Speaker hopeful Kevin McCarthy is pledging victory today despite losing several ballots. Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP
Republican Kevin McCarthy today picked up the support of most of the right-wing hardliners who had opposed his bid to lead the US House of Representatives, but fell short of clinching victory in the 13th ballot in four days.
The California lawmaker said he believed victory was close, and the chamber voted to reconvene at 10pm EST (4pm NZT).
McCarthy claimed that the four-day long standoff within his party would come to an end then.
McCarthy supporters and some Democrats worried the concessions he made in hopes of securing the House speakership, including agreeing to allow any single member to call for a vote to remove him from office at any time, could extend the deepest congressional dysfunction in more than 150 years.
McCarthy gained backing today from 15 of his former hardline opponents, but drew just 214 votes in total, three short of the 217 needed if all 434 current members of the House vote. The path to a winning tally depends on the ever-shifting math of where his six remaining hardline opponents stand and whether two McCarthy supporters who had left Washington return on Friday local time.
"It's going to happen," McCarthy said, predicting a Friday night victory.
Republicans' weaker-than-expected performance in November's midterm elections left them with a narrow 222-212 majority, which has given outsized power to the right-wing hardliners who have opposed McCarthy's leadership.
They accuse him of being too open to compromise with President Joe Biden and his Democrats, who also control the US Senate. Some say they want a leader who will be ready to force government shutdowns to cut spending.
That raises the possibility the two parties would fail to reach a deal when the federal government comes up against its US$31.4 trillion debt limit this year. Lack of agreement or even a long standoff risks a default that would shake the global economy.
Representative Scott Perry, the chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said he changed his vote to support McCarthy because McCarthy agreed to profound changes in how the House approves spending.
"You have changes in how we're going to spend and allocate money that are going to be historic," Perry said. "We don't want clean debt ceilings to just go through and just keep paying the bill without some counteracting effort to control spending when the Democrats control the White House and control the Senate."
Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling to pay for spending it has already authorized. Debt ceiling increases do not authorize new spending on their own.
One of Perry's constituents in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania applauded his switch.
"This is good for my business and good for the United States," said men's wear store owner Randall Miller, 65, who voted for Perry but had been upset by his stand against McCarthy.
Lauren Boebert has been one of the biggest opponents of McCarthy. Photo: WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY / AFP
Pressure on holdouts
The remaining holdouts faced increasing pressure to fall into line and allow Republicans to take control of the chamber, after some warned that the long standoff raised questions about the party's ability to govern.
"It has become clear to me that a couple of individuals are simply obstructionists," said Keith Self, a newly elected Texas Republican, after switching his vote.
It was unclear what - if anything - McCarthy could do to win them over.
Of the 20 Republicans who this week have cast votes opposing McCarthy, 14 received campaign contributions totaling US$120,000 ahead of the midterms from the McCarthy-controlled Majority Committee fundraising group, federal disclosures show.
The House remained leaderless and unable to begin its business on Friday, the two-year anniversary of the 6 January, 2021, attack on the US Capitol when a violent mob stormed Congress in an attempt to overturn then-President Trump's election loss.
Several House Democrats said they saw a connection.
"The same extremist forces continue to have a stranglehold on House Republicans. They cannot elect a leader because their conference is held hostage by members who peddle misinformation and want to dismantle democracy," said No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark in a statement on Friday.
This week's 13 failed votes marked the highest number of ballots for the speakership since 1859.
McCarthy's last bid for speaker, in 2015, crumbled in the face of right-wing opposition. The two previous Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, left the job after conflict with right-wing colleagues.
Wielding the speaker's gavel would give McCarthy the authority to block Biden's legislative agenda, force votes for Republican priorities on the economy, energy and immigration and move forward with investigations of Biden, his administration and his family.
Speaker concessions would weaken power
But McCarthy has proposed concessions that would diminish his power and boost the clout of those who have opposed him, according to sources involved in the talks.
Allowing a single member to call for a vote to remove the speaker would give hardliners extraordinary leverage over him.
He has also offered influential committee posts to members of the group, lawmakers said, as well as spending restrictions that aim to reach a balanced budget within 10 years. The agreement would cap spending for the next fiscal year at last year's levels - amounting to a significant cut when inflation and population growth are taken into account.
That could meet resistance from more centrist Republicans or those who have pushed for greater military funding, particularly as the United States is spending money to help Ukraine fend off a Russian assault.
Moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick said he was not worried that the House would effectively be run by hardliners.
"It's aspirational," he told reporters. "We still have our voting cards."
- Reuters
