Republican Kevin McCarthy falls short on ninth ballot for House speaker – live

Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska condemned the members of his party holding out against Kevin McCarthy, saying that the chaotic scene in Congress might prompt totalitarians to say, “This is why we don’t want democracy.”

Here’s him on CNN:

The vote tally in the ninth round:

Hakeem Jeffries – 212

Kevin McCarthy – 201

Byron Donalds – 17

Kevin Hern – 3

Present – 1

McCarthy is on track to lose in the ninth round of voting, surpassing the previous record set in 1923, when Frederick Huntington Gillett won the position after nine rounds of voting.

The longest speaker’s race prior to that was in 1859, when it took 44 rounds of voting. And before that, in 1855, it took 133 ballots to decide the speaker’s race.

Joe Biden said today the US would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico illegally, his boldest move yet to confront the arrivals of migrants that have increased since he took office two years ago, the Associated Press reports.

The new rules expand on an existing effort to stop Venezuelans attempting to enter the U.S., which began in October and led to a dramatic drop in Venezuelans coming to the southern border. Together, they represent a major change to immigration rules that will stand even if the Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows U.S. authorities to turn away asylum-seekers.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Do not, do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” Biden said as he announced the changes, even as he acknowledged the hardships that lead many families to make the dangerous journey north.

Biden made the announcement just days before a planned visit to El Paso, Texas,on Sunday for his first trip to the southern border as president. From there, he will travel on to Mexico City to meet with North American leaders on Monday and Tuesday.

Homeland Security officials said they would begin denying asylum to those who circumvent legal pathways and do not first ask for asylum in the country they traveled through en route to the U.S.

Instead, the U.S. will accept 30,000 people per month from the four nations for two years and offer the ability to work legally, as long as they come legally, have eligible sponsors and pass vetting and background checks. Border crossings by migrants from those four nations have risen most sharply, with no easy way to quickly return them to their home countries.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This new process is orderly. It’s safe and humane, and it works,” Biden said.

The move, while not unexpected, drew swift criticism from asylum and immigration advocates, who have had a rocky relationship with the president.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}President Biden correctly recognized today that seeking asylum is a legal right and spoke sympathetically about people fleeing persecution.

But the plan he announced further ties his administration to the poisonous anti-immigrant policies of the Trump era instead of restoring fair access to asylum protections,” said Jonathan Blazer, the American Civil Liberties Union’s director of border strategies.

The House is now in its 9th round of voting, with Lauren Boebert again delivering remarks about Kevin Hern shortly before the roll call.

“We need to get to a point where we start evaluating what life after Kevin McCarthy looks like,” she said, claiming that “threats were made” behind closed doors regarding committee assignments for those who plan to not vote for Kevin McCarthy.

“But we don’t govern in fear, we govern for the people on principle, don’t be afraid to do the right thing,” she added.

During the eighth round of voting, hardline Republican representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado voted for Kevin…Hern as speaker of the House.

Speaking about the Republican representative from Oklahoma, Boebert said that Kevin Hern is a “businessman from humble beginnings” and a “true consensus candidate.”

As Boebert spoke, murmurs across the House soon echoed into loud side conversations as those around Boebert looked around in stunned confusion.

Kevin McCarthy’s epic humiliation in the House of Representatives continues as he fails to be elected to become speaker in the eighth round of voting.

The California Republican is being blocked by a phalanx of far-right rebels and, if anything, his votes are declining, not growing. On Tuesday, when the 118th Congress convened and voting for the speakership began, McCarthy garnered 203 votes in the first round – a massive 15 short of the simple majority needed.

In this once-in-a-century eighth round of voting, he managed 201 votes, with 21 Republicans refusing to vote for him, either spoiling their votes, essentially, or placing them for strategic-disrupter nominee Byron Donalds.

As we’ve been expecting for several hours, it looks very unlikely that we’ll see a speaker elected today. The House business now paused between votes (but is not in recess).

As the latest round of voting for Speaker of the House is underway, all the signs are it will be another long day on Capitol Hill.

Here’s where things stand:

• California Republican Kevin McCarthy, the frontrunner for speaker, moments ago lost his seventh round of voting for the position, putting himself the GOP in the House in deep trouble.

• Joe Biden, accompanied by vice-president Kamala Harris, announced new security measures at the US-Mexico border and, in remarks at the White House, once again admitted that the US immigration system is a mess.

• In Senate news, Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan announced on Thursday morning hat she will not be seeking re-election and will be retiring once her fourth term ends in 2025.

• North Carolina’s Republican representative Dan Bishop nominated Byron Donalds, a Florida lawmaker nominated by hard-right Republican representatives as an alternative to Kevin McCarthy.

Alaska freshman member of congress Mary Peltola just placed her vote for speaker for fellow Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

But, meanwhile, she has tweeted about the ludicrous spectacle of all the new representatives being in the House without actually being sworn in yet.

It’s the strange limbo because the House can’t proceed with any business at all until it has a speaker. Day three of the 118th Congress, and counting….

Peltola is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and won her bid to retain the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives, at the midterm elections last November.

Peltola made history when she won a special election last summer to replace the Republican Don Young after his death.

She is also the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives since it became a state in 1959, if you can believe that in this day and age.

The Democrats’ Hakeem Jeffries once again prompted clapping, hooting, cheering and hollering of support from his own side as he was obliged to rise from his seat in the House and vote for himself as Speaker, for the eighth time this Congress.

Moments before, Jeffries was chatting with a fellow lawmaker, looking cool as a cucumber in a blue suit, blue shirt and pink tie.

As his name was called in the roll, he started very slightly, having been somewhat distracted, grinned broadly and rose to speak. The clerk said: “Jeffries.” Jeffries said: “Jeffries” and sat back down.

If he thought it was dignified to have a bucket of popcorn at his feet, he surely would have one.

As a reminder, Jeffries cannot become speaker without something absolutely out of the ordinary occurring in the House (ie a massive GOP defection, which is not likely to happen), because the Democrats don’t have the majority and you need a simple majority of the votes.

He is the House minority leader and has succeeded Nancy Pelosi to the leadership position.

The eighth round of voting is underway in the House as California Republican Kevin McCarthy flounders in his efforts to become speaker, while refusing to step aside.

Talks still ongoing behind the scenes, as well as inter-vote huddles on the floor, as McCarthy believes he can still win if he sticks it out through round after round.

Right now, with four votes for Republican hard-right-winger Byron Donald, and two spoiled votes, that means McCarthy already looks set to lose this round.

It’s the first time for a century that a House speaker has not been elected on the first round of voting. It took nine rounds and three days in 1923…..is the record about to fall?

As a reminder, no other House business can take place until there is a speaker, including swearing in the lawmakers formally – especially significant for the brand new members elected in November’s midterm elections.

Meanwhile, in Senate news, Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan announced on Thursday morning hat she will not be seeking re-election and will be retiring once her fourth term ends in 2025.

In a statement, Stabenow said:

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate. I am announcing today that I will not seek re-election and will leave the U.S. Senate at the end of my term on January 3, 2025.

“As part of my own new generation, I was elected to the Ingham County Commission in 1974 at the age of 24. As the youngest and first woman to chair the Board, this began years of breaking barriers, blazing trails, and being the ‘first’ woman to reach historic milestones as an elected official, including the honor of being the first woman from Michigan elected to the U.S. Senate. But I have always believed it’s not enough to be the ‘first’ unless there is a ‘second’ and a ‘third’…”

Stabenow went on to add that for the next two years, she will continue to focus on various ways to improve the lives of Michiganers, including leading the passage of the next five-year Farm Bill which determines food and agricultural policies across the country.

Kevin McCarthy has failed to secure 218 votes needed to become House speaker … yet again.

McCarthy received 201 votes among GOP lawmakers.

The same 20 hardline Republicans who voted against him yesterday also voted against him today during the seventh ballot.

Nineteen of them voted for Floridian representative Byron Donalds, while Matt Gaetz voted for former president Donald Trump.

Florida’s Republican representative Matt Gaetz has nominated Donald Trump for House speaker.

“Donald John Trump,” Gaetz said, standing up and smiling, as his name was called for the vote. Next to him, Georgia’s Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene smiled as murmurs of surprise spread across the House.

Gaetz’s vote for Donald Trump – a day before the January 6 riots anniversary – comes not only as an embarrassing blow to Kevin McCarthy who is trying to unite Republican representatives into casting a vote towards him but also towards the GOP in assuming control of the House as Republican infighting continues.

North Carolina’s Republican representative Dan Bishop nominated Byron Donalds, a Florida lawmaker nominated by hard-right Republican representatives as an alternative to Kevin McCarthy.

“Yesterday, we could have elected the first black Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,” Bishop said of Byron, to which Democrats responded with cheers of “Hakeem! Hakeem!”, referring to Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats’ nominee for House speaker.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“He ain’t no prop… He’s a man of personal conviction,” Bishop said of Donalds.

“This is the tired, old, grotesquely racist rhetoric that we have seen far too long,” he added.

Michigan’s Republican representative-elect John James nominated Kevin McCarthy for House speaker.

“I don’t need DC politicians to tell me about how broken DC is… The American people have already told us how broken DC is,” he said.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“The American people have told us…they want Republicans to lead,” he added.

“Right now, the people are left out. Right now, they don’t have a Congress to speak for them,” James said of the current impasse.

He also brought up the slavery debate regarding the “value of man,” which he described as “drawn out painful process, but it needed to happen.”

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“He’s earned my trust,” James said of McCarthy. “We’ve come so far…you don’t fire a guy whose winning… We need to learn how to win… We need a conservative fighter to help this country get back on track.”

The House of Representatives has convened on Capitol Hill for the third time in attempts to elect a speaker.

Guardian readers, feel free to follow the House session via our livestream at the top of this page!

President Joe Biden announced new border enforcement actions on Thursday, according to a statement released by the White House.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“These measures will expand and expedite legal pathways for orderly migration and result in new consequences for those who fail to use those legal pathways. They also draw on the success of the Venezuela initiative, which launched in October 2022 and has resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of Venezuelan nationals attempting to enter the United States unlawfully,” it said.

The Biden administration said that new consequences will be imposed onto individuals who attempt to cross the border unlawfully, including increasing the use of expedited removal.

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Effective immediately, individuals who attempt to enter the United States without permission, do not have a legal basis to remain, and cannot be expelled pursuant to Title 42 will be increasingly subject to expedited removal to their country of origin and subject to a five-year ban on reentry,” the White House said.

The Biden administration will also expand the parole process for Venezuelans to Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans. Up to 30,000 individuals from these countries who have an eligible sponsor and pass venting and background checks can come to the US each month for a period of two years and receive worth authorization.

Meanwhile, Mexico will also be accepting the return of 30,000 individuals per month from these four countries who cross the border unlawfully.

The Biden administration said that it also plans to welcome up to 20,000 refugees from Latin American and Caribbean countries during 2023 and 2024, in turn “putting the United States on pace to more than triple refugee admissions from the western hemisphere this fiscal year alone.”