Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told the Daily Beast that she could be open to working with Republicans to elect a speaker, but not for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
She added that Democrats would need significant concessions — such as getting some committee chairs.
House Republicans now plan to have one more speaker vote — knowing Kevin McCarthy will fail once again — and then try to adjourn and have a GOP conference meeting, Punchbowl News reports.
CNN reports that McCarthy foes and emissaries “are in discussions about setting up talks for tonight to break the speaker standoff.”
After a fifth round of voting, the House failed once again to elect a speaker.
The vote totals for the fifth round:
Once again, McCarthy was unable to move a single vote in his favor.
The White House is strongly considering adding a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border to President Biden’s trip to Mexico City next week, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who has voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker, told CNN that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) would be the next choice for speaker.
Buck said he will not vote for McCarthy in future rounds of voting.
Said Buck: “At some point this needs to break loose. He either needs to make a deal to bring them over or he needs to step aside and give somebody else a chance to do that.”
“Moderately conservative Republican Jason Stephens, with the help of the Democratic Party, snatched the coveted Ohio House Speaker job Tuesday from a far-right lawmaker who was already elected speaker in a non-official party vote,” the Ohio Capital Journal reports.
After a fourth round of voting, the House failed once again to elect a speaker.
The vote totals for the fourth round:
Despite a long evening and morning of negotiations with Republicans, McCarthy was unable to move a single vote in his favor. In fact, with Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) voting “present,” McCarthy actually lost one vote.
It’s also worth noting that Trump’s endorsement of McCarthy had no effect on votes.
The GOP leadership is also unable to pass an adjournment resolution.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) told the Boston Globe that he’s not interested in helping Republicans elect a speaker.
Said Neal: “Let everybody watch. They told everybody during the campaign that they were going to put together a governing majority.”
“The frustration is through the roof. So, I do think, past today, it does really become disastrous. It turns the party into a laughingstock.”
— Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), on Fox Business, on Republicans failing to elect a speaker.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a key ally of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), told the Washington Post that if Republicans can’t agree, he thinks they should go to Democrats to find the votes to elect a speaker.
Said Fitzpatrick: “We can’t be members-elect for two years. The fever’s got to break somehow.”
The House of Representatives will convene at 12 p.m. and attempt once again to elect a speaker.
It’s not at all clear how this plays out.
You can watch on C-SPAN.
Leave your reactions in the comments.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Fox News that Donald Trump’s re-endorsement of Kevin McCarthy for speaker has not swayed his vote.
Said Gaetz in a statement: “Sad! This changes neither my view of McCarthy, nor Trump, nor my vote.”
President Biden called the fight unfolding in the race for House speaker “embarrassing,” Politico reports.
Said Biden: “With regards to the fight over the Speaker… that’s not my problem. I just think it’s a little embarrassing that it’s taking so long.”
Josh Hudder: “McCarthy’s opponents have neither identifiable policy preferences nor specific demands. He has to buy them up individually.”
“That takes (1) time; and (2) more time. and (3) lots of promises.”
John Cassidy: “The irony is that McCarthy had already prostrated himself before the ultras, offering them a series of rule changes, one of which would allow just five representatives to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties failed. It is the essence of a revolution, especially one staged for social media and Fox News, that the revolutionaries cannot be bought off by members of the corrupt establishment…”
“This gradual substitution of theatric self-promotion for serious politics has been ongoing ever since Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, and Tuesday’s events merely represented its logical culmination: a newly elected House Republican majority reduced to a rabble incapable of performing the basic function of selecting a leader.”
Punchbowl News confirms that House Republicans will try to adjourn the chamber until tomorrow, forgoing speaker votes today.
House Democrats will whip against this motion, so Republicans will have to carry this adjournment vote on their own.
CNN: “McCarthy and his team are fearful that if they go to a fourth ballot they could lose more votes, something that could undercut their claims of regaining momentum. That is why they have discussed adjourning the House until tomorrow — but to do that, they need 218 votes, which they don’t have.”
“They’re like children. This is such a childish attempt at gaining attention… This is about petty, personal issues that they have, or petty attempts to gain notoriety. It’s unbelievably frustrating and they should be held accountable for it by the American people.”
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), quoted by CNN, on the 20 Republicans who refuse to back Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.