US politics in crisis as 11th vote is lost to elect Republican House Speaker
Republicans have failed to elect House Speaker 11 times in a row despite holding a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
The repeated failures come after a small group of hard-right lawmakers refuse to back the wider party's choice for Speaker, Kevin McCarthy.
The last time the House failed to elect a Speaker was 100 years ago.
McCarthy hopes for movement from the stubborn Republicans after glimmers of a deal were emerging.
“We’ve got some progress going on,” McCarthy said late Thursday, trying to ignore questions about the messy process.
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He continued: “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
The holdouts are mostly from the Trump backing Freedom Caucus, who have defied Trump's orders to get behind McCarthy.
Republican Leader McCarthy speaks to the media (JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Members who see McCarthy as too much of an establishment figure have teamed up with others who have long hoped for changes to the position, shrinking its power and giving rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in drafting and passing policies.
Without a Speaker the House has been unable to function and new members have not been sworn in.
A memo sent out by the House’s chief administrative officer Thursday evening said that committees “shall only carry-out core Constitutional responsibilities.”
Republican Representative from Florida Matt Gaetz nominates former US President Donald Trump as Speaker (SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)After a long week of failed votes, Thursday’s attempt was similarly poor: McCarthy lost the seventh, eighth and then historic ninth, 10th and 11th rounds of voting, surpassing the tally from 100 years ago in the last drawn-out fight to choose a speaker.
The California Republican exited the chamber and joked: “Apparently, I like to make history.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, has been one of the most outspoken critics of McCarthy and cast his vote for Trump in the 11th round of voting. The Speaker is not required to be a sitting Congressman.
Ballots kept producing almost the same outcome with 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support McCarthy, leaving him far short of the 218 needed to win the gavel when everyone is present.
McCarthy has been desperately trying to make a deal with the stubborn Republican holdouts (JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)At the core of McCarthy's emerging deal is a promise to bring back a House rule that would allow a single lawmaker to make a motion to get rid of the speaker.
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The chairman of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who had been a leader in Trump’s efforts to challenge his presidential election loss to Joe Biden, appeared receptive to the proposed deal, tweeting: “Trust but verify.”
The US Capitol in Washington DC (Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)The holdouts have also demanded an expansion of the number of seats available on the House Rules Committee, to require 72 hours for bills to be posted before votes and to promise to try for a constitutional amendment that would impose limits on the number of terms a person could serve in the House and Senate.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has won the most votes on every ballot but also remained short of a majority.
The longest fight for the gavel started in late 1855 and dragged on for two months, with 133 ballots, during debates over slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.
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