US Politics

The speaker of the House debacle is the Maga revolution eating its childrenJan-Werner MüllerThe extreme Republicans blocking Kevin McCarthy are refusing to accept a loss – the core of the Trumpist playbook Autocrats around the world, after a pretty bad 2022, must be delighted: just in time for the second anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, the US is providing a spectacle of democratic dysfunction for stunned global audiences to behold. But the Republican faction holding the country hostage – the farthest right inside what de facto has become a far-right party – wants to convince us that this is simply what democracy looks like – messy and frustrating, but all happening for the sake of a better result in the end. The Groundhog Day-style procedures are dignified as – in the words of failed speaker of the House candidate Byron Donalds – a “deliberative, open process” necessary for the “constitutional republic that is America”.The fact is that the Republicans blocking Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker are not crazy when they suggest that good-faith debate within the same political party can be beneficial for a democratic polity. Except that their political performance art is really about a refusal to accept a loss – the very core of the Trumpist playbook. This is not what democracy looks like; this is what acting out a belief in minority rule looks like.House Democrats should unite with moderate Republicans to elect a speaker | Robert ReichRead moreDemocracy inside parties is easy to ridicule. Oscar Wilde once quipped that the problem with socialism is that it takes too many evenings. What is billed as “deliberation” often means that the person who can stick around the longest – or who enjoys pontificating about political philosophy the most – wins the day: if in doubt, an educated white man who might not have to worry about the kids in the morning. Bickering inside parties also seems an obvious turn-off for voters. If even partisans supposedly agreed on political principles aren’t convinced by the program, why should anyone else be?And yet intra-party democracy is crucial for the health of democracy as a whole. People get used to good-faith disagreement on policies; the fact that they hold the same principles does not mean there can’t be debates, ideally allowing new arguments and evidence to come out. Lyndon Johnson held that “What the man on the street wants is not a big debate on fundamental issues; he wants a little medical care, a rug on the floor, a picture on the wall.” But, as his party learned the hard way, what “a little medical care” means, in practice, can be highly contentious. No principle automatically implements itself as policy; debates are necessary.What’s more, democracy inside parties gets partisans used to the idea that the other side could possibly be right – a stance crucial for democracy, in which opponents must be treated as legitimate adversaries, not as existential enemies. Losers of a conflict learn how to adopt a stance of legitimate opposition and critical loyalty: they agree on principles, but disagree about policies or even particular personalities; above all, they remain free to criticize the leadership. Naive? The absence of critical loyalty inside a party opens the path to something like January 6: no one was able to restrain Trump, as he had refashioned the Republican party into something like a personality cult. It is hardly an accident that rightwing populist leaders – think Modi, Orbán, Erdoğan – all govern their own parties in autocratic fashion.But what the far right of the far right is doing in Washington now has nothing to do with intra-party democracy. No real arguments are being offered when figures like Byron Donalds and Kevin Hern get their 15 minutes of fame. What Donalds lauds as “open process” unfolds behind closed doors; and, curiously for self-declared conservatives, blackmail aimed at radically changing the power of the speaker is pushed without serious claims about the constitution.The House speaker fiasco shows that Republicans are unable to govern | Andrew GawthorpeRead moreWhat the anti-McCarthy faction is doing is a miniature version of what the Republican party as a whole has increasingly adopted as a strategy at least since the 1990s: even if your stances are unpopular and you fail to win majorities, you somehow still want to govern. Except that this strategy is now consuming the party’s own leadership; the revolution is devouring both its radical children and the parents, like McCarthy, who benevolently looked on as the kids learned how to rampage during the Trump years.Concretely, the far right of the far right seeks a position from which to force the speaker to dominate a Democratic president through blackmail and brinkmanship. Newt Gingrich – as so often, the original model for what is playing out today – shut down the government to force Bill Clinton’s hand; John Boehner and Paul Ryan were not as willing to play hardball and paid the price. The underlying assumption is that the other party has no legitimate role in government at all and that sharing power is equal to betrayal. It is not an accident that figures like Scott Perry paint the Democrats not just as wrong, but as evil actors (he hinted that they might be like Nazis) hellbent on destroying America.This unseemly spectacle is not the debate Americans “need” and are “owed”; this is also not just instant proof that the Republican party is unable to govern, as many previews of the new Congress had asserted; rather, it is demonstration just how little has changed since the original January 6.
Jan-Werner Müller teaches at Princeton and is a Guardian US columnist. His most recent book is Democracy Rules
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Finally, some modest good news for abortion rights in AmericaMoira DoneganThe Biden administration made two moves to protect medication abortion There have been so few victories for the pro-choice movement over the past year that women’s rights advocates can be forgiven for taking pleasure in two moves that the Biden administration made this week.The first, from the Department of Justice (DoJ), was a statement meant to push back against a legal absurdity that is gaining popularity on the anti-choice right: the idea that the 1873 Comstock Act, an archaic anti-obscenity law, prohibits the sending of abortion medication through the mail. The second was a move by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortions, to be distributed at retail pharmacies, rather than exclusively from doctors.Neither move by the Biden administration is likely to significantly improve abortion access, especially not for the millions of women living in the 13 states that have banned abortion outright, or the five that have severely limited the procedure, since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last summer in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health. But the rule changes show a new willingness by the Biden administration to make at least some tepid and belated efforts to expand women’s rights as the crises created by Dobbs continue to worsen.The FDA’s move, frankly, is especially overdue. Since mifepristone, a medication that blocks the pregnancy hormone progesterone, was finally approved by the agency for use in America in 2000 (it had been in use in Europe since the 1980s), the drug has been subject to intense, labyrinthine and medically unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions.For years, doctors who want to provide abortions have had to stock mifepristone themselves. Unlike other drugs – including misoprostol, the other medication used in abortions – it had to be given out directly by the prescribing physician. Until the pandemic, the pill had to be administered by abortion providers in person, and could not be distributed remotely – a rule that was temporarily suspended during coronavirus lockdowns, and quietly lifted permanently by the FDA in December 2021. The new rule will allow mifepristone to be distributed by regular pharmacies, with a regular prescription.But the FDA’s new guidance still maintains distinctions around mifepristone that mark it as distinct from other medications – distinctions that have nothing to do with the safety or efficacy of the drug, which have long been proven, and everything to do with the politics and stigma surrounding abortion. Some restrictions have been left in place.Not all healthcare providers, for instance, can prescribe mifepristone: those that do must first prove to agency satisfaction that they are competent to perform abortions. Patients, too, must still sign a consent form, something not required of other medicines. And there are new obligations for the pharmacies that want to distribute the drug. Each pharmacy must appoint and train a compliance officer who is in charge of ensuring that all the rules surrounding mifepristone are followed, for example; steps must be taken to conceal the names of prescribing doctors, including from internal company databases, to protect them from violence and harassment.The move does seem likely to marginally expand access to abortion pills, at least in Democratic-led states. On Thursday, CVS and Walgreens indicated that they would begin distributing mifepristone. The change is a small and important step toward removing the needless and bigoted bureaucratic obstacles that both stigmatize abortion care and place it out of reach, and towards placing these medications where they belong: over the counter.But it’s still unclear how the FDA rule change will affect the biggest battles over medication abortion – the ones playing out in the courts. Since the Dobbs decision, demand for the pills has exploded, and a growing number of abortion providers have set up online operations – based both overseas and in the more robustly protective Democratic states – that send abortion medications through the mail.These prescribers have opened a new era of abortion access in which abortion pills have become widely available even in states with strict bans, and women with internet connections, mailing addresses and a little bit of experience in covering up their digital tracks have found themselves able to terminate unwanted pregnancies safely, even in defiance of misogynist local laws. The anti-choice movement has succeeded in shuttering clinics across the south and midwest, but they haven’t managed to shut down the internet.Enter the Comstock Act, a long-obscure federal law which has enjoyed a revival in anti-choice legal thinking since Dobbs. Passed in 1878, in the midst of a misogynist moral panic, the Comstock Act prohibits the mailing of “obscene” materials, including any “article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion”. The first arrests under the act were meant to suppress the distribution of a feminist pro-contraception tract.The act has been largely defunct since the establishment of a right to contraception – and a right to privacy – in the 1965 supreme court ruling in Griswold v Connecticut. Recently, however, anti-choice forces have argued in court – repeatedly and aggressively – that since Roe has been overruled, Comstock applies, and sending abortion pills through the mail is once again illegal.On Tuesday, the DoJ disagreed, publishing a legal memo arguing that the drugs can be legally sent through the mail, including to states with abortion bans – that is, so long as the sender believes that the recipient will use them in accordance with local law. The DoJ opinion clears the US Postal Service to keep delivering the packages – and provides a bit of legal cover and plausible deniability to those who send abortion medications into conservative states.Will it hold up in court? Who knows. The memo issues one interpretation of current law, but the federal courts, packed with conservative ideologues and mealy-mouthed centrists who view hostility to women’s rights as a marker of their seriousness, might disagree.Still, the moves are encouraging signs from the Biden administration, whose response to Dobbs, and to the mounting civil rights and public health crises that it has unleashed, has tended to vacillate between incompetence, indifference and outright contempt. The Democratic party has long treated the left, and feminism in particular, as an annoying younger sibling that it needs to keep in line.But the midterms should have broken this spell: the Democrats performed much better than expected, and abortion was a big part of why. The elections should put to bed forever the dusty centrist conventional wisdom that support for abortion rights is electorally damaging to the Democrats – quite the opposite has proved to be the case. Hopefully, the Biden administration is listening.
Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist
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As Republicans take control of House, members fear watered down securityFresh concerns raised over stripping away of measures put in place by Democrats after January 6 insurrection Two years after the January 6 insurrection, fresh fears are being raised over safety for lawmakers and staff at the US Capitol, especially as Republicans have stripped away some of the security measures installed in the wake of the deadly attack on Congress.House Republicans, who secured a narrow majority in the 2022 midterm elections, removed the metal detectors outside the House chamber ready for the first day of business of the 118th Congress on Tuesday, 3 January. House Republicans aim to rein in ethics body preparing to investigate their partyRead moreThe Democrats had installed the facilities after a mob of extremist supporters of Donald Trump had stormed the Capitol in 2021 in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.The magnetometers’ removal came not just at a symbolically significant time heading up to the two-year anniversary on Friday of the Capitol attack, but also as federal lawmakers face increased risk.US Capitol Police reported 9,625 threats and directions of interest, which means actions or statements that cause concern, against members of Congress in 2021, compared with 3,939 in 2017. Metal detectors remain at the entrance of Congress for visitors and members of the public.Nevada Democratic representative Steven Horsford, incoming chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the removal of the metal detectors outside the House chamber, citing increased threats against lawmakers.“Over the last two years since 2020, members of Congress, particularly members of color, have been under direct attack in our districts, in DC, in the communities – and House Democrats worked to enhance those protections, not just for ourselves, but by passing legislation for our constituents,” Horsford said, speaking to the Guardian on his way to a meeting at the Capitol two days ago.“And now, the Republicans want to roll those protections back just like they want to roll back protections for women, protections for immigrants, protections for labor.“They’re not here to serve the people – they’re here to serve their special interest and that’s why we have to do everything we can to make sure their term in the [House] majority is very short,” he added.Maryland Democratic congressman and member of the recently-disbanded House select committee investigating the Capitol attack and Trump’s role in it, Jamie Raskin, voiced similar security concerns.“The January 6 select committee said that the forces that Trump arrayed against us are still out there,” Raskin said. “We need to be taking every precaution to make sure that January 6 [2021] doesn’t become a dress rehearsal for the next event.”Democratic former House speaker Nancy Pelosi had security officials erect the metal detectors to check members of congress for weapons. These devices quickly became a flashpoint in the bitterly-politicized discourse surrounding January 6, which was further intensified by deep partisan division over gun access in the US.‘Medium level of paranoia’: security concerns still loom on Capitol HillRead moreMany Republican members of Congress were unwilling to criticize the rioters that broke into and damaged the Capitol, shaking American democracy two years ago. The mob rampaged through the corridors, chasing and attacking police officers, while also threatening violence against lawmakers of both political parties, who had to flee for their lives. Republicans and the House January 6 Committee, meanwhile, both released reports that present dueling narratives.The bipartisan House committee directly blamed Trump for fanning the flames of insurrection. The Republican report, however, focused on security failures and did not explore rioters’ efforts to thwart Biden’s certification, CNN reported.Following the Capitol attack, some lawmakers were leery of their own colleagues and thought that it was necessary to screen other representatives for firearms or other weapons.At first, several House Republicans refused to go through the magnetometers, entering the chamber without undergoing weapons screening, and were subsequently fined.Several Republicans heralded the detectors’ removal this week, including Lauren Boebert, a Republican Colorado representative and gun rights activist. Boebert, who got into a seeming dispute with an officer following the detectors’ installation – wouldn’t say whether she would bring a gun onto the House Floor.“I think they should be removed from the Capitol, filled with Tannerite and blown up,” Boebert told the New York Post shortly before the metal detectors were taken away, referring to an explosive material that’s used on firearms range targets.“They should not feel unsafe,” Boebert said of Democrats voicing safety concerns. “If they do, they should come see me for a concealed-carry weapons permit and I can make sure they are locked and loaded in Washington, DC, legally.”Democratic representative Ted Lieu was disconcerted by the prospect of armed representatives on the House floor.“I’m awfully concerned that Lauren Boebert wouldn’t answer on whether she would bring a gun to the House floor,” Lieu told the Guardian. “We have security here on the House floor, so there’s no reason for any member to bring a gun on to the House floor.”TopicsHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsUS Capitol attackRepublicansDemocratsUS CongressfeaturesReuse this content More

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Everyone knew that this week was going to be tough for Kevin McCarthy, but not even Democrats could have hoped for such a humiliating few days for the Republican nominee to be speaker of the House of Representatives. Jonathan Freedland and Lauren Gambino discuss what unfolded on Capitol Hill

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After more than eight hours and five votes, would-be speaker Kevin McCarthy lost his 11th speakership ballot. This is the most drawn-out speakership vote since 1859. With McCarthy’s supporters and foes locked in stalemate, feelings of boredom and desperation seemed increasingly evident with no quick end in sight

McCarthy fails in speakership bid for third day after 11th vote
Republican rebels: the hardline House members voting against McCarthy More

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After interviewing 1,000 witnesses and compiling an 800-page report, the inquiry into the assault on the Capitol is complete. But what will it mean for Donald Trump in 2023 – and his presidential bid?

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After 18 months, the inquiry looking into what happened on 6 January 2021 when a violent mob forced its way into the Capitol – is finally at an end. The committee released a damning report, more than 800 pages in length, and recommended that Donald Trump face four criminal charges. But will he? Hugo Lowell is a reporter in the Guardian’s Washington bureau and he told Hannah Moore what the committee set out to uncover and why its conclusion was so damning for the former president. Yet with the committee having no powers to press criminal proceedings, is it likely he will face charges for the events that happened two years ago? And what effect will it have on his presidential bid? More

Republican rebels: the hardline House members voting against McCarthyMeet the most prominent ultraconservative GOP members blocking the California representative’s bid for the gavelA group of about 20 hardline Republican have brought Washington to a standstill by torpedoing party favourite Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker of the US House of Representatives across successive rounds of voting this week.The House cannot perform any of its vital functions – including overseeing national security, investigating government misconduct and passing legislation – until its presiding officer is in place.The continued chaos has also exposed the sharp rifts that have developed within the Republican party.Many in the group are members of the House freedom caucus, a collection of some of the most staunchly rightwing Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress.Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry is the chair of the caucus. He played a key role in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election via the attempted installation of a new acting attorney general, according to the House committee that investigated the matter.Perry is the only member of the group from above the Mason-Dixon line that traditionally separates the southern United States from the north.The rest of the group is dominated by southerners – mainly from Texas, Florida or Arizona – and most represent districts that voted solidly for Trump in the 2020 election. Most were endorsed by the former president in last November’s midterms.Second-term representative and freedom caucus member Byron Donalds emerged from relative obscurity when he received some 20 votes in multiple rounds of voting in the speakership election.One of only four Black House Republicans, the hard-right representative from Florida is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and son of a single mother, and has often spoken on the campaign trail of overcoming life adversities.Chip Roy has been negotiating with McCarthy’s team and – unlike his peers on the freedom caucus – has expressed a willingness to come to an agreement with the California Republican.He is widely known in Congress for obstructionist procedural motions and dissatisfaction with the current legislative rules. Unlike many of his peers, he was sharply critical of Trump and many of his Republican colleagues over their handling of the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.The other rebels do not appear beholden to the former president, though – McCarthy’s vote share actually dropped after he received Trump’s endorsement on the second day of the standoff in the House of Representatives.While some Republicans oppose McCarthy because they say he has proved an obstacle to their rightwing agenda and will make for a weak foe to the Democratic president, Joe Biden, others just seem to dislike him personally, whatever policies he espouses.A number of “Never Kevins” – notably Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Lauren Boebert of Colorado – have been clear that no amount of compromise will change their minds on opposing the California congressman.A born-again Christian who represents a sprawling district in western Colorado, Boebert is widely known for her unwavering support of gun rights and her confrontational tactics.She has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that there is a secret, pedophilic, leftist elite that holds immense sway over global institutions and policy.Boebert is one of the top fundraisers among House Republicans and brought in more than $7m for her reelection bid, to eke out one of the closest wins of the November midterms.Biggs bemoaned the lack of selflessness and principle in modern politics in a tweet posted before the first round of voting, when he stood as a symbolic opponent to his fellow Republican.“This is what a McCarthy speakership would look like and would put our country last.”He was among the lawmakers who most aggressively promoted Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden was the result of fraud.Matt Gaetz is one of McCarthy’s most vocal opponents, another prominent gun control opponent and a close Trump ally.The son of a prominent Florida Republican, he has claimed falsely that the 6 January attack on the US Capitol was instigated by far-left extremists. He was also a top fundraiser in the caucus, raising more than $6m for his reelection bid.Well over half of the rebel group have explicitly denied the results of the last presidential election, amplifying Trump’s false claims that it was rigged, reflecting a now-dominant creed among House Republicans, two-thirds of whom voted against certifying the 2020 vote.A handful are newly elected but the majority earned their stripes in the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement that grew out of opposition to president Barack Obama from 2010.As well as being known for fiscal austerity, the movement has its origins in a form of libertarianism that rejects “business as usual” and prides itself on producing agents of chaos who revel in their outsider status and ability to disrupt the consensus politics of the political elite.Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this reportTopicsRepublicansUS politicsHouse of RepresentativesfeaturesReuse this content More

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).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: Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) slams the Republicans who oppose Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker:“I think there’s totalitarian states out there, look at those 20 and say, ‘This is why we don’t want democracy.’” pic.twitter.com/B6CuaOGYvo— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2023
The vote tally in the ninth round: Hakeem Jeffries – 212 Kevin McCarthy – 201 Byron Donalds – 17 Kevin Hern – 3 Present – 1McCarthy 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. As she nominates Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) for House Speaker, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) claims those who don’t vote for Kevin McCarthy were threatened with not getting committee assignments. pic.twitter.com/aLW0FygYmb— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2023
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. Whoa, I missed this originally:Lauren Boebert trolls Kevin McCarthy and her fellow Republican caucus members by feinting as though she’s going to vote for McCarthy and instead voting for Kevin Hern.pic.twitter.com/wathK9rU8q— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) January 5, 2023
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….I’m never getting sworn in am I? pic.twitter.com/aSeD5Z5kvT— Mary Peltola (@MaryPeltola) January 5, 2023
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.Mary Peltola, first Alaska Native in Congress, wins bid to retain seatRead moreThe 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.Gaetz casts a second vote for “Donald John Trump.” Trump has now tied John Quincy Adams for the most Speaker votes cast for a former president. Adams received two votes in the 1835 Speaker’s election— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 5, 2023
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..@RepMattGaetz votes for former President Donald Trump for Speaker of the House. #118thCongress pic.twitter.com/VCQgi0bgLA— CSPAN (@cspan) January 5, 2023
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.” More