senate with McConnell. He doesn’t have much of a prior relationship with McCarthy. “I think he's the Republican leader, and I haven't had much of occasion to talk to him,” Biden said of McCarthy in a post-election press conference. “But I will be talking to him.”

While Biden often singled out Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) on the stump, he also suggested a Republican-controlled House would damage the economy to hurt his reelection prospects or force him to cut programs like Social Security and Medicare.

There has long been an inconsistency between Biden’s frequent resort to partisan sharp elbows and his self-image as a bipartisan deal-maker. Both he and McCarthy have different interests in how to manage divided government with an eye toward 2024, when Biden may be looking for reelection and Republicans will certainly be seeking to hold the House and gain the White House.

Republican control of the House also means GOP lawmakers will have greater power to conduct congressional investigations. That means additional oversight of the Biden administration and investigations into matters like Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

The last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden’s ex-boss Barack Obama, saw their reelection prospects boosted by running against Republicans in Congress. If McCarthy does not work as a foil for Biden, other members like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) might.

As the Democratic House majority slipped away, Biden nevertheless insisted that his legislative work was not done and maintained that “the future is too promising to be trapped in political warfare.”

“The American people want us to get things done for them,” Biden said. “They want us to focus on the issues that matter to them and on making their lives better. And I will work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, willing to work with me to deliver results for them.

But a mega-MAGA Republican?

We’ll soon find out.

Trump corrects report, states he has not endorsed McCarthy for speaker

Daniel Chaitin

June 19, 05:35 PM June 19, 05:37 PM

Previous President Donald Trump made it distinct that he has not endorsed any one, such as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), for speaker of the Residence.

To the finish of a modern job interview, Trump interjected to correct conservative talk present host Wayne Allyn Root just after he mentioned Trump endorsed McCarthy for speaker. "No I have not," Trump mentioned. "No, no, no. I haven't," he included by way of some crosstalk. "No, I endorsed him in his race. But I haven't endorsed any individual for speaker."

MCCARTHY PREDICTS 'MORE THAN ENOUGH' MIDTERM ELECTION WINS FOR GOP Property Greater part

Indeed, Trump endorsed McCarthy in his reelection bid in California's 20th Congressional District just two months ago. He manufactured no mention of the House speaker position, but did phone McCarthy a "robust and fearless Chief of the Home Republican Convention."

Some high profile persons on the suitable, like WHD News host Tucker Carlson, have been intensely crucial of McCarthy of late, significantly immediately after fresh revelations of the leader's remarks shortly after the Capitol riot.

Root insisted to Trump that he would be the person very best suited to come to be speaker, an concept Trump has previously dismissed, indicating that if Republican "acquire major" in the 2022 midterm elections, the previous president is the proper human being who can "save" the middle class and capitalism concerning now and 2024, as very well as lead the impeachment of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Each and every speaker thus considerably has been an elected Home member, nevertheless they are not necessary to be.

Trump's response this time still left room for speculation. Trump stated he has some "excellent associations" in the Home. "I am going to discuss to you about that at a afterwards day," included. When questioned if he would operate for president, Trump trapped to his frequent refrain that folks will be "delighted" with what comes about.