(Bloomberg) — House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy suffered yet another stunning blow at the hands of a group of Republican dissidents, who blocked him from becoming speaker in a sixth round of voting and turned the first days of the party’s control of the chamber into a scene of chaos and dysfunction.
(Bloomberg) — House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy suffered yet another stunning blow at the hands of a group of Republican dissidents, who blocked him from becoming speaker in a sixth round of voting and turned the first days of the party’s control of the chamber into a scene of chaos and dysfunction.
In multiple rounds of voting over two days, McCarthy failed to win over a single one of his opponents, raising questions about whether he would continue his quest for the speaker’s gavel while keeping the House in a state of suspension.
After a sixth ballot produced no winner, the House adjourned until 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Some McCarthy allies began to talk about whether McCarthy should step aside and open the way for the No. 2 House Republican, Louisiana’s Steve Scalise, or someone else.
Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, who backed McCarthy for speaker, said he has told the California Republican that “at some point, you have to either cut a deal or you’ve got to give Steve a chance or others a chance.”
It was unclear what McCarthy will do next. In three roll call ballots on Wednesday, 20 out of 222 House Republicans opposed him, enough to deny him the majority he needed in the face of unified Democratic opposition.
The House is at a standstill until the election of a speaker, which has sharply divided establishment Republicans and a faction of hard-line conservatives who say McCarthy hasn’t done enough to win their votes. No business can be conducted until the speakership has been established.
The dispute has turned ugly with both sides taking personal shots. McCarthy, a longtime member of House leadership, and his allies met late Tuesday and early Wednesday to try to resolve the impasse, with little success.
“We’re gonna continue to talk. We’ll find an agreement where we all get together and we’ll work through this and we’ll get it done,” McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday before the first vote.
The dissidents nominated Byron Donalds of Florida, who was first elected in 2020, as an alternative to McCarthy. Representative Chip Roy of Texas, in nominating Donalds for speaker, called him “a dear friend, a solid conservative.” Donalds had voted with the anti-McCarthy faction in the third vote on Tuesday. He received 20 votes in both rounds of balloting Wednesday.
McCarthy and his allies initially considered a plan to adjourn the House without taking a speaker vote to allow more time for negotiations, but Democrats let it be known they would oppose the move.
Former President Donald Trump, who continues to hold influence over parts of the Republican Party, sought and failed to break the deadlock with a statement of support for McCarthy. But Lauren Boebert of Colorado said Trump needs to tell McCarthy “that sir you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.”
President Joe Biden called the situation “embarrassing.”
“How do you think it looks to the rest of the world?” he told reporters before leaving for an infrastructure event in Kentucky, where he appeared alongside Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.
Neither McCarthy nor his detractors are ready to back down any time soon, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, who asked for anonymity to talk about private discussions.
The holdouts include conservatives who want budget reforms, others who want to change House rules to make it easier to topple the speaker, and still others who are vying for key committee assignments or leadership positions. These kinds of concessions, however, risk alienating establishment Republicans who want their own power.
“This is a hostage situation where these 20 folks are holding our conservative agenda hostage,” said Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina said. “They’re holding all of that up because of their ego and they’re fundraising off of this and it’s unAmerican.”
Democrats unanimously voted for their House leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, as speaker, giving him more votes than McCarthy but still less than a majority of the House.
Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska said on CNN that McCarthy might have to start looking to compromise with Democrats rather than be held hostage by his far-right flank.
“They don’t think we have the wherewithal to do anything without them. We need to show them otherwise,” he said.
Democratic Representative Brad Sherman of California floated such a deal, with major concessions from McCarthy.
“He’s going to have to agree with Democrats to not hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States, to not put us in a position where we’re going to shut down the government,” he said on Bloomberg Radio’s “Balance of Power.”
Making a deal with Democrats may cost McCarthy more Republican votes, though.
Representative Pete Aguilar, California Democrat, said he hadn’t seen any signs that “Republicans are willing to engage” in discussions with Democrats.
Other Democrats indicated that they weren’t interested in helping the GOP out of the jam.
“This is a problem of their own making,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “They should be able to work it out. Don’t put this at the Democrats doorstep.”
–With assistance from Steven T. Dennis and Diego Areas Munhoz.
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