The US House adjourned Wednesday night after Kevin McCarthy and GOP dissidents failed to reach a deal on the California Republican’s languishing bid to become speaker.
(Bloomberg) — The US House adjourned Wednesday night after Kevin McCarthy and GOP dissidents failed to reach a deal on the California Republican’s languishing bid to become speaker.
The 216-214 vote to adjourn fell largely along party lines in an unusually raucous chamber, sparing McCarthy a seventh public defeat in two days.
House Republican leaders convened a meeting between moderates and the dissidents in the office of Representative Tom Emmer, the top GOP vote counter, late Wednesday to hammer out a deal that could get McCarthy the 218 votes he needs to become speaker in the face of unified Democratic opposition.
McCarthy, the GOP leader whose ascension to the speaker’s post has been blocked by 20 hard-line conservatives, said “a lot of progress” was made during the Republican meeting. But there was no resolution to the standoff and Republicans offered the motion to adjourn.
Lawmakers will have to convene again at noon Thursday to begin another round of votes on the speakership. The House has to keep voting until a new speaker is elected and is unable to conduct any other business in the meantime.
“I don’t think a vote tonight would make a difference,” McCarthy, who has failed to secure votes from a majority of House lawmakers in the six previous rounds of balloting, said as he emerged from the meeting.
McCarthy later said the close vote on the procedural motion, on which he lost only four GOP votes, was a good sign.
“I think what you should gauge from being able to do that vote, that the discussions are going well,” McCarthy said. “But that doesn’t mean they’re done.”
McCarthy can lose no more than four Republican votes in the closely divided chamber. The four who voted against adjourning were Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Eli Crane of Arizona, who have emerged as the most implacable McCarthy opponents. Another dissident, Paul Gosar of Arizona, changed his vote, swinging the motion to adjourn in McCarthy’s favor.
Yet the vote to adjourn is a different chore than convincing restive hard-liners to support McCarthy for speaker. The dispute has turned ugly with both sides taking personal shots.
It’s unclear what new concessions McCarthy could offer his detractors, but Representative Chip Roy, a Texas conservative, said “there’s always” the possibility of deal.
“We are having a good conversation in there,” he said during the meeting.
Heading into the meeting, Gaetz said he wanted McCarthy to drop out of the speaker race. He later said he would “never” support his bid. Boebert likewise said there is nothing McCarthy can do to win her vote.
Democrats have stayed united during the turmoil and used the Republican chaos to take jabs at McCarthy and the GOP
“He’s given away everything, including his dignity, so I don’t know what else he has left to give away,” Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern said Wednesday night.
–With assistance from Jarrell Dillard, Laura Davison and Laura Litvan.
(Updates with new information, starting in second paragraph)
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