Apparently, California Representative Kevin McCarthy has already moved his personal effects and furniture into the House Speaker’s Office despite not winning enough votes to be considered Speaker of the House.
Republican House member Matt Gaetz, a strong opponent of Mr McCarthy, sends a letter of inquiry asking how is this possible?
Full letter below.
The House of Representatives failed to elect a House Speaker through three rounds of voting. Approximately 20 members of the Republican conference will not vote for Kevin McCarthy, as a result there is a stalemate. The Republican caucus requested adjournment until noon tomorrow, Wednesday January 4th.
Essentially Kevin McCarthy needs to: (1) step aside and accept he will not be Speaker, or (2) continue the House voting in futility, or (3) find a way to convince the Republican holdouts to support him.
This has happened before, just not in the modern political era. The holdouts want Jim Jordan to accept the Speaker position.
Don’t get defrosted, worried or overly attached to any outcome. This is simply the way our system was designed.
The House of Representatives continues efforts to elect a Speaker of the House. Republican candidate Kevin McCarthy failed in his first-round effort on the floor in dramatic fashion. A group of conservatives blocked his path amid one of the smallest GOP House majorities in history. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had the highest overall number of votes, but still not enough to become speaker.
As noted by Politico, “In a stunning moment of chaos on the first day of the new Congress, McCarthy and his allies will now attempt to quell the revolt, preparing members to take repeated votes as pressure mounts from their colleagues. It will mark only the second time since the Civil War that a party will need multiple attempts to choose its leader on the House floor — with all business in the chamber, even the swearing-in of members, halted until a speaker is chosen.”
Voting continues, video below. UPDATE After Three Failed Votes, the House is adjourned until noon tomorrow:
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Republican house member Matt Gaetz delivered a fiery speech in opposition to Republican candidate for Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz nominates Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, and then gives a blistering critique of California Representative Kevin McCarthy as a selfish, self-centered political sellout who will do anything to gain power and then undermine the Republican caucus he claims to represent. WATCH:
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Ohio Representative Jim Jordan’s speech to the House of Representatives is below:
Appearing with Maria Bartiromo, California Representative Kevin McCarthy discusses the opportunities and challenges for the republican caucus as his own effort to become Speaker of the House is impeded by conservative republicans in legislature.
McCarthy notes a conversation last week with Joe Biden and the upcoming reauthorization for defense spending that will likely remove the COVID vaccine mandate. Additionally, McCarthy discusses the removal of Adam Schiff from the HPSCI and how that removal connects to the latest revelations about people within the intelligence community who purposefully lied about the Hunter Biden laptop in order to interfere in the 2020 election. WATCH:
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With 222 republicans, a five-seat majority in the House, what options do they have except to elect McCarthy as Speaker?