WASHINGTON (AFP) – Republican candidate Kevin McCarthy took a significant step on Friday toward becoming the new speaker of the US House of Representatives as he quelled a rebellion among his party’s ranks that paralyzed the lower chamber of Congress for four days. Had given.
Republicans, who have a razor-thin majority, were mired in an internecine war after McCarthy lost a historic 11 consecutive ballots in the contest, with about 20 conservative hardliners blocking his way.
But the 57-year-old Californian was able to pick up 14 votes among defectors after offering major concessions in the 12th round on Friday, in a development the McCarthyites hope will flip more votes.
It was the first time in a tense, drawn-out process that McCarthy actually defeated his Democratic opponent, Hakeem Jeffries, although neither of them won the outright majority needed to win the speakership.
McCarthy told reporters, “Just reminds me of what my father always told me.” “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And now we have to finish for the American public.
There were even hopes that the Republicans might win the 13th ballot, which followed immediately after the 12th, although in the end the result was the same.
US House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California (R), Representative-elect Ralph Norman of South Carolina (II R) and Representative-elect Maj. Taylor Greene of Georgia in the House chamber during the fourth day of the House Speaker’s election in the US Capitol 6 Building on January, 2023. (WIN MACNAME/GETTY IMAGES/AFP)
With the former storekeeper needing just three more votes for a majority in the 14th round—and two of his absentee allies expected to return to Washington within hours—McCarthy won an adjournment until 10:00 p.m. local time.
‘We will surprise you’
He told reporters that he knew he was going to get enough votes on Friday evening, “because I did the counting.”
The victory vindicated the absurd air of confidence that McCarthy fueled all week long, even as he was bleeding votes and looking like a bludgeoning flush.
“We’re going to shock you,” he promised reporters early Friday as he strolled into the Capitol, where more rounds of voting have already taken place than in any speaker election since the Civil War .
Weary legislators-elects stuck in Washington polling day after day were pessimistic about the prospects of a tipping point ahead of the weekend, with McCarthy showing no signs of adding to the base of the roughly 200 Republicans who supported him. Is.
Chip Roy, seen as a figure of stability among the fractious anti-McCarthy group, was credited for the apparent turnaround after expressing his confidence that he could persuade about 10 aides to accept a mountain of concessions. That’s what McCarthy has offered to hardliners.
But Democrats, and some of McCarthy’s supporters, are privately concerned that he is offering his far-right critics radical policy commitments that would make the House invincible.
Republican Representative-elect Chip Roy of Texas, Representative-elect Mary Miller of Illinois, Representative-elect Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Representative-elect Byron Donalds of Florida, Representative-elect Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Representative-elect Ralph Norman of South Carolina Representative-elect Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Representative-elect Dan Bishop of North Carolina prepare to speak to reporters in Statue Hall after pledging their endorsement for House Speaker to California Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on the fourth day of the election at the US Capitol . Building on January 6, 2023, in Washington. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/AFP)
There were reports, which AFP has not verified, that McCarthy would propose a $75 billion cut in military spending, stressing the United States over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a strengthening of the One China stance on Taiwan Raising the alarm among the defense hawks.
‘wake up call’
Any lawmaker, no matter how senior, has the authority to set the budget, but the fact that the suggestion was being taken up underscores Republicans’ turn toward isolationism under Donald Trump.
Other elected MPs were complaining that McCarthy was handing too much power to hardliners with promises of plum committee positions and changes to the rules that would seriously undermine the speaker’s role.
Renegade Republicans are understood to have flipped their votes in exchange for a rule change that would make it easier to oust the speaker, reform how the House determines federal spending and more “conservative representation” in the chamber. Is.
The fourth day of voting came as Democrats linked the violence to the chaos in the House to mark the second anniversary of the US Capitol riot.
U.S. Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy of California hugs Republican Representative from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene as the House of Representatives continues voting for a new speaker at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/AFP)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the uprising – when a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol – should serve as a “wake-up call” for Republicans to reject extremism.
But he added that “the utter pandemonium unleashed by House Republicans this week is just another example of how the extremes of their party, led by election denialists, are dragging them into chaos.”
