Former US President Donald Trump urged the conservative House members to back beleaguered Representative Kevin McCarthy for House speaker Wednesday as his humiliating struggle to secure enough votes from his own party stretched into a second day.
(Bloomberg) — Former US President Donald Trump urged the conservative House members to back beleaguered Representative Kevin McCarthy for House speaker Wednesday as his humiliating struggle to secure enough votes from his own party stretched into a second day.
“Some really good conversations took place last night, and it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL,” he wrote on his Truth Social network.
“Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!”
McCarthy and his allies were forced to negotiate with dissidents overnight after the House abruptly adjourned Tuesday following three rounds of balloting in which McCarthy was unable move a single vote. McCarthy’s opponents, among the most conservative members of the House, consider him an unreliable leader who won’t push their agenda.
The inability to elect a speaker — the first order of business for a new Congress — signaled a challenging two years for Republicans who will have to cooperate to fulfill such fundamental tasks as financing the government or honoring US debts.
McCarthy Flails, Republicans Bicker: Explaining Congress’s Chaos
Lawmakers will reconvene at noon Wednesday for another attempt to move forward. No other House business can be conducted, including swearing in new and returning members, until the speaker election has been completed.
McCarthy said he would keep working with opponents until he finds the 218 votes he needs — a majority of the full House. In the last ballot on Tuesday, 20 Republicans opposed McCarthy, leaving him at 202 votes.
“If we want to get to 218 we have to keep talking,” he said.
Trump has long backed McCarthy, but his reiterated support comes at a crucial time for the 57-year-old California congressman, who was the first speaker candidate not elected in one round of voting in 100 years. The conservative holdouts are also Trump supporters and Wednesday’s voting will be a key test of the former president’s influence after a string of losses for some of the candidates he endorse in the November election and intensifying legal troubles.
Wednesday morning, negotiations between the holdouts and McCarthy’s team remained at a stalemate. One person familiar with the talks predicted that a resolution could continue beyond this week, despite Trump weighing in.
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’ll appear alongside Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. This is the United States of America, and I hope they get their act together.”
Neither McCarthy nor his detractors are ready to back down any time soon, the person said. There are efforts to convince some of the holdouts to agree to just vote “hell no!” on McCarthy, a way to have their votes not count toward a threshold he would need to win a majority.
Some of the holdouts have said they might consider that approach, but there is still a hard-core of nine or 10 opponents, the person said.
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.
Republican Representative Don Bacon said on CNN that McCarthy may 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. “These committees and the chairmanships are merit based. They want an affirmative action program for the Freedom Caucus and the rest of us think it’s unacceptable.”
McCarthy, who was denied the speakership in 2015 when he was forced by conservatives to withdraw in favor of Paul Ryan, has already moved into the speaker’s office suite a few steps from the House floor. He vowed not to give up his quest.
As the night wore on, food deliveries began arriving at Republican offices and meeting rooms. McCarthy holed up in another office off the House floor for hours making phone calls to try to gain more votes.
Ideological divisions, personal grievances and an atmosphere of distrust flared among the new majority as the dissidents pressed their revolt, roiling what is typically a ceremonial elevation of the party leader to the constitutional post of House speaker.
Even if McCarthy ultimately prevails or a compromise candidate emerges, the new speaker will be weakened and dissidents emboldened, said Doug Heye, a former aide to senior Republicans. A new rebellion could form any time the speaker forges a difficult compromise, using a parliamentary tactic to vacate the chair and again halt the chamber from further action.
“The inability to do the easy stuff today sends bad signals for doing the hard stuff going forward,” Heye said.
A weakened speaker also would be an unreliable negotiating partner in dealings with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, complicating the resolution of key matters and injecting added uncertainty into any agreement among US political leaders.
Similar fractures among House Republicans frustrated efforts to negotiate an increase in the US debt ceiling 2011, bringing the nation to the brink of a default. The crisis triggered a downgrade of Treasury debt and a slide in the US stock market.
The US will again face a default later this year without congressional action to raise the legal debt limit. Hard-line conservatives among the Republican rebels also are demanding deep spending cuts anathema to Democrats, raising the possibility of a government shutdown once funding runs out at the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Future military aid to Ukraine also could hang in the balance, with House Republicans divided on maintaining support.
McCarthy has shown an adaptability during his long tenure as a party leader — he rocketed to a post as Republican whip in 2010 just four years after entering Congress — that has sown distrust among conservatives.
On Tuesday night, one of McCarthy’s opponents, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, sent a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, J. Brett Blanton, asking how long before McCarthy was considered a “squatter” in the speaker’s house.
House Democrats were in no mood to help the embattled McCarthy. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who relinquished her leadership role after the midterm elections, said there was “no chance” that any Democrats provide McCarthy with votes or would sit out any votes to shrink the effective majority he needs.
–With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs.
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