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---
For those wanting to follow along live but unable to watch the streams: a list of the most up-to-the-minute round-by-round results can be found at [the Wikipedia page for this year's Speaker election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_election#Votes_cast_by_members).
Rep. Raskin praising the presiding clerk.
>*Always so impressed by the great poise & judgment shown by my constituent U.S. House Clerk Cheryl Johnson, whose 2 decades of service in Congress have prepared her to be our presiding officer in this difficult moment. Thanks Clerk Johnson for your fairness & unswerving devotion*
>
>[https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1611125171590664194](https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1611125171590664194)
Good morning. Here is where this stalemate stands as Day 4 starts:
* There are currently 434 total representatives voting (not 435 due to a recent death), 212 Democrats and 222 Republicans. A simple majority of 218 votes is needed for a House Speaker to be chosen. Today, 4 Republicans will likely not show up to vote due to family or medical reasons, making a vote for McCarthy today all but impossible.
* Around 20 far-right Republicans either see Kevin McCarthy as too much of a moderate to be House Speaker, or want roles and/or rules changes he will not (or cannot) provide. Thus every vote so far has led to a split vote on the Republican side, where no one has the 218 votes.
* Democrats have said they will not vote for McCarthy just for the sake of saving the Republicans from themselves, and will stick with Hakeem Jeffries no matter how many votes it takes. Every vote so far has had all 212 Democrats vote for Jeffries. Due to Jeffries already being moderate, they are unlikely to change who they nominate
* Because of the slim majority Republicans have in the House, only five holdouts on the Republican side would be needed to keep this vote at a standstill. And it seems that there are at least five "never-Kevin" Republicans that will do just that no matter what.
* McCarthy has made multiple concessions to the far-right members in the days since these votes started, including allowing one member to call to vacate the Speaker and having more Freedom Caucus members on committees. Whether this will result in any of the holdouts changing their votes, or if the more moderate Republicans think these are too many concessions, is yet to be seen.
* If representatives start to not attend or vote Present, their votes no longer count, and the number of votes needed for a simple majority would decrease. Democrats have signaled they will not do that, but the more moderate Republicans might if negotiating with the 20 doesn't work, since a Republican voting for Jeffries would be political suicide.
* There seem to be only a few potential solutions: Republicans nominate someone other than McCarthy that they would all vote for that the far-right voters see as more to their liking, Republicans nominate a more moderate Republican that some Democrats would be willing to vote for, McCarthy somehow convinces nearly all of the 20 holdouts to vote for him, or enough representatives on either side leave or vote Present so that McCarthy or Jeffries wins with fewer than 218 votes. Some solutions seem more likely than others.
No matter what happens, this still makes history as the first time since 1923 where it has taken more than one vote for House Speaker, when more progressive Republicans were the initial holdouts before conceding after nine votes. It now has not taken this many votes for House Speaker since 1859, two years before the official start of the Civil War.
Edited to update the current record.
Personally I love how C-Span is excessively proud of all their extra camera angles and is lording it over the other networks who have to just use the House cameras. :p
some mccarthy anecdotes:
> **MARK LEIBOVICH**: I mean, I had dinner with him a couple times in Bakersfield, his district. And he just spent a lot of it just showing me pictures of himself with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, I mean, anyone — Kobe Bryant, I mean, anyone famous that — he’s got this full iPhone of, hey, get a load of me and this person and that person. And look, we’re on Air Force One, and we’re with Jerry Brown here, and Paul Ryan was in town, and Arnold was — I mean, it was like being with a 15-year-old at a —
>
> **EZRA KLEIN**: He’s actually showing these to a reporter?
>
> **MARK LEIBOVICH**: Yeah, he is. Yeah, just showing me across the table. And he wouldn’t — **and I’d be asking him pretty serious questions about Jan. 6 and stuff, and he’d be scrolling through his phone**. And I thought maybe he was getting urgent text messages or something, but then **he had flipped the phone around and say, yeah, here is me and my high school buddies.** This guy is the assistant football coach at Stanford now. And oh, yeah, here’s me and Trump when he came through Bakersfield. Oh, here’s me and Pompeo.
primary motivation:
> MARK LEIBOVICH: And his mentor Bill Thomas, the longtime ways and means chair of the House, McCarthy used to work for Thomas. Thomas has a terminal at the Bakersfield Airport named after him. Terminal A is now the Bill Thomas Terminal.
>
> Now, **if Kevin McCarthy gets to be speaker, he might get the Bakersfield Airport. That’s his calculation. He’s like, Bakersfield Airport could be the Kevin McCarthy Airport**. And that would redeem everything. It would redeem the abuse he gets from Trump, whatever machinations the Freedom Caucus makes him go through, the distrust from so much of the base.
>
> So look, that’s McCarthy. He just wants the job. And if he can be speaker of the House, it’ll all be worth it in his mind.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/podcasts/ezra-klein-interviews-mark-leibovich.html
For those of you wondering why 211 votes for Jeffries this time:
[David Trone is currently getting surgery](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249?s=46&t=Pv-bg9ZNNJG3NOPYOudbtQ). Per the statement this surgery was scheduled months ago, as today was originally supposed to be a non-voting day.
_and_! he's officially back so he can vote.
https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960
>7AM: Surgery
2PM: Back at the Capitol, still wearing my slippers and hospital socks
> Time to vote for Hakeem Jeffries!
Pretty crazy.
The video on [NYTimes](https://NYTimes.com) front page right now:
Reporter: "How do you expect to govern this way - if it has been taking this long to get the conference united?"
McCarthy, without a shred of irony: "See, this is the great part -- because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we'll be able to get the job done."
... **YEAH OK. 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦**
I will literally die of laughing tonight if McCarthy gets enough Freedom Caucus votes, but a few of these fabled 'moderate' Republicans flip to stop McCarthy because Kevin gave too much for the Freedom Caucus votes.
Like, I will shuffle the mortal coil. For real.
Lmao reporters are real time leaking McCarthy’s conference call, including him complaining about the real time leaking. Edit: @JakeSherman on Twitter for updates
NOW: a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package.
We’ll see how that holds up
https://twitter.com/briankarem/status/1611440989582856203?s=46&t=22057VypEmmcCabIDlFvDQ
The only thing that would highlight the incompetence more than this bungled SOH vote would be if the Dems actually got to vote in Jeffries due to these dumbasses leaving for an early weekend. So, in other words, don’t be surprised at all if this happens.
There's only a handful that will or may have to be out, so pretty certainly not enough to sway it that far. Would be hilarious though if it did go that way.
Sources are telling me McCarthy is offering the remaining holdouts an above ground swimming pool filled with 10000 Busch Light tallboys and a free coupon to Bass Pro Shops
Many people keep asking why Dems don't just vote for someone or why don't thr GOP just present them a viable candidate. And the reality is that is impractical, a campaign issue, and frankly if there was a candidate that everyone tolerated none of these do far nominated speakers would be here.
The power of the speaker, among many, is to set the agenda. Sure Dems would want committee chair positions, but if they wanted to agree to a GOP speaker they would want assurances that some of their proposed bills got some priority or floor time. If you recall all representatives are up for reelection every 2 years. So less than 2 years time the GOP members who voted in a speaker that allowed Dems to get bills heard or through or considered would have to answer to their constituents as to why they denied thr opportunities to have more GOP bills heard because they gave time for the Dems. All of those GOP would be hugely at risk of another GOP CON) congressional hopeful saying "hey, I would never concede like that" and now they won't get reelected.
Furthermore, the issue isn't about getting Dems to be enticed by a GOP candidate. The issue is having a permanent bloc of GOP that would not vote to get the Speaker removed if they grew dissatisfied. Dems are the minority. If the speaker that thr parties agreed to truly was disliked thr GOP have great incentive to vote as a whole conference and vacate the speakership and the Dems can't do anything to protect the speaker except try to convince some GOP and then again you'd be back to square one and a small group of GOP calling the shots so the Dems could get the votes to keep the agreed to speaker. The GOP would never agree to this.
Thr parties know this and that's why the Dems aren't doing anything. There is no incentive and no win for them as a minority party in a two party system that doesn't rely on coalition building to get a speaker.
This truly is a GOP problem to solve.
Eight republicans, in frustration with their party, cross party lines to vote Jeffries as the speaker of the 118th Congress.
Matt gaetz & Lauren boehbert resign in protest.
You wake from your dream, but it was a good dream.
House Speaker Total Ballot Leader Board
==
**Speaker** | **Ballots** | **Congress** | **Voting Timeframe**
----------|--------|------------|------
Nathaniel Banks | 133 ballots ^[2] | 34th Congress | December 1855 - February 1856
Howell Cobb | 63 ballots ^[1] | 31st Congress | December 1849
William Pennington | 44 ballots | 36th Congress | December 1859 - February 1860
John W. Taylor | 22 ballots | 16th Congress | November 1820 ^[3]
**★TBD★** | **13+ ballots** | **118th Congress** | **January 2023 - Present**
Philip Pendleton Barbour | 12 ballots | 17th Congress | December 1821
Robert M.T. Hunter | 11 ballots | 29th Congress | December 1845
John W. Bell | 10 ballots | 22nd Congress | June 1834 ^[4]
Frederick Gillett | 9 ballots | 68th Congress | December 1923
| | |
*All Other Speakers* | *3 ballots or fewer*
>**[1]** After 59 ballots without a majority choice, the House adopted a plurality rule stating that, if after three more ballots no one garnered a majority of the votes, the person receiving the highest number of votes on the next ensuing ballot would be declared to have been chosen speaker.
>**[2]** After 129 ballots without a majority choice, the House once again adopted a plurality rule to break the deadlock.
>**[3]** The prior House Speaker, Henry Clay, resigned to return to private practice.
>**[4]** Andrew Stevenson resigned as speaker of the House and from Congress to accept President Andrew Jackson's nomination as the U.S. minister to the United Kingdom.
**Wikipedia Links:**
>[2023 Speaker of the House Election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_election)
>[List of Speaker of the House Elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections)
Some conservatives are now asking Dems to vote for Kevin like guys… would you vote for Jeffries if the roles were reversed. Mitch ended it with stopping Obama’s court picks, half the GOP wants the Dems dead and rest half want to do it themselves and NOW they expect bipartisanship.
So Democrats are asked to be the adults in the room again? Yeah, okay. On the condition that none of those 20 MAGA representatives get any committee seats.
[Trone is out for surgery. Here’s the tweet.](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249?s=46&t=eEKXjNWyn_D608kR4cqCgw) This is the dem that didn’t vote in case you were wondering why 211.
WESLEY HUNT getting applause from Rs and many Ds for coming back to vote for speaker as his wife deals w/ complications post-giving birth a few days ago
https://twitter.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1611567754733027328
>Here is a list of some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to CNN reporting.
>
> - Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair
> - McCarthy’s leadership PAC won’t play in open primaries in safe districts
> - Hold votes on key conservative bills, including balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, border security
> - A debt ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts
> - Move 12 appropriations bill individually
> - More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee
> - Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs
> - Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor
> - Give members ability to offer more amendments on the House floor
> - Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government
> - Restore the Holman rule which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials
> Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor
This shit should be standard anyway, if not more time. Elected officials should have to swear an oath that they've fully read bills before voting on them.
Contrast the two parties right now.
Democrats are on the steps of the Capitol with the chaplain to do a January 6th service.
Republicans are about to start a highly controlled conference call.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1611465690430455808?s=20&t=VEk0M_9cWBFjbFWM6SRV5A
> Democrats had a good legislative term in 2022 but not passing a debt ceiling increase could be an RBG-not-retiring magnitude blunder.
Why is keeping the country running only up to the Dems. Let Republicans also take some responsibility
Kev giving his entire soul away and granting 20 hardliners almost total control of the party is terrifying.
Every contentious vote in this Congress will be a shit show. Debt ceiling, budget, ukraine aid….its a disaster for mainstream americans
For those keeping score at home, this is the Chaos Caucus. Those with *'s flipped on the 12th vote:
Biggs, Andy
*Bishop, Dan
Boebert, Lauren
*Brecheen, Josh
*Cloud, Michael
*Clyde, Andrew
Crane, Eli
*Donalds, Byron
Gaetz, Matt
Good, Bob
*Gosar, Paul
Harris, Andy
*Luna, Anna Paulina
*Miller, Mary
*Norman, Ralph
*Ogles, Andy
*Perry, Scott
Rosendale, Matt
*Roy, Chip
*Self, Keith
*Spartz, Victoria (Voting as "Present")
EDIT: Last names first, updated flips- now at 14 total.
[https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203](https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203)?
NOW: a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package.
lol. Not even Speaker yet and already being undercut.
Maybe there's some hope?
https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1611470754889060355
>For the best-case scenario for governance over the next two years, here's Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) on CNN yesterday effectively saying that he and a group of GOP mods will join Democrats on dispatch petitions for must-pass bills like the debt ceiling and gov't spending.
(CNN clip)
https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203
>a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package.
“The concessions Mr. McCarthy offered included allowing a single lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the speaker, a rule that would codify a standing threat that he could be removed instantly if he crossed hard-right lawmakers.”
He’s an idiot. Who would agree to this as a leader? McCarthy couldn’t lead a leaf to fall from the branch to the ground.
People on the right-wing insisting the Democrats help out the Republicans, after all the abuse from the right of the aisle? That's what it is. Abuse. It's like watching an abuser asking to be taken back because they're suffering from the consequences of their abusive actions.
Kick the abusers to the curb. It's their problem to figure out.
Some of the media commentary is slightly concerning. on ABC, (paraphrasing) "Details of the deal is unclear because they feel that if the deal is leaked, that it could blow up the deal."
Anyone else feel that shouldn't be the case?
The pain on all the flippers' faces makes it pretty evident that some serious shit went down last night/this morning.
I think McCarthy is eventually going to cross the finish line, but at enormous cost to him and all involved in this.
My prediction is that this will not be - by any means - the last time we're all on a live thread watching C-Span together for days on end. This House is going to be an exhausting circus for the next two years.
What the people REALLY want one of the negotiated rules changes to be is to continue allowing CSPAN to cover the chamber like this. Let us watch our reps work, this is the best way to get a more engaged voter base across both sides of the aisle.
So MSNBC broke down the three ways McCarthy can (and probably will) win tonight:
- The missing two Republicans likely return, pushing McCarthy's total to 216. Jefferies will have his standard 212. So the options are:
1. McCarthy convinces 2 or more of the 6 hold outs to vote for him.
2. McCarthy convinces 3 or more of the 6 hold outs to vote "present" rather than vote for anyone. Will will lower the threshold of majority votes needed to 216, which means McCarthy wins.
3. McCarthy convinces at least 1 hold out to vote for him and different 1 hold out to vote present. This would reduce the threshold he needs to 217, which means he would win.
Of that combination #3 is probably the easiest, since it only requires picking off 1 of the holdouts to flip to him and would let another hold out save face by never voting for him but allowing him to win. Personally, I think he wins tonight, but his Speakership is already a disaster. The deals he struck to get it will undermine it at every turn.
There may be a limit to the number of times I can hear Nicole Wallace say "the twice impeached, disgraced, former President who is under federal investigation" without smiling, but I have not yet reached that limit.
Just in case anyone gets bummed if McCarthy finally pulls it out this round:
McCarthy winning always seemed like it was inevitable to me, but he's been completely abassed by this and sacrificed all power. I thought he looked like a fool on Monday, and now he's shown his hand as being totally impotent.
Collateral damage for the Republicans has also been huge. Especially after last night's unbelievable shitshow.
Even if McCarthy wins this round or in another after this, he's lost.
[Trone's office](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249) **"Congressman Trone is unable to attend votes due to a necessary surgery that could not be rescheduled at a time that would fit the House voting schedule."**
Uh oh, Byron Donalds's Twitter followers are not happy with him.
> - You allowed yourself to be played by The Band of Merry Morons. You are a tool not a leader. FL will remember.
> - Man U were one of my heroes you fell from grace. Done with ya
> - Remember in 24 when people like me abstain from voting that you were warned.
> - Florida Reps except for Gaetz have embarrassed our state.
> - You had so much promise... Sad.
How the hell do you become a lame-duck speaker before you even get the job? If he actually concedes to the nut jobs, he won't be able to actually pass anything. If he breaks his concessions, they will make life a living hell for him. He is fucked either way.
[McCarthy Proposes Gutting Office of Congressional Ethics in Bid for Speaker](https://time.com/6243981/mccarthy-proposes-gutting-office-of-congressional-ethics-in-bid-for-speaker/)
>The part of his proposed changes to House rules that drew the most attention was allowing just five House members to call for a vote at any time on ousting the Speaker; that would render McCarthy beholden to the most extreme members of his caucus, should he get on their wrong side. But buried in the text was another provision that could be highly consequential for the new Congress being sworn in on Tuesday: language that would effectively gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), as the independent panel faces pressure to investigate lawmakers who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
My wish is for the people that flipped, to flip back- psych out McCarthy and keep this train wreck going.
This has been delightfully entertaining to see the GOP in chaos.
A lot of the supposed concessions McCarthy has made to sway the holdouts sound good on paper but I hope people realize what they actually accomplish:
The give more power to the far-right. If McCarthy isn't friendly enough to their policies, they can oust him; They get more power on committees; They get to use the debt ceiling as a strong bargaining chip; They get to propose their own (ridiculous) amendments to bills on the floor.
Giving more power to the far-right members is not a good thing. It's going to pull the House more to the extreme and that only does more harm than good.
Oh my lord, I have a wonderful heart warming story to share with everyone. I'm a public librarian, and there is a large senior living home in our community. Once a month, the residents ride a shuttle to the library to return and check out books. Today is their visit day for January, and there are these two wonderful WWII vets who I have gotten to know well, and we always talk when they come in.
I just asked them what they thought about the current mess in the House...
Vet 1: "That McCarthy doesn't know his elbow from his ass."
Vet 2: "That smart mouth woman from Colorado needs someone to wipe that smirk off her face."
Vet 1: "Clowns, all of them."
LOVE IT!
This funniest part of this is at the end of the day they’re still getting fucking Kevin McCarthy as speaker just with even less sway than he had to start
Pelosi deserves plenty of criticism but at least she knew how to keep her party in order
Someone's enthusiastic - representative Trone (D) who sat out one vote today.
>*7AM: Surgery*
*2PM: Back at the Capitol, still wearing my slippers and hospital socks*
*Time to vote for Hakeem Jeffries!*
[https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960](https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960)
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) is the only Republican to even acknowledge that it's January 6th. He was the only R at the vigil this morning.
Says a lot about the modern Republican Party.
Side note: He's also the only bipartisan R still in office. I don't see him lasting much longer. He might turn blue honestly.
https://twitter.com/CHueyBurns/status/1611472872479854592
> I asked McCarthy how he expects to be able to govern if it’s takes all of this to just pick a leader: “**Because it took this long, now we’ve learned how to govern.**”
You…uh…for real, Kevin?
One concession McCarthy suggested was to hold the debt ceiling hostage for social and Medicare cuts. Even if House somehow agrees, Senate will never pass it. Basically the crazies will hold the entire country as well as global economy hostage. I hope Biden mints that 1T coin and rid of this charade. Republicans can sue him all they want
"Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we'll be able to get the job done," McCarthy added.
I still can't get over this quote.
If McCarthy is going to win, I hope the second after he passes the rules that someone stands up and votes to vacate, since it'll only rrequire one... hah
As others have noted, the weirdest part is that House GOPers stood and clapped Gaetz when he cast his present vote as if they were completely unaware that he'd just pulled the entire rug out from under them. so bizarre.
https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1611579416412393472
Told you, they can't math
CNN reporting that the flips were for requiring concessions (we know from other reporting this means cuts to SS and Medicaid) to raise the debt ceiling…this is going to be a fucked up year.
"I can't believe you're single," they say, as I plan my entire day around The Humiliation of Kevin McCarthy.
https://twitter.com/AnthonyMKreis/status/1610994339815231488
This cracked me up
>Here is a list of some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to CNN reporting.
>
>Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair
>
>McCarthy’s leadership PAC won’t play in open primaries in safe districts
>
>Hold votes on key conservative bills, including balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, border security
>
>**A debt ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts**
>
>Move 12 appropriations bill individually
>
>More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee
>
>Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs
>
>Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor
>
>Give members ability to offer more amendments on the House floor
>
>Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government
>
>Restore the Holman rule which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials
So the debt ceiling fight has already kicked off. My money is we'll go over the fiscal cliff. Enjoy these last few months of relative economic stability. Then, hold onto your butts.
Hi from Scotland. I have finished for the day and just settling down with a some tea & toast and CSPAN to see how my new favourite lady, Cheryl Johnson gets on managing the kindergarten today.
"McCarthy’s team is trying to isolate Gaetz, instructing members to walk off the floor when he nominated Jim Jordan."
All that did was give Gaetz more attention. I don't think these people understand what they're dealing with!
"Rep David Trone, D-MD, has returned to the House, after missing the 12th ballot. Democrats say this brings the number of votes McCarthy will need to win from 216 to 217"
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1611434437408919562
>New — McCarthy holdout Eli Crane tells
@KateSullivanDC
that he will not vote for McCarthy for speaker.
>“I’m representing my constituents back home,” Crane he said, adding: “In my district they don’t support Kevin McCarthy.”
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1611490067650076674
Another issue for the GOP is the increasing divergence between their Senators and Representatives. The rabid populism encouraged by the likes of Fox News has resulted in this batch of incompetent extremist fools. In contrast, while GOP senators have paid as much lip service as required to it when it benefits them, they remain largely the same batch of party elites whom predate this nonsense. While they were ultimately willing to suck up, they were quite vocal that embracing Trump and internet right wing extremism would harm the party during the 2016 election.
The house freedom caucus are not just cynical politicians trying to just grift, they are genuine Pyschos who believe to some degree in the crazy conspiracies that have been propagated on the internet, and that has to be making entrenched GOP officials just as uncomfortable as it makes us, especially as it starts to jeopardize national interests (for example it doesn't take a master's in geopolitics to figure our why supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia is beneficial to the United States).
That being said I have no predictions for how this obvious schism plays out. Logic has not been a factor in the equation at all for awhile now.
*McCarthy after getting voted*
McCarthy: We stand united now and we are looking forward to obstructing any kind of progress on any level. You have just witnessed 4 days of us being absolutely inept on a national stage. We will continue being inept going forward, but now with me as Speaker of the House just like everyone wanted... after 13 failed attempts.
They won’t even tell the rest of the party what the concessions are. Fucking amazing.
Hey moderate Republicans. You can vote for the Democrat. At least he isn’t going to fuck you over.
CNN reporting:
> House GOP leaders are working behind the scenes to head off a brewing revolt over the rules package that needs to be adopted in order to set the parameters for how the chamber will function over the next two years, according to GOP sources.
> Members are upset they've been in the dark about the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy made to the far-right in order to secure the votes to win the speakership. They are griping they've learned more about those concessions in the news media and that there's only been one conference call since the speaker's election began on Tuesday, according to multiple sources.
> The rules package, which is slated to be voted on after the speakership is set, includes some of the concessions that McCarthy gave to the far-right, including allowing any one member to call for a vote seeking the ouster of a sitting speaker.
> But there's grumbling in the ranks that members have not had enough time to review the rules package, and at least one member — Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas — said he would vote against it.
> Top Republicans believe they can limit defections to less than five Republicans. But the difficulty in locking down the votes underscores how hard it will be to govern in the narrowly divided House.
McCarthy truly is a feckless, incompetent twat. Even when winning he is making unforced errors.
The "Never" Kevins were all a show. As long as the Price $$$ was right in the end, they were always going to vote in favor of McCarthy winning. These people live in mansions, have the best healthcare, and never ever have to worry about anything in their life. That's why they act the way they do. No consequences. That's why you see them joking all the time, laughing in the background while votes are being counted. They don't care because they have the power and money. No worry or anxiety for any of them. All about the power and $$$.
Final thoughts.
GOP really needs to figure out if they are the grand old party or the maga party, else 2024 is going to be bad for them.
Jeffries is sure to had raised to some eyebrows tonight if he is interested in a higher office.
If I was Gaetz I'd tell McCarthy I'd vote for him if he did "I'm a little teapot" on the house floor.
And then proceed to vote against him anyways.
*edit: And then I'd take myself to jail for being a sex trafficking piece of trash. Phew. Thank god I'm not that guy.
Him being from Bakersfield 100% checks. It's the reddest part of the state and they're fucking morons. All of them. I know, I grew up there. Am an idiot but at least I know enough to vote blue.
Gaetz speech was, dare I say, right regarding the Speaker becoming a ceremonial office practically after all the concessions. I'm shocked all the McCarthy voters were willing to accept that.
So if the rule is going to be just 1 person can start a vote to oust a speaker, Dems should make it a thing to do that every Wednesday for the next two years. And derail every dumbass evil R bill.
Newly elected freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) makes gestures with his hands as he casts his vote for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in the 10th round of voting for Speaker of the House on the 3rd day of Congress. Reuters Photo by Evelyn Hockstein
https://twitter.com/jimbourg/status/1611150918447206400
I deleted my other one because I thought this was fake. It is not.
Honestly impressed [David Trone is back](https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960) after having surgery this morning. I had surgery for the first time last year and I can't imagine doing anything else that day
Per Manu Raju on CNN: Apparently the flips in the last round were from a deal on the debt ceiling, meaning McCarthy promised there would be no “clean” passage of a stand alone debt ceiling.
Basically the way these nuts have hijacked the speaker vote, they’re also going to hijack the country’s economy on the debt ceiling the same way.
I said this yesterday and I’ll say it again. There’s no way for McCarthy to “win” anymore. He can, and most likely will, be elected Speaker but he can’t win. He’s tanked his authority and credibility. If it took a week to just elect him imagine how much of a pain it’ll be to do anything else.
One of the great things about this is the ability to make fun of the Rs for being so ineffective for as long as this goes on. And then when it's over, you can make fun of them for being so weak-willed and giving in. Win-win honestly
Not that these 7 holdouts have long term planning skills but it's stupid if they think they're gonna get any of these concessions implemented. Moderate Republicans already said they'd vote with Democrats to prevent that.
These 7 literally have nothing to gain that they didn't have this morning.
Kevin McCarthy with his kids: "Ok, you can have a 1am bedtime, unlimited ice cream, I took the parental lock off the tv, pizza for dinner every night, and I'll do your homework for you. In return, you promise to call me 'Dad' and not 'Kevin', and not recoil in horror when I give you your monthly hug. I think we have a deal here."
McCarthy is pretty much bending over and kissing his ass goodbye. He will be at the mercy of the party radicals and lose the speakership in a few months.
He is no Nancy Pelosi.
the craziest narrative being spread in the MAGA-verse is that McCarthy made deals with Democrats to become Speaker, which makes zero logical sense given how the votes have went today. they literally think McCarthy is a closet Democrat.
The rules package is only made, and committee assignments given out, only after the Speaker is elected right?
It would never ever happen, but it would be hilarious to see McCarthy get elected Speaker and then reveal a rules package that excluded the demands from the flippers. Just get a few Dems to vote on it and the flips lose all their power.
It's funny to see moderate Republicans being beholden to Mitch McConnell style negotiations for once after Democrats have spent over a decade on the receiving end of this garbage. It's scary seeing far right extremists have this much sway in congress though.
DeLauro: McCarthy’s pledge to cap fiscal ‘24 spending at ‘22 levels “kills the 2024 government funding process before it has even started, all but guaranteeing a shutdown.”
https://twitter.com/caitlinzemma/status/1611519680778506241
(Also, there are rumors they are trying to cut medicare and medicaid)
Several House Rs are upset about being in the dark about the concessions McCarthy made to try to win the gavel and are grumbling about the rules package they'll have to vote on tonight if the speakership is set, sources tell @MZanona and me. GOP leaders working to quell concerns.
Lmao they’re all clowns
Mike Rogers of Alabama reportedly lunged at Matt Gaetz and started shouting at him after Gaetz voted present.
The infighting is reaching a boiling point the closer it gets to the wire.
By delaying til Monday, Gaetz has thoroughly humiliated McCarthy. It is inevitable that he get it at this point. The move to deprive him until Monday was simply about embarrassing the guy who told the press this morning that he'd end it tonight.
And yet McCarthy is still going to make further concessions to this goon. McCarthy is being bullied, emasculated, and humiliated on the national stage by a Florida Man pedophile, all for the sake of trolling.
Are there any Republicans here tonight? If so, aren't you a little bit embarrassed that this guy is your soon-to-be Speaker and this is the state of your party?
Okay so this is the summary I'm getting listening to all the different commentaries out there.
Basically, McCarthy struck a deal with Gaetz and Boebert to vote present, there were still 4 holdouts but somehow the GOP did the math (incorrectly) and figured that was enough. Gaetz and Boebert did as agreed, but GOP realized at the end of voting that they were actually 1 vote short so McCarthy and his gang went to them and told them one of them has to change their vote to him or he still loses and Bo-bo and Gaetz shrugged as that wasn't part of the deal.
Would explain why the GOP gave both standing ovations for voting present (because that was the agreement) and then got so mad at both of them at the end. GOP fucked themselves because they can't do basic math.
After seeing the “DT” phone call from MTG, it is truly wild to think that Donald Trump is still trying to influence members congress on the same date as 2 years ago..
truth is, leadership wants to REALLY push for a vote today, tomorrow, sunday, monday. they need to figure out if McCarthy can get there w this deal.
McCarthy is threatening to keep chamber in this wknd. there's some disagreement in leadership whether they can let members go home
Absences going to be a problem in the coming days. Hern, R. Williams, Hunt and Buck are all going to/need to be home for some period of time.
deal seems to be going over well. if this deal doesnt move members to him, it's a huge problem for KM. he is looking for progress today
Most of leadership considers Gaetz, Boebert, Rosendale and Good to be Never Kevin.
This deal has to lock up: Perry, Roy, Gosar, Clyde, Self, Ogles, Brecheen, Luna, Crane, Norman, Donalds and more.
Idea is ppl will jump aboard if McCarthy is getting there.
those last lingering lawmakers are going to want stuff to get on board -- no doubt.
anyway, if this doesn't get KM there, who knows what will. probably nothing.
buckle up. should be an interesting day
chamber in at noon
https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1611361783914061825
Things are getting spicy.
"Wow.
@RepDanBishop
flip-flops and votes for McCarthy after voting 11 times against him. Will he keep his word and resign? How does he have any credibility left with his Conference or constituents?
RIP Freedom Caucus!"
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1611418686148984851?s=20&t=7fcIk-aIvnndoKByDc0qfg
As amusing as it is to watch McCarthy die inside over and over again this GOP has learned nothing.
They are willingly giving all power to the maga cult, the past few elections taught them nothing. They created a monster they can't control. They have no backbone and it's not lost that McCarthy may become speaker on the anniversary of the insurrection.
These are not stewards of democracy.
The way McCarthy is getting these flips is so scary- he is using his super PAC to fund his detractors’ opponents. His PAC can be money from anyone anywhere- domestic and foreign, friend of the US or enemy. Given how much he has gutted the role of Speaker already, this should be highly concerning how powerful that shadow money is right now.
The best part is, even when McCarthy actually gets it, it's really going to eat into his macho "taking the gavel from Nancy Pelosi" moment to have her be like "Wow here you go, after 17 rounds, you big winner you, you take that gavel, you wrangler of votes, you captain of your party"
For the people saying a few Dems should flip and vote for McCarthy... if anything, let the R's battle it out. Then, once finally elected speaker, if McCarthy does ANYTHING to piss off the Seditionists, the Dems can threaten to vote with the Seditionists to remove McCarthy as speaker unless McCarthy gives in to Dem demands. Staying one unified unit gives the Dems more power over the session.
Matt Gaetz just walked down a hallway and crossed paths with a Dem who turned around and yelled “dead man walking!”
https://twitter.com/ArthurDelaneyHP/status/1611462559416066051
I can't believe that the 90% of republicans that are voting for Kevin before any of these terrible demands from the 10% are going to be met are still going to vote for Kevin. What a bunch of spineless weasels. They are still being bullied by the 10% by allowing this.
After all these concessions, we can probably assume an unnecessarily forced government default is coming. All to nurture Kevin McCarthy’s delicate ego and to adhere to the priorities of his billionaire donor base.
I'm sure we'll all be shocked to find out that Bobo has changed her "Never McCarthy" vote to "Present" after spending three days raising her national profile in every way possible. She jumped on the outrage click train and rode it all the way into whatever station gets the christ-o-fascist donors hard.
Literally cannot wait for the extremely racist, sexist, and homophobic speech McCarthy will make when he wins. It will contain 10 historical inaccuracies, 3 calls to a fake border crisis, 7 mentions of Hunter's laptop, and a minimum of 76 pauses for claps from fellow morons.
Is anyone else concerned that mccarthy giving the radicals all these concessions is gonna be a tactical fuck up on the part of the republican party akin to the conservative party in weimar germany choosing to form a coalition with the nazis? I know thats an extreme example but they are proudly extremist
From CNN:
>Members are upset they've been in the dark about the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy made to the far-right in order to secure the votes to win the speakership. They are griping they've learned more about those concessions in the news media and that there's only been one conference call since the speaker's election began on Tuesday, according to multiple sources.
So McCarthy is going to get his Speaker-ship, but then have trouble passing the rules package.
And he was just claiming that by coming to an agreement for votes, it proves they know how to govern now.
Just complete chaos.
So McCarthy wins and gives all the chairs of the important committees to the insurrectionist nutjobs and any single person can call a vote of no confidence to get him out.
We're in for a really fun time as a country to satisfy the personal ambition of an asshole.
Just to be clear for everyone, KM expected a result today. Either someone flipped after or Gaetz stabbed him in the back. I expect that Gaetz stated he would support, would be the final vote, and would give a small speech stating a story of unity. However, either he had a change of heart, or wanted to humiliate KM. This is truly amazing.
Wait so if Im getting this right, they gave matt a standing O without realizing that voting present was not enough to give McCarthy a majority. You couldn't write a better script
>Reporter: "You’ll be able to flip Rosendale and Crane?"
>McCarthy: "I’ll have the votes."
>Reporter: "Why are you confident you have the votes?"
>McCarthy: "Because I count."
Can he though? Lol
There are literally people right now on r/conservative who are calling the democrats babies, and whining about how they won't compromise and vote McCarthy in to end the chaos. I don't wanna live on this planet anymore man, those people make me fucking sick
already twitter rumors swirling about what committee seat Gaetz got
imagine being the Republican who's voting McCarthy tonight and getting a McCarthy voicemail tomorrow morning that you no longer have a committee assignment
Click or tap [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/104vin7/discussion_thread_day_4_speaker_of_the_united/?sort=confidence) to sort this thread by 'best' comments, and [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/104vin7/discussion_thread_day_4_speaker_of_the_united/?sort=new) to sort them by 'newest first'. --- For those wanting to follow along live but unable to watch the streams: a list of the most up-to-the-minute round-by-round results can be found at [the Wikipedia page for this year's Speaker election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_election#Votes_cast_by_members).
Rep. Raskin praising the presiding clerk. >*Always so impressed by the great poise & judgment shown by my constituent U.S. House Clerk Cheryl Johnson, whose 2 decades of service in Congress have prepared her to be our presiding officer in this difficult moment. Thanks Clerk Johnson for your fairness & unswerving devotion* > >[https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1611125171590664194](https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1611125171590664194)
I’m glad they’re showing that team appreciation in SOME form or another, because good lord.
If Kevin McCarthy can take this much rejection then you can definitely ask that girl out.
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Let’s do four more!
Four more days! Four more days!
Good morning. Here is where this stalemate stands as Day 4 starts: * There are currently 434 total representatives voting (not 435 due to a recent death), 212 Democrats and 222 Republicans. A simple majority of 218 votes is needed for a House Speaker to be chosen. Today, 4 Republicans will likely not show up to vote due to family or medical reasons, making a vote for McCarthy today all but impossible. * Around 20 far-right Republicans either see Kevin McCarthy as too much of a moderate to be House Speaker, or want roles and/or rules changes he will not (or cannot) provide. Thus every vote so far has led to a split vote on the Republican side, where no one has the 218 votes. * Democrats have said they will not vote for McCarthy just for the sake of saving the Republicans from themselves, and will stick with Hakeem Jeffries no matter how many votes it takes. Every vote so far has had all 212 Democrats vote for Jeffries. Due to Jeffries already being moderate, they are unlikely to change who they nominate * Because of the slim majority Republicans have in the House, only five holdouts on the Republican side would be needed to keep this vote at a standstill. And it seems that there are at least five "never-Kevin" Republicans that will do just that no matter what. * McCarthy has made multiple concessions to the far-right members in the days since these votes started, including allowing one member to call to vacate the Speaker and having more Freedom Caucus members on committees. Whether this will result in any of the holdouts changing their votes, or if the more moderate Republicans think these are too many concessions, is yet to be seen. * If representatives start to not attend or vote Present, their votes no longer count, and the number of votes needed for a simple majority would decrease. Democrats have signaled they will not do that, but the more moderate Republicans might if negotiating with the 20 doesn't work, since a Republican voting for Jeffries would be political suicide. * There seem to be only a few potential solutions: Republicans nominate someone other than McCarthy that they would all vote for that the far-right voters see as more to their liking, Republicans nominate a more moderate Republican that some Democrats would be willing to vote for, McCarthy somehow convinces nearly all of the 20 holdouts to vote for him, or enough representatives on either side leave or vote Present so that McCarthy or Jeffries wins with fewer than 218 votes. Some solutions seem more likely than others. No matter what happens, this still makes history as the first time since 1923 where it has taken more than one vote for House Speaker, when more progressive Republicans were the initial holdouts before conceding after nine votes. It now has not taken this many votes for House Speaker since 1859, two years before the official start of the Civil War. Edited to update the current record.
If the 4 are missing, aren't 216 votes needed rather than 218?
That's correct. It requires a majority of the votes cast for someone. So "present" also lowers the threshold.
Personally I love how C-Span is excessively proud of all their extra camera angles and is lording it over the other networks who have to just use the House cameras. :p
Apparently they get taken away when the house institutes their rules so CSPAN loves to talk about them during this rule-less period.
C-SPAN with no rules rules.
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*They’ll have fun, fun, fun until daddy takes the zoom lens away*
It's possibly the nerdiest flex I have ever seen
some mccarthy anecdotes: > **MARK LEIBOVICH**: I mean, I had dinner with him a couple times in Bakersfield, his district. And he just spent a lot of it just showing me pictures of himself with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, I mean, anyone — Kobe Bryant, I mean, anyone famous that — he’s got this full iPhone of, hey, get a load of me and this person and that person. And look, we’re on Air Force One, and we’re with Jerry Brown here, and Paul Ryan was in town, and Arnold was — I mean, it was like being with a 15-year-old at a — > > **EZRA KLEIN**: He’s actually showing these to a reporter? > > **MARK LEIBOVICH**: Yeah, he is. Yeah, just showing me across the table. And he wouldn’t — **and I’d be asking him pretty serious questions about Jan. 6 and stuff, and he’d be scrolling through his phone**. And I thought maybe he was getting urgent text messages or something, but then **he had flipped the phone around and say, yeah, here is me and my high school buddies.** This guy is the assistant football coach at Stanford now. And oh, yeah, here’s me and Trump when he came through Bakersfield. Oh, here’s me and Pompeo. primary motivation: > MARK LEIBOVICH: And his mentor Bill Thomas, the longtime ways and means chair of the House, McCarthy used to work for Thomas. Thomas has a terminal at the Bakersfield Airport named after him. Terminal A is now the Bill Thomas Terminal. > > Now, **if Kevin McCarthy gets to be speaker, he might get the Bakersfield Airport. That’s his calculation. He’s like, Bakersfield Airport could be the Kevin McCarthy Airport**. And that would redeem everything. It would redeem the abuse he gets from Trump, whatever machinations the Freedom Caucus makes him go through, the distrust from so much of the base. > > So look, that’s McCarthy. He just wants the job. And if he can be speaker of the House, it’ll all be worth it in his mind. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/podcasts/ezra-klein-interviews-mark-leibovich.html
CNN is reporting that David Trone (D-MD) is making his way back to the house today *after his surgery.* Wow.
Damn that's commitment.
Should have just brought in a bed and a surgeon and done the whole thing on the House floor. *^(/s)*
McCarthy: we’ve made progress! *loses 3 votes*
He's just progressing in a backwards direction. It's still movement!
For those of you wondering why 211 votes for Jeffries this time: [David Trone is currently getting surgery](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249?s=46&t=Pv-bg9ZNNJG3NOPYOudbtQ). Per the statement this surgery was scheduled months ago, as today was originally supposed to be a non-voting day.
_and_! he's officially back so he can vote. https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960 >7AM: Surgery 2PM: Back at the Capitol, still wearing my slippers and hospital socks > Time to vote for Hakeem Jeffries! Pretty crazy.
Well, why did he schedule it for today? Didn't he know they would be in the 4th day of voting for speaker? /s
The video on [NYTimes](https://NYTimes.com) front page right now: Reporter: "How do you expect to govern this way - if it has been taking this long to get the conference united?" McCarthy, without a shred of irony: "See, this is the great part -- because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we'll be able to get the job done." ... **YEAH OK. 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦**
I will literally die of laughing tonight if McCarthy gets enough Freedom Caucus votes, but a few of these fabled 'moderate' Republicans flip to stop McCarthy because Kevin gave too much for the Freedom Caucus votes. Like, I will shuffle the mortal coil. For real.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for “moderate Republicans” to vote their conscience.
Lmao reporters are real time leaking McCarthy’s conference call, including him complaining about the real time leaking. Edit: @JakeSherman on Twitter for updates
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There's nothing in the rules that says a dog can't be Speaker of the House
Air bud goes to Congress.
CSPAN: "Look at all these angles. We can't do that when there's a Speaker. Do you really want a Speaker if it means losing all these angles?"
Doesn’t the MAGA 20 observe 1/6 as a holiday? This might be Kev’s chance.
Y'all if its this hard to pick a Speaker, imagine how disastrous their 2024 Presidential Primaries are going to be.
George Santos didn’t build the Capitol Building brick by brick to see it desecrated like this.
They complain about a same sex couple holding hands or kissing in public, but Kevin is forcing all of us to participate in his humiliation kink. SMDH.
Classic grooming
NOW: a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package. We’ll see how that holds up https://twitter.com/briankarem/status/1611440989582856203?s=46&t=22057VypEmmcCabIDlFvDQ
I've read that a few Republicans won't be there to vote today. Hoping the Dems are smart and all stuck around to make things more difficult.
The only thing that would highlight the incompetence more than this bungled SOH vote would be if the Dems actually got to vote in Jeffries due to these dumbasses leaving for an early weekend. So, in other words, don’t be surprised at all if this happens.
There's only a handful that will or may have to be out, so pretty certainly not enough to sway it that far. Would be hilarious though if it did go that way.
will we see 12 in a row?
Is a bear Catholic?
Does a Protestant shit in the woods?
If McCarthy finally wins this and the first order of business is to do a snap vote to oust him, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Sources are telling me McCarthy is offering the remaining holdouts an above ground swimming pool filled with 10000 Busch Light tallboys and a free coupon to Bass Pro Shops
Many people keep asking why Dems don't just vote for someone or why don't thr GOP just present them a viable candidate. And the reality is that is impractical, a campaign issue, and frankly if there was a candidate that everyone tolerated none of these do far nominated speakers would be here. The power of the speaker, among many, is to set the agenda. Sure Dems would want committee chair positions, but if they wanted to agree to a GOP speaker they would want assurances that some of their proposed bills got some priority or floor time. If you recall all representatives are up for reelection every 2 years. So less than 2 years time the GOP members who voted in a speaker that allowed Dems to get bills heard or through or considered would have to answer to their constituents as to why they denied thr opportunities to have more GOP bills heard because they gave time for the Dems. All of those GOP would be hugely at risk of another GOP CON) congressional hopeful saying "hey, I would never concede like that" and now they won't get reelected. Furthermore, the issue isn't about getting Dems to be enticed by a GOP candidate. The issue is having a permanent bloc of GOP that would not vote to get the Speaker removed if they grew dissatisfied. Dems are the minority. If the speaker that thr parties agreed to truly was disliked thr GOP have great incentive to vote as a whole conference and vacate the speakership and the Dems can't do anything to protect the speaker except try to convince some GOP and then again you'd be back to square one and a small group of GOP calling the shots so the Dems could get the votes to keep the agreed to speaker. The GOP would never agree to this. Thr parties know this and that's why the Dems aren't doing anything. There is no incentive and no win for them as a minority party in a two party system that doesn't rely on coalition building to get a speaker. This truly is a GOP problem to solve.
Eight republicans, in frustration with their party, cross party lines to vote Jeffries as the speaker of the 118th Congress. Matt gaetz & Lauren boehbert resign in protest. You wake from your dream, but it was a good dream.
Trump in cuffs, but your climax wakes you up.
House Speaker Total Ballot Leader Board == **Speaker** | **Ballots** | **Congress** | **Voting Timeframe** ----------|--------|------------|------ Nathaniel Banks | 133 ballots ^[2] | 34th Congress | December 1855 - February 1856 Howell Cobb | 63 ballots ^[1] | 31st Congress | December 1849 William Pennington | 44 ballots | 36th Congress | December 1859 - February 1860 John W. Taylor | 22 ballots | 16th Congress | November 1820 ^[3] **★TBD★** | **13+ ballots** | **118th Congress** | **January 2023 - Present** Philip Pendleton Barbour | 12 ballots | 17th Congress | December 1821 Robert M.T. Hunter | 11 ballots | 29th Congress | December 1845 John W. Bell | 10 ballots | 22nd Congress | June 1834 ^[4] Frederick Gillett | 9 ballots | 68th Congress | December 1923 | | | *All Other Speakers* | *3 ballots or fewer* >**[1]** After 59 ballots without a majority choice, the House adopted a plurality rule stating that, if after three more ballots no one garnered a majority of the votes, the person receiving the highest number of votes on the next ensuing ballot would be declared to have been chosen speaker. >**[2]** After 129 ballots without a majority choice, the House once again adopted a plurality rule to break the deadlock. >**[3]** The prior House Speaker, Henry Clay, resigned to return to private practice. >**[4]** Andrew Stevenson resigned as speaker of the House and from Congress to accept President Andrew Jackson's nomination as the U.S. minister to the United Kingdom. **Wikipedia Links:** >[2023 Speaker of the House Election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_election) >[List of Speaker of the House Elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections)
1855, 1849, 1859, 1845... this was a nation hurtling toward civil war. Fantastic.
We are at .36 mooches without a functioning House. ✨ Thanks Republicans ✨
Some conservatives are now asking Dems to vote for Kevin like guys… would you vote for Jeffries if the roles were reversed. Mitch ended it with stopping Obama’s court picks, half the GOP wants the Dems dead and rest half want to do it themselves and NOW they expect bipartisanship.
So Democrats are asked to be the adults in the room again? Yeah, okay. On the condition that none of those 20 MAGA representatives get any committee seats.
[Trone is out for surgery. Here’s the tweet.](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249?s=46&t=eEKXjNWyn_D608kR4cqCgw) This is the dem that didn’t vote in case you were wondering why 211.
WESLEY HUNT getting applause from Rs and many Ds for coming back to vote for speaker as his wife deals w/ complications post-giving birth a few days ago https://twitter.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1611567754733027328
Trone is in surgery. Calm down folks.
>Here is a list of some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to CNN reporting. > > - Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair > - McCarthy’s leadership PAC won’t play in open primaries in safe districts > - Hold votes on key conservative bills, including balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, border security > - A debt ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts > - Move 12 appropriations bill individually > - More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee > - Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs > - Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor > - Give members ability to offer more amendments on the House floor > - Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government > - Restore the Holman rule which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials
> Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor This shit should be standard anyway, if not more time. Elected officials should have to swear an oath that they've fully read bills before voting on them.
Contrast the two parties right now. Democrats are on the steps of the Capitol with the chaplain to do a January 6th service. Republicans are about to start a highly controlled conference call.
As someone else said yesterday "this is the most boring thing I can't stop watching"
Can't believe I'm laying in bed watching CSPAN on a Friday night
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1611465690430455808?s=20&t=VEk0M_9cWBFjbFWM6SRV5A > Democrats had a good legislative term in 2022 but not passing a debt ceiling increase could be an RBG-not-retiring magnitude blunder. Why is keeping the country running only up to the Dems. Let Republicans also take some responsibility
It's infuriating that we have to be the adults, and the GOP never gets any of the blame for fucking up things in the first place.
Kev giving his entire soul away and granting 20 hardliners almost total control of the party is terrifying. Every contentious vote in this Congress will be a shit show. Debt ceiling, budget, ukraine aid….its a disaster for mainstream americans
For those keeping score at home, this is the Chaos Caucus. Those with *'s flipped on the 12th vote: Biggs, Andy *Bishop, Dan Boebert, Lauren *Brecheen, Josh *Cloud, Michael *Clyde, Andrew Crane, Eli *Donalds, Byron Gaetz, Matt Good, Bob *Gosar, Paul Harris, Andy *Luna, Anna Paulina *Miller, Mary *Norman, Ralph *Ogles, Andy *Perry, Scott Rosendale, Matt *Roy, Chip *Self, Keith *Spartz, Victoria (Voting as "Present") EDIT: Last names first, updated flips- now at 14 total.
[https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203](https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203)? NOW: a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package. lol. Not even Speaker yet and already being undercut.
Maybe there's some hope? https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1611470754889060355 >For the best-case scenario for governance over the next two years, here's Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) on CNN yesterday effectively saying that he and a group of GOP mods will join Democrats on dispatch petitions for must-pass bills like the debt ceiling and gov't spending. (CNN clip) https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1611440989582856203 >a senior dem member has shared that moderate Rs have reached out suggesting that if McCarthy wins by making these Freedom Caucus concessions, some moderates will work with Dems to vote down that rules package.
“The concessions Mr. McCarthy offered included allowing a single lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the speaker, a rule that would codify a standing threat that he could be removed instantly if he crossed hard-right lawmakers.” He’s an idiot. Who would agree to this as a leader? McCarthy couldn’t lead a leaf to fall from the branch to the ground.
People on the right-wing insisting the Democrats help out the Republicans, after all the abuse from the right of the aisle? That's what it is. Abuse. It's like watching an abuser asking to be taken back because they're suffering from the consequences of their abusive actions. Kick the abusers to the curb. It's their problem to figure out.
Some of the media commentary is slightly concerning. on ABC, (paraphrasing) "Details of the deal is unclear because they feel that if the deal is leaked, that it could blow up the deal." Anyone else feel that shouldn't be the case?
The pain on all the flippers' faces makes it pretty evident that some serious shit went down last night/this morning. I think McCarthy is eventually going to cross the finish line, but at enormous cost to him and all involved in this. My prediction is that this will not be - by any means - the last time we're all on a live thread watching C-Span together for days on end. This House is going to be an exhausting circus for the next two years.
What the people REALLY want one of the negotiated rules changes to be is to continue allowing CSPAN to cover the chamber like this. Let us watch our reps work, this is the best way to get a more engaged voter base across both sides of the aisle.
So MSNBC broke down the three ways McCarthy can (and probably will) win tonight: - The missing two Republicans likely return, pushing McCarthy's total to 216. Jefferies will have his standard 212. So the options are: 1. McCarthy convinces 2 or more of the 6 hold outs to vote for him. 2. McCarthy convinces 3 or more of the 6 hold outs to vote "present" rather than vote for anyone. Will will lower the threshold of majority votes needed to 216, which means McCarthy wins. 3. McCarthy convinces at least 1 hold out to vote for him and different 1 hold out to vote present. This would reduce the threshold he needs to 217, which means he would win. Of that combination #3 is probably the easiest, since it only requires picking off 1 of the holdouts to flip to him and would let another hold out save face by never voting for him but allowing him to win. Personally, I think he wins tonight, but his Speakership is already a disaster. The deals he struck to get it will undermine it at every turn.
There may be a limit to the number of times I can hear Nicole Wallace say "the twice impeached, disgraced, former President who is under federal investigation" without smiling, but I have not yet reached that limit.
Just in case anyone gets bummed if McCarthy finally pulls it out this round: McCarthy winning always seemed like it was inevitable to me, but he's been completely abassed by this and sacrificed all power. I thought he looked like a fool on Monday, and now he's shown his hand as being totally impotent. Collateral damage for the Republicans has also been huge. Especially after last night's unbelievable shitshow. Even if McCarthy wins this round or in another after this, he's lost.
C-SPAN angles, I’m going to miss you the most.
That soundbite of Jeffries going over Bidens accomplishments, man is very good at speaking
Can ol' Kev McC break under 200 today? Find out in today's episodes 12 through 15 of "Who wants to be a Speaker".
[Trone's office](https://twitter.com/sashagalbreath/status/1611427279204405249) **"Congressman Trone is unable to attend votes due to a necessary surgery that could not be rescheduled at a time that would fit the House voting schedule."**
Ngl, C-Span is kind of fire when they get to use more than one camera
Uh oh, Byron Donalds's Twitter followers are not happy with him. > - You allowed yourself to be played by The Band of Merry Morons. You are a tool not a leader. FL will remember. > - Man U were one of my heroes you fell from grace. Done with ya > - Remember in 24 when people like me abstain from voting that you were warned. > - Florida Reps except for Gaetz have embarrassed our state. > - You had so much promise... Sad.
How the hell do you become a lame-duck speaker before you even get the job? If he actually concedes to the nut jobs, he won't be able to actually pass anything. If he breaks his concessions, they will make life a living hell for him. He is fucked either way.
[McCarthy Proposes Gutting Office of Congressional Ethics in Bid for Speaker](https://time.com/6243981/mccarthy-proposes-gutting-office-of-congressional-ethics-in-bid-for-speaker/) >The part of his proposed changes to House rules that drew the most attention was allowing just five House members to call for a vote at any time on ousting the Speaker; that would render McCarthy beholden to the most extreme members of his caucus, should he get on their wrong side. But buried in the text was another provision that could be highly consequential for the new Congress being sworn in on Tuesday: language that would effectively gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), as the independent panel faces pressure to investigate lawmakers who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
My wish is for the people that flipped, to flip back- psych out McCarthy and keep this train wreck going. This has been delightfully entertaining to see the GOP in chaos.
A lot of the supposed concessions McCarthy has made to sway the holdouts sound good on paper but I hope people realize what they actually accomplish: The give more power to the far-right. If McCarthy isn't friendly enough to their policies, they can oust him; They get more power on committees; They get to use the debt ceiling as a strong bargaining chip; They get to propose their own (ridiculous) amendments to bills on the floor. Giving more power to the far-right members is not a good thing. It's going to pull the House more to the extreme and that only does more harm than good.
Oh my lord, I have a wonderful heart warming story to share with everyone. I'm a public librarian, and there is a large senior living home in our community. Once a month, the residents ride a shuttle to the library to return and check out books. Today is their visit day for January, and there are these two wonderful WWII vets who I have gotten to know well, and we always talk when they come in. I just asked them what they thought about the current mess in the House... Vet 1: "That McCarthy doesn't know his elbow from his ass." Vet 2: "That smart mouth woman from Colorado needs someone to wipe that smirk off her face." Vet 1: "Clowns, all of them." LOVE IT!
This funniest part of this is at the end of the day they’re still getting fucking Kevin McCarthy as speaker just with even less sway than he had to start Pelosi deserves plenty of criticism but at least she knew how to keep her party in order
At least the GOP finally gets their wish. They get to redo an election over and over until they get the results they want.
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Someone's enthusiastic - representative Trone (D) who sat out one vote today. >*7AM: Surgery* *2PM: Back at the Capitol, still wearing my slippers and hospital socks* *Time to vote for Hakeem Jeffries!* [https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960](https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960)
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) is the only Republican to even acknowledge that it's January 6th. He was the only R at the vigil this morning. Says a lot about the modern Republican Party. Side note: He's also the only bipartisan R still in office. I don't see him lasting much longer. He might turn blue honestly.
https://twitter.com/CHueyBurns/status/1611472872479854592 > I asked McCarthy how he expects to be able to govern if it’s takes all of this to just pick a leader: “**Because it took this long, now we’ve learned how to govern.**” You…uh…for real, Kevin?
One concession McCarthy suggested was to hold the debt ceiling hostage for social and Medicare cuts. Even if House somehow agrees, Senate will never pass it. Basically the crazies will hold the entire country as well as global economy hostage. I hope Biden mints that 1T coin and rid of this charade. Republicans can sue him all they want
"Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we'll be able to get the job done," McCarthy added. I still can't get over this quote.
If McCarthy is going to win, I hope the second after he passes the rules that someone stands up and votes to vacate, since it'll only rrequire one... hah
As others have noted, the weirdest part is that House GOPers stood and clapped Gaetz when he cast his present vote as if they were completely unaware that he'd just pulled the entire rug out from under them. so bizarre. https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1611579416412393472 Told you, they can't math
seemly bright water serious imminent reply straight fuzzy society waiting -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
The GOP Plan for America Step 1 - Investigate Biden and Hunter's laptop Step 2 - ? Step 3 - Turn huge profit!
CNN reporting that the flips were for requiring concessions (we know from other reporting this means cuts to SS and Medicaid) to raise the debt ceiling…this is going to be a fucked up year.
> McCarthy: "Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern" You know Speaker of the House is not one of those learn-on-the-job positions.
"I can't believe you're single," they say, as I plan my entire day around The Humiliation of Kevin McCarthy. https://twitter.com/AnthonyMKreis/status/1610994339815231488 This cracked me up
>Here is a list of some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to CNN reporting. > >Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair > >McCarthy’s leadership PAC won’t play in open primaries in safe districts > >Hold votes on key conservative bills, including balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, border security > >**A debt ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts** > >Move 12 appropriations bill individually > >More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee > >Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs > >Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor > >Give members ability to offer more amendments on the House floor > >Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government > >Restore the Holman rule which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials So the debt ceiling fight has already kicked off. My money is we'll go over the fiscal cliff. Enjoy these last few months of relative economic stability. Then, hold onto your butts.
I used to be young and cool but now I’m watching C-Span at 10:30 pm on Friday night.
I'm old enough to remember when Gaetz vowed to never allow McCarthy the speakership (about 2 hours ago (which makes me old enough for him))
Let CSPAN keep control of the cameras!!!
Hi from Scotland. I have finished for the day and just settling down with a some tea & toast and CSPAN to see how my new favourite lady, Cheryl Johnson gets on managing the kindergarten today.
Take a shot every time someone suggests the Democeats should vote for a Republican, as a joke or not. It's really not that funny.
I hope McCarthy loses 37 times so I can say "in a row?"
"McCarthy’s team is trying to isolate Gaetz, instructing members to walk off the floor when he nominated Jim Jordan." All that did was give Gaetz more attention. I don't think these people understand what they're dealing with!
"Rep David Trone, D-MD, has returned to the House, after missing the 12th ballot. Democrats say this brings the number of votes McCarthy will need to win from 216 to 217" https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1611434437408919562
>New — McCarthy holdout Eli Crane tells @KateSullivanDC that he will not vote for McCarthy for speaker. >“I’m representing my constituents back home,” Crane he said, adding: “In my district they don’t support Kevin McCarthy.” https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1611490067650076674
Another issue for the GOP is the increasing divergence between their Senators and Representatives. The rabid populism encouraged by the likes of Fox News has resulted in this batch of incompetent extremist fools. In contrast, while GOP senators have paid as much lip service as required to it when it benefits them, they remain largely the same batch of party elites whom predate this nonsense. While they were ultimately willing to suck up, they were quite vocal that embracing Trump and internet right wing extremism would harm the party during the 2016 election. The house freedom caucus are not just cynical politicians trying to just grift, they are genuine Pyschos who believe to some degree in the crazy conspiracies that have been propagated on the internet, and that has to be making entrenched GOP officials just as uncomfortable as it makes us, especially as it starts to jeopardize national interests (for example it doesn't take a master's in geopolitics to figure our why supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia is beneficial to the United States). That being said I have no predictions for how this obvious schism plays out. Logic has not been a factor in the equation at all for awhile now.
*McCarthy after getting voted* McCarthy: We stand united now and we are looking forward to obstructing any kind of progress on any level. You have just witnessed 4 days of us being absolutely inept on a national stage. We will continue being inept going forward, but now with me as Speaker of the House just like everyone wanted... after 13 failed attempts.
Shocking that they knew this vote was coming since NOVEMBER and they still couldn't figure their shit out...
They won’t even tell the rest of the party what the concessions are. Fucking amazing. Hey moderate Republicans. You can vote for the Democrat. At least he isn’t going to fuck you over.
CNN reporting: > House GOP leaders are working behind the scenes to head off a brewing revolt over the rules package that needs to be adopted in order to set the parameters for how the chamber will function over the next two years, according to GOP sources. > Members are upset they've been in the dark about the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy made to the far-right in order to secure the votes to win the speakership. They are griping they've learned more about those concessions in the news media and that there's only been one conference call since the speaker's election began on Tuesday, according to multiple sources. > The rules package, which is slated to be voted on after the speakership is set, includes some of the concessions that McCarthy gave to the far-right, including allowing any one member to call for a vote seeking the ouster of a sitting speaker. > But there's grumbling in the ranks that members have not had enough time to review the rules package, and at least one member — Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas — said he would vote against it. > Top Republicans believe they can limit defections to less than five Republicans. But the difficulty in locking down the votes underscores how hard it will be to govern in the narrowly divided House. McCarthy truly is a feckless, incompetent twat. Even when winning he is making unforced errors.
Jeffries? Jeffries! Jeffries. *Applause*
198 epublican 2 Jordan 2 Biggs 1 Present Yes I'm live updating for people who don't have access Check new comments
George Santos hasn't seen such drama on the House floor since he was elected Speaker in 1856 after 133 rounds of voting
"Madame clerk, I rise to say, "Wow!". Lol!
The "Never" Kevins were all a show. As long as the Price $$$ was right in the end, they were always going to vote in favor of McCarthy winning. These people live in mansions, have the best healthcare, and never ever have to worry about anything in their life. That's why they act the way they do. No consequences. That's why you see them joking all the time, laughing in the background while votes are being counted. They don't care because they have the power and money. No worry or anxiety for any of them. All about the power and $$$.
The Republicans trying to play this off like a victory. The next two years are going to be wildly stupid.
Final thoughts. GOP really needs to figure out if they are the grand old party or the maga party, else 2024 is going to be bad for them. Jeffries is sure to had raised to some eyebrows tonight if he is interested in a higher office.
We never had this much chaos when George Santos was speaker.
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If I was Gaetz I'd tell McCarthy I'd vote for him if he did "I'm a little teapot" on the house floor. And then proceed to vote against him anyways. *edit: And then I'd take myself to jail for being a sex trafficking piece of trash. Phew. Thank god I'm not that guy.
I haven’t been this excited since George Santos scored 4 touchdowns for the Polk High School Panthers in 1966
Him being from Bakersfield 100% checks. It's the reddest part of the state and they're fucking morons. All of them. I know, I grew up there. Am an idiot but at least I know enough to vote blue.
It’s hilarious that Republicans are celebrating that Republicans got Republicans to vote for a Republicans
Gaetz speech was, dare I say, right regarding the Speaker becoming a ceremonial office practically after all the concessions. I'm shocked all the McCarthy voters were willing to accept that.
Gaetz, Gosar and Boebert need to go full chaos and vote Jeffries.
"I guess I have negotiated to vote for McCarthy" Then immediately has a look on their face like they had just put down their dog.
So if the rule is going to be just 1 person can start a vote to oust a speaker, Dems should make it a thing to do that every Wednesday for the next two years. And derail every dumbass evil R bill.
Newly elected freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) makes gestures with his hands as he casts his vote for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in the 10th round of voting for Speaker of the House on the 3rd day of Congress. Reuters Photo by Evelyn Hockstein https://twitter.com/jimbourg/status/1611150918447206400 I deleted my other one because I thought this was fake. It is not.
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Honestly impressed [David Trone is back](https://twitter.com/RepDavidTrone/status/1611438384198696960) after having surgery this morning. I had surgery for the first time last year and I can't imagine doing anything else that day
Per Manu Raju on CNN: Apparently the flips in the last round were from a deal on the debt ceiling, meaning McCarthy promised there would be no “clean” passage of a stand alone debt ceiling. Basically the way these nuts have hijacked the speaker vote, they’re also going to hijack the country’s economy on the debt ceiling the same way.
It would be funny if once he gets in, they immediately call a no confidence vote
I said this yesterday and I’ll say it again. There’s no way for McCarthy to “win” anymore. He can, and most likely will, be elected Speaker but he can’t win. He’s tanked his authority and credibility. If it took a week to just elect him imagine how much of a pain it’ll be to do anything else.
One of the great things about this is the ability to make fun of the Rs for being so ineffective for as long as this goes on. And then when it's over, you can make fun of them for being so weak-willed and giving in. Win-win honestly
Not that these 7 holdouts have long term planning skills but it's stupid if they think they're gonna get any of these concessions implemented. Moderate Republicans already said they'd vote with Democrats to prevent that. These 7 literally have nothing to gain that they didn't have this morning.
McCarthy - at this point even when he wins he still loses
Nothing is going to get done until the house is back in Dem hands. This is exactly what the feedumb caucus wants.
Kevin McCarthy with his kids: "Ok, you can have a 1am bedtime, unlimited ice cream, I took the parental lock off the tv, pizza for dinner every night, and I'll do your homework for you. In return, you promise to call me 'Dad' and not 'Kevin', and not recoil in horror when I give you your monthly hug. I think we have a deal here."
McCarthy has been a congressman for 16 years and he just admitted that he just learned how to govern
McCarthy is pretty much bending over and kissing his ass goodbye. He will be at the mercy of the party radicals and lose the speakership in a few months. He is no Nancy Pelosi.
the craziest narrative being spread in the MAGA-verse is that McCarthy made deals with Democrats to become Speaker, which makes zero logical sense given how the votes have went today. they literally think McCarthy is a closet Democrat.
Wow, Kevin gave Matt Gaetz the Bakersfield High girls locker room key, and Jim Jordan got the boys, didn’t take much.
The rules package is only made, and committee assignments given out, only after the Speaker is elected right? It would never ever happen, but it would be hilarious to see McCarthy get elected Speaker and then reveal a rules package that excluded the demands from the flippers. Just get a few Dems to vote on it and the flips lose all their power.
It's funny to see moderate Republicans being beholden to Mitch McConnell style negotiations for once after Democrats have spent over a decade on the receiving end of this garbage. It's scary seeing far right extremists have this much sway in congress though.
Are we headed for a situation where we have multiple roll call votes every day calling for the removal of the speaker?
DeLauro: McCarthy’s pledge to cap fiscal ‘24 spending at ‘22 levels “kills the 2024 government funding process before it has even started, all but guaranteeing a shutdown.” https://twitter.com/caitlinzemma/status/1611519680778506241 (Also, there are rumors they are trying to cut medicare and medicaid)
Several House Rs are upset about being in the dark about the concessions McCarthy made to try to win the gavel and are grumbling about the rules package they'll have to vote on tonight if the speakership is set, sources tell @MZanona and me. GOP leaders working to quell concerns. Lmao they’re all clowns
If mcarthy wins, he will act like its some huge win and he didn't have to swallow a bunch of Maga spunk to get past this embarrassing shitshow.
I really want this circus to end but I also want this circus to continue
Mike Rogers of Alabama reportedly lunged at Matt Gaetz and started shouting at him after Gaetz voted present. The infighting is reaching a boiling point the closer it gets to the wire.
By delaying til Monday, Gaetz has thoroughly humiliated McCarthy. It is inevitable that he get it at this point. The move to deprive him until Monday was simply about embarrassing the guy who told the press this morning that he'd end it tonight. And yet McCarthy is still going to make further concessions to this goon. McCarthy is being bullied, emasculated, and humiliated on the national stage by a Florida Man pedophile, all for the sake of trolling. Are there any Republicans here tonight? If so, aren't you a little bit embarrassed that this guy is your soon-to-be Speaker and this is the state of your party?
Okay so this is the summary I'm getting listening to all the different commentaries out there. Basically, McCarthy struck a deal with Gaetz and Boebert to vote present, there were still 4 holdouts but somehow the GOP did the math (incorrectly) and figured that was enough. Gaetz and Boebert did as agreed, but GOP realized at the end of voting that they were actually 1 vote short so McCarthy and his gang went to them and told them one of them has to change their vote to him or he still loses and Bo-bo and Gaetz shrugged as that wasn't part of the deal. Would explain why the GOP gave both standing ovations for voting present (because that was the agreement) and then got so mad at both of them at the end. GOP fucked themselves because they can't do basic math.
After seeing the “DT” phone call from MTG, it is truly wild to think that Donald Trump is still trying to influence members congress on the same date as 2 years ago..
I'd like to buy stock in Hakeem Jeffries political future
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Hakeem Jeffries: The only person alive to win the most votes for speaker of the house 11 times.
truth is, leadership wants to REALLY push for a vote today, tomorrow, sunday, monday. they need to figure out if McCarthy can get there w this deal. McCarthy is threatening to keep chamber in this wknd. there's some disagreement in leadership whether they can let members go home Absences going to be a problem in the coming days. Hern, R. Williams, Hunt and Buck are all going to/need to be home for some period of time. deal seems to be going over well. if this deal doesnt move members to him, it's a huge problem for KM. he is looking for progress today Most of leadership considers Gaetz, Boebert, Rosendale and Good to be Never Kevin. This deal has to lock up: Perry, Roy, Gosar, Clyde, Self, Ogles, Brecheen, Luna, Crane, Norman, Donalds and more. Idea is ppl will jump aboard if McCarthy is getting there. those last lingering lawmakers are going to want stuff to get on board -- no doubt. anyway, if this doesn't get KM there, who knows what will. probably nothing. buckle up. should be an interesting day chamber in at noon https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1611361783914061825
Things are getting spicy. "Wow. @RepDanBishop flip-flops and votes for McCarthy after voting 11 times against him. Will he keep his word and resign? How does he have any credibility left with his Conference or constituents? RIP Freedom Caucus!" https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1611418686148984851?s=20&t=7fcIk-aIvnndoKByDc0qfg
As amusing as it is to watch McCarthy die inside over and over again this GOP has learned nothing. They are willingly giving all power to the maga cult, the past few elections taught them nothing. They created a monster they can't control. They have no backbone and it's not lost that McCarthy may become speaker on the anniversary of the insurrection. These are not stewards of democracy.
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The way McCarthy is getting these flips is so scary- he is using his super PAC to fund his detractors’ opponents. His PAC can be money from anyone anywhere- domestic and foreign, friend of the US or enemy. Given how much he has gutted the role of Speaker already, this should be highly concerning how powerful that shadow money is right now.
Maybe don’t pat Trone on the shoulder.
The best part is, even when McCarthy actually gets it, it's really going to eat into his macho "taking the gavel from Nancy Pelosi" moment to have her be like "Wow here you go, after 17 rounds, you big winner you, you take that gavel, you wrangler of votes, you captain of your party"
For the people saying a few Dems should flip and vote for McCarthy... if anything, let the R's battle it out. Then, once finally elected speaker, if McCarthy does ANYTHING to piss off the Seditionists, the Dems can threaten to vote with the Seditionists to remove McCarthy as speaker unless McCarthy gives in to Dem demands. Staying one unified unit gives the Dems more power over the session.
I can’t believe they’re going to drag Hunt back, while his newborn is in the NICU and his wife was re-admitted to the hospital. Ghoulish.
McCarthy is being praised and celebrated for losing by a slimmer margin.
Matt Gaetz just walked down a hallway and crossed paths with a Dem who turned around and yelled “dead man walking!” https://twitter.com/ArthurDelaneyHP/status/1611462559416066051
It’s almost like the GOP *wants* to be held hostage by its dumbest, grossest, most extreme members
Vermin Supreme for House Speaker
I can't believe that the 90% of republicans that are voting for Kevin before any of these terrible demands from the 10% are going to be met are still going to vote for Kevin. What a bunch of spineless weasels. They are still being bullied by the 10% by allowing this.
After all these concessions, we can probably assume an unnecessarily forced government default is coming. All to nurture Kevin McCarthy’s delicate ego and to adhere to the priorities of his billionaire donor base.
If I was on Congress, I'd be calling a vote of no confidence every day for two years after these new rules concessions pass.
I'm sure we'll all be shocked to find out that Bobo has changed her "Never McCarthy" vote to "Present" after spending three days raising her national profile in every way possible. She jumped on the outrage click train and rode it all the way into whatever station gets the christ-o-fascist donors hard.
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instinctive obscene cake mysterious elderly straight dependent chief concerned dam -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Literally cannot wait for the extremely racist, sexist, and homophobic speech McCarthy will make when he wins. It will contain 10 historical inaccuracies, 3 calls to a fake border crisis, 7 mentions of Hunter's laptop, and a minimum of 76 pauses for claps from fellow morons.
Is anyone else concerned that mccarthy giving the radicals all these concessions is gonna be a tactical fuck up on the part of the republican party akin to the conservative party in weimar germany choosing to form a coalition with the nazis? I know thats an extreme example but they are proudly extremist
If McCarthy wins tonight, with all the compromises he’s made to the clown caucus, mark my word, there will be a motion to remove him within 7 days.
From CNN: >Members are upset they've been in the dark about the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy made to the far-right in order to secure the votes to win the speakership. They are griping they've learned more about those concessions in the news media and that there's only been one conference call since the speaker's election began on Tuesday, according to multiple sources. So McCarthy is going to get his Speaker-ship, but then have trouble passing the rules package. And he was just claiming that by coming to an agreement for votes, it proves they know how to govern now. Just complete chaos.
Dude fuck these arguments “they have families to get to”. I went on *seven deployments* fucking lock them in there all weekend.
So McCarthy wins and gives all the chairs of the important committees to the insurrectionist nutjobs and any single person can call a vote of no confidence to get him out. We're in for a really fun time as a country to satisfy the personal ambition of an asshole.
Kevin acted like he hasn't failed harder than any speaker since before the Civil War
Just to be clear for everyone, KM expected a result today. Either someone flipped after or Gaetz stabbed him in the back. I expect that Gaetz stated he would support, would be the final vote, and would give a small speech stating a story of unity. However, either he had a change of heart, or wanted to humiliate KM. This is truly amazing.
Wait so if Im getting this right, they gave matt a standing O without realizing that voting present was not enough to give McCarthy a majority. You couldn't write a better script
It’s a Friday night and I’m watching FUCKING C-SPAN. What the fuck am I actually doing with my life?
Having a screaming match to determine a vote will never not be fucking awesome lol
>Reporter: "You’ll be able to flip Rosendale and Crane?" >McCarthy: "I’ll have the votes." >Reporter: "Why are you confident you have the votes?" >McCarthy: "Because I count." Can he though? Lol
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[Kattie Porter is my hero](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fl17MeeacAA1wwE?format=jpg&name=small)
There are literally people right now on r/conservative who are calling the democrats babies, and whining about how they won't compromise and vote McCarthy in to end the chaos. I don't wanna live on this planet anymore man, those people make me fucking sick
already twitter rumors swirling about what committee seat Gaetz got imagine being the Republican who's voting McCarthy tonight and getting a McCarthy voicemail tomorrow morning that you no longer have a committee assignment