Live updates: Rep Mike Johnson of Louisiana elected speaker of the House

Table Of Content

• Conservative heavyweights applaud the 20 members of Congress who voted against McCarthy
• How Every Representative Voted
• Jeffries
• McCarthy team makes an offer to conservative opponents who are reviewing it now
• The third ballot
• Jeffries: Democrats will continue finding common ground with GOP "whenever and wherever possible"

She was booed by Democrats during her speech after she made a comment about Democrats drinking alcohol and eating popcorn during the speaker votes. McCarthy was on track to once again to fall short of the 218 votes he needs to become the next House speaker. He can only lose four GOP votes, and as the sixth round of voting continued, he had already lost five votes. In the fifth round, McCarthy failed to obtain the 218 needed votes to become the speaker of the House, this time splitting the vote between Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, and Byron Donalds, Florida Republican. McCarthy failed to collect the 218 votes needed to clinch the speaker of the House spot after a sixth round of votes on Wednesday.

Conservative heavyweights applaud the 20 members of Congress who voted against McCarthy

Through six votes in two days, GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy has not been able to get a majority of votes needed to win the speakership. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has failed to secure the necessary 218 votes to win the speakership. McCarthy failed to garner the 218 necessary votes to become speaker in six ballots between Tuesday and Wednesday. About 20 members of the House Freedom Caucus have so far refused to support the GOP leader. Until Republicans agree on a speaker, they cannot pass a rules package to determine how the House will operate, consider legislation, or begin the oversight of the Biden administration that candidates promised on the campaign trail. House Republican leadership invited all elected members to join a conference call Friday morning to discuss the latest deal on the table aimed at delivering Kevin McCarthy the 218 votes he needs to become the next House speaker.

How Every Representative Voted

He is confronting a mid-November deadline to pass a measure to fund the government to avert a shutdown. And he will need to lead a conference deeply divided over foreign policy as Congress considers the Biden administration’s $105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine and the southern border. Evoking his evangelical Christian faith, Mr. Johnson repeatedly referred to scripture in his speech from the House floor.

Jeffries

“What we’re seeing is the incredibly shrinking speakership, and that’s most unfortunate for Congress,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said as she entered the chamber on Friday afternoon. Mr. Gaetz refused to budge, and Mr. McCarthy’s allies moved to adjourn the House until Monday, crestfallen after a defeat they had not anticipated. Republicans quickly switched their votes to oppose the adjournment and proceeded to a 15th speaker vote, which ended well after midnight. Despite the divisions on display, Mr. McCarthy also emphasized the theme of unity in a speech after taking the speaker’s gavel, pledging open debate and an open door to both Republicans and Democrats.

All three met with Mr. Trump or White House officials as they discussed how to fight the election results, according to evidence gathered by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. The vitriolic attack on the top candidate for speaker from a member of his own party led some of Mr. McCarthy’s supporters to walk off the House floor while he spoke. And by the end of the day, with the majority of the detractors finally coalescing around Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Gaetz appeared to have softened his tone. Those compromises delivered a breakthrough for Mr. McCarthy, who in votes on Friday afternoon won support from a sizable chunk of the Republicans who had consistently refused to back him — though he remained short of the majority to win. Also part of the proposal, Republicans familiar with it said, was a commitment by the leader to give the ultraconservative faction approval over a third of the seats on the powerful Rules Committee, which controls what legislation reaches the floor and how it is debated.

Trump breaks silence on McCarthy and House speaker drama

"Kevin McCarthy understands, he understands he must protect that speaker’s gavel and abide the will of the American people," Nehls said. "The decisions we make in the 118th Congress are critical to the future of our country. The decisions we make, the legislation we pass as a Republican majority must have the support of the American people." Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy failed to gain a majority of votes for House speaker in the 13th round of voting. The voting for House speaker has entered its fourth day and its 12th round as McCarthy attempts to wrangle the 218 votes necessary to win the speakership. Six members voted “present,” including notable holdouts Reps-elect Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., allowing McCarthy to take a majority of those voting for a candidate.

Johnson temporarily dodges ouster vote as House passes foreign aid - POLITICO

Johnson temporarily dodges ouster vote as House passes foreign aid.

Posted: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:43:09 GMT [source]

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, blasted his colleagues for locking the House of Representatives in a stalemate over Rep. Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker Wednesday night. The House of Representatives failed to elect a speaker for the first time since 1923 — as nearly two dozen Republicans refused to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California for the job. But hours after those concessions were floated, at least five hardline GOP lawmakers indicated it still wasn’t enough, and made it clear they would continue to oppose him. The House convenes at noon Thursday, and while a new vote may show McCarthy has made some progress with the 20 GOP holdouts, he can only afford to lose four votes. Opponents of Kevin McCarthy were still indicating opposition to his speakership bid on Thursday morning.

The third ballot

But last month, he voted for a Rep. Matt Gaetz amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have cut off all security assistance for Ukraine. That amendment failed, , with a majority of Republicans voting against the amendment. In a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, President Biden welcomed news of Johnson's election. Johnson was sworn in as the 56th House speaker soon after winning the vote and delivering a speech to lawmakers in the House chamber. "We're going to dispense with all the usual ceremonies and celebrations that traditionally follow a new speakership because we have no time for either one," Johnson said.

The next two figures in the House Republican leadership hierarchy, Majority Leader Richard Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay chose not to run for the office. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Bob Livingston, declared his bid for the speakership, which was unopposed, making him speaker-designate. It was then revealed, by Livingston himself, who had been publicly critical of President Bill Clinton's alleged perjury during his sexual harassment trial, that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.

Ms. Alli and Ms. Cole work under the clerk of the House of Representatives, Cheryl L. Johnson, who is charged with keeping lawmakers in order until a new speaker is elected. The two clerks, Tylease Alli and Susan Cole, have been an integral part of what is now the fifth longest speaker election, and television viewers have noticed. Mr. Trump’s call into the chamber came on the two-year anniversary of the riot by his supporters to block congressional certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win over Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump called Mr. Gaetz, according to two people briefed on the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson was toiling to help Republicans turn the page from the chaos of the past few weeks. He said there would be none of the typical celebrations that accompany the election of a new speaker. The podcasts, spanning 69 episodes, offer an extended window into Mr. Johnson's views and politics, as he co-hosts the program with his wife, a licensed pastoral counselor.

Jordan is now meeting with key chairmen and top Republicans in House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office as they try to lean on holdouts and make offers to win their support. After Jordan secured his party’s speaker nomination, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged the conference to rally around Jordan, according to multiple lawmakers in the room. It’s not the first time that the speakership scramble has exposed fault lines in the upper ranks of House GOP leadership. It’s now been two weeks of high-stakes chaos over the speaker’s gavel following the unprecedented ouster of Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The House’s slim margin is what led to McCarthy’s removal at the hands of a band of eight GOP rebels – and now a similarly sized group of House Republicans could block Jordan’s ascension, too.