WASHINGTON (AP) JAN.4– House Republicans start day two of new Congress just like the first – Leader Kevin McCarthy becomes House Speaker despite losing multiple voting rounds and threw the new Republican majority into turmoil.
It was the first time in 100 years that a candidate for Speaker of the House failed to pick up the gavel on the first ballot, but McCarthy seemed unperturbed. Former President Trump encouraged anarchy to end and unite the Republican Party.
The House plans to meet Wednesday and wait for Republicans to elect a speaker after the stalemate has effectively brought all other business to a halt.
“Is today the day I wanted? No,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol late Tuesday after a series of closed-door meetings.
McCarthy said he wanted Trump to stay in the race and urged him to end the chaos in the House Republican Party and unite the party.
“I hope that Republicans can come together and achieve exactly what we have announced,” McCarthy said.
When asked if he was leaving, McCarthy said, “It’s not going to happen.”
The new Congress is a tumultuous start, and with Republicans now in control of the House, it hints at the difficulties ahead.
Tensions rose among the majority of the new members of the House of Representatives as the election promises wavered. The House of Representatives cannot be fully formed without speakers.The House can have its members sworn in, appoint committee chairs, participate in ground trials, and initiate investigations into the Biden administration. The congressman’s family waited for a normal day of celebration to descend into chaos, with children playing in the aisles and writhing in their parents’ arms.
But it was not at all clear how the beleaguered Republican leader would bounce back to win over right-wing conservatives who rejected his leadership. Normally, he would need a majority of 218 votes to become Speaker of the House, but that threshold could drop if lawmakers are absent or vote in attendance, but McCarthy appears to be weighing strategies.
McCarthy said that in his three ballots he received only 203 votes, a mere 222 Republicans who lost him 20 Republicans from the Republican majority.
House Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy says he is “fighting for the Congress and for the country” as he struggles with right-wing Conservatives who refuse to give him the vote to be Speaker of the House.(January 3) Day)
McCarthy’s stalemate has been building since Republicans were on track to win a majority of the House in his November midterm elections. The Senate is controlled by Democrats, but Republicans in the House are eager to face Biden after two years of Democrats dominating both houses of Congress. The conservative Freedom Caucus opposed McCarthy, believing that he was neither conservative nor tough enough to fight the Democrats.
