House Speaker Vote: McCarthy Wins Speakership on 15th Vote The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Republicans Nominate Louisiana’s Mike Johnson for House Speaker
• Republicans to hold another candidate forum at 6 p.m.
• Lead-up to first conference vote
• h vote: 2:40 p.m. Wednesday
• Is there a way for the House to function without an elected speaker?
• How the Senate Voted on Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
• GOP Rep. Rick Allen says he confronted Emmer about the former speaker designee's vote for gay marriage
• Emmer nomination

“I think the House is in a lot better place with some of the work that’s been done to democratize power out of the speakership, and that’s our goal,” he said. Left unmentioned was that many of the same rebels who helped lead the effort in Congress to overturn the 2020 election, giving rise to the assault that day, were also among the final holdouts working to block Mr. McCarthy’s ascent. The prolonged election prompted tension and uncertainty in the Capitol, where lawmakers in both parties had grown impatient and bored awaiting the outcome of a high-stakes struggle that seemed at once monumental and absurd. By Friday afternoon, Mr. McCarthy had won over 15 of the 21 Republicans who had defected, and he pressed into the night for more converts, a remarkable turnabout for a man who only days before appeared to be headed for defeat.

Republicans Nominate Louisiana’s Mike Johnson for House Speaker

In the past week, two more House Republicans – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona – have signed on as co-sponsors. Legislative business in the House has been halted as Republicans struggle to unite behind a speaker. That includes work on legislation to fund the government and avoid a shutdown that will begin in mid-November if no action is taken. Also frozen is any consideration of an aid package to Israel, something that President Biden has said is an urgent priority after the terrorist group Hamas launched one of the broadest incursions into Israeli territory in 50 years. The 212 Democrats in the House are expected to continue to vote as a united bloc for Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader.

Republicans to hold another candidate forum at 6 p.m.

But after flipping their votes to Mr. McCarthy on Friday, some of the former holdouts said they had been assured by an emerging framework, which is expected to cap the size of government funding bills, call for spending cuts and allow for amendments on the House floor. Former President Donald J. Trump made a crucially timed call to Representative Matt Gaetz on Friday night after the Florida congressman voted “present” and sunk Kevin McCarthy’s 14th effort to be elected House speaker. "I'm staying above it. I have to right now," the former president told reporters Monday in New Hampshire. "But I've spoken to just about all the candidates, there are quite a few of them. And they're terrific people."

Lead-up to first conference vote

Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican from a New York swing district, said Thursday the threshold should be changed "immediately." The House tried for a 15th time to elect a House speaker, and succeeded in electing Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). But McCarthy was opposed by more than a dozen deeply conservative Republicans, who wanted changes in House rules. Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress, addressing the 118th Congress for the first time in the early hours of Saturday morning. "This is not a dictatorship where one person gets to decide everything for the entire conference. ... So we saw it play out just as it should," De La Cruz told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.

The SPEAKER granted Rep. WHEELER a leave of absence for the remainder of the day. The SPEAKER granted Rep. LEBER a leave of absence for the remainder of the day. The SPEAKER granted Rep. MCCRAVY a leave of absence for the day due to medical reasons. The SPEAKER granted Rep. BRADLEY a leave of absence for the day due to previously scheduled legislative business.

How long was the House without a speaker? - NBC News

How long was the House without a speaker?.

Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Is there a way for the House to function without an elected speaker?

Along with being Vermont’s first female member of Congress, Balint is also the first out LGBTQ person elected to Washington from the Green Mountain State. President Joe Biden spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to congratulate him on winning the gavel in a call Saturday afternoon, according to the White House. "We actually interacted more this week than we have in the last four years. And if anything, that relationship-building is where it was at." “[Emmer] asked us to come down and ask to speak to why we could not support him” in his quest for the gavel, Allen said. They also were unhappy that he had suggested in an interview on Fox News that the House committee investigating the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, had the political aim of damaging Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

How the Senate Voted on Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

He said that millions of unborn children had lost their lives because of what he called a “legal fiction that the Supreme Court foisted upon this country” and said that “God will bless us” for the court’s decision. But even more than his election denialism, Mr. Johnson’s political career has been defined by his religious views. The exchange reflected the lawmaker’s deeply conservative views, particularly on social issues, and his tendency to express them in inflammatory ways. Mr. Johnson came to Congress in 2017 with support from the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, though he has never joined the group. “The slates of electors were produced by a clearly unconstitutional process, period,” he said. “You know the allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion, there’s a lot of merit to that,” Mr. Johnson said.

GOP Rep. Rick Allen says he confronted Emmer about the former speaker designee's vote for gay marriage

Every Republican member of New York's congressional delegation has called for Columbia's president to resign. Another option would be for Mr. McHenry to simply try to bring up a bill and, should a lawmaker challenge his power to do so, the issue would be put to a vote of the House. If an overwhelming majority was in favor of such a measure — for instance one providing aid to Israel or keeping government funding flowing to avert a shutdown — the House could act. Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina is acting as the speaker pro tempore, a position created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to ensure continuity of government in case the speaker were killed or incapacitated. The position has never been tested, and so far, Mr. McHenry and House aides have interpreted the role very narrowly, simply as a place holder who presides over the election of a new speaker.

Emmer nomination

Mr. Roy, an initial holdout against Mr. McCarthy, led negotiations to try to bring about a deal that would make Mr. McCarthy the speaker in exchange for changes to House rules. Not every Republican involved in blocking Mr. McCarthy’s ascension was among those who voted against certifying Mr. Biden’s victory. “That remains an issue to be resolved,” said Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, as he shuttled between meetings on Thursday.

But what you hear from conservatives – at least in the minutes before and after Johnson won the speaker’s election – is they are willing to give some room for Johnson to maneuver in his new role. Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election results after Jan. 6, 2021, but signed onto an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the presidential election results. Republicans held a candidate forum Tuesday night with five members vying to be the next speaker-designee after Emmer withdrew. The former president noted that all of them have supported him "in both mind and spirit" since he won the White House in 2016 and said the five candidates "are beyond reproach and represent the absolute best there is in the Republican Party." The four absences mean Johnson will need 215 votes to win the speakership if all members in the chamber vote for a candidate. "We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days. Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can," the president said.

Conference rules mandate that the party nominee must capture a simple majority of votes. If no one captures a majority on the first ballot, the candidate who received the fewest votes will be kicked off the second ballot and lawmakers will vote again. The internal party election came after Republicans cast aside Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the second party nominee for speaker, who was unable to win the majority of votes needed to be elected to the top job. Following the successful motion to vacate the speakership of Kevin McCarthy of California on October 3, 2023, the members of the U.S. House of Representatives began holding an extremely rare intra-term election for speaker of the House on October 17.