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      House adopts new rules Democrats decry as a ‘ransom note to America’

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      House adopts new rules Democrats decry as a ‘ransom note to America’Partisan lines divided the vote on rules, with no Democrats voting for them and only one Republican voting against The Republican-led US House of Representatives on Monday adopted a package of internal rules that give rightwing hardliners more leverage over the chamber’s newly elected Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy.Lawmakers voted 220-213 for the legislation, with only one Republican voting against. All 212 Democrats voted against the rules package, saying it was full of concessions to the right wing of the Republican party. After chaotic week, McCarthy faces new battle as House votes on rules packageRead moreThe rules package, which will govern House operations over the next two years, represented an early test of McCarthy’s ability to keep his caucus together, after he suffered the humiliation of 14 failed ballots last week at the hands of 20 hardliners before finally being elected speaker on Saturday.The legislation includes key concessions that hardliners sought and McCarthy agreed to in his quest for the speaker’s gavel. The changes include allowing a single lawmaker to call for his removal at any time. Other changes would place new restrictions on federal spending, potentially limiting McCarthy’s ability to negotiate government funding packages with President Joe Biden, whose fellow Democrats control the Senate.Democrats denounced the legislation as a rules package for “Maga extremists” that would favor wealthy corporations over workers, undermine congressional ethics standards and lead to further restrictions on abortion services. “These rules are not a serious attempt at governing. They’re essentially a ransom note to America from the extreme right,” Representative Jim McGovern said.McCarthy was hard at work on Capitol Hill on Monday prior to the House going into session trying to head off any such revolt and ensure a smooth passage for the rules package later in the day. He can only afford to lose a handful votes from his party in the House to avoid defeat on any measure.A clutch of establishment Republicans had indicated on Sunday they might withhold their support for the new rules package unless more details of McCarthy’s concessions made to the right are revealed, such as promising chairmanships of powerful committees that longer-established and more moderate members have been eyeing.Pressure groups on Monday stepped in to make clear there will be consequences if the first vote of McCarthy’s speakership turns into a standoff.On Friday, hours before McCarthy formally was elected to the speakership, Texas’s Tony Gonzales said he would oppose the rules package, reportedly over McCarthy’s willingness to cut spending to the defense department.That prompted the conservative group FreedomWorks on Monday to signal that Gonzales should be frozen out if he rebels.If Tony’s a ‘NO’ on the House Rules Package he should not be welcomed into the 119th Congress. #ampFW #HouseofRepresentatives https://t.co/X2tGxa3FqO— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) January 9, 2023
      The South Carolina moderate Republican Nancy Mace on Monday said she was “on the fence”.Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Mace said of the fringe members who almost sank McCarthy’s speakership bid last week: “My question really is today: what backroom deals did they try to cut, and did they get those?”She added: “We don’t know what they got, we haven’t seen it. We don’t have any idea what … gentleman’s handshakes were made. And it does give me a little bit of heartburn because that’s not what we ran on.”The package itself was published on Friday evening, and includes a measure to allow a single member to force a “motion to vacate” the speakership, already weakening McCarthy’s position, and a key demand of the holdout conservatives.It also includes reinstating a provision to allow lawmakers to propose amendments to appropriations bills, adds a 72-hour window for members to read bills before they vote, and a commitment to vote on legislation on term limits for members of Congress.TopicsKevin McCarthyHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansUS CongressUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Congress must act to overhaul healthcare, minimum wage and education for US families | Bernie Sanders

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      Congress must listen to working families and overhaul healthcare, minimum wage and educationBernie SandersAmericans are united on some of the most important issues facing our country and they want government to address them I am proud to be assuming the chairmanship of the US Senate’s health, education, labor and pensions committee (Help), a committee with wide jurisdiction over some of the most important issues facing the American people. As I move into that position I’m thinking about how we can best address some of the serious challenges facing my fellow Vermonters and working families all across the country.Today, in terms of health, we have a dysfunctional healthcare system in which we spend the astronomical and unsustainable sum of nearly $13,000 for every man, woman and child, twice as much as most developed countries and almost 20% of our GDP. Yet, despite that huge expenditure, 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured and we have worse health outcomes and lower life expectancy than many other nations. While the insurance companies make huge profits, over 500,000 people declare bankruptcy each year from medically related debt, and over 68,000 die because they can’t afford the care they need. Our complicated and fragmented system is so broken that it cannot even produce the number of doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health personnel that we desperately need.As a nation, we must focus on the reality that the function of a rational healthcare system is to provide quality care for all, not simply huge profits for the insurance industry.Today, as we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry is making record-breaking profits and more than a few executives in drug companies are becoming billionaires. Meanwhile, despite billions in government investment in prescription drug research and development, nearly one out of four Americans are unable to afford the medicine their doctors prescribe and too many seniors are splitting their lifesaving pills in half because they can’t afford them. And because Medicare doesn’t cover dental, hearing and vision, there are millions of seniors who are trying to survive without these basic healthcare needs.But it’s not just our healthcare “system” which needs a major overhaul. In terms of education, we need to take a hard look at how we are educating our kids – from childcare to graduate school.While psychologists tell us that the first four years of life are the most important in terms of human intellectual and emotional growth, it’s hard to deny that our childcare system is in disarray. The cost is unaffordable for many working parents, there are not enough slots available, the quality is spotty and the pay and benefits childcare workers receive is unconscionably low. This is not how we should be treating our children, the future of America.The situation in K-12 education is not much better. For a variety of reasons – lack of respect, low pay, the stress of Covid and the politicization of school boards – thousands of gifted and dedicated teachers are quitting the profession, leaving students unprepared for the challenges they face as they enter the adult world. The future of this country depends upon the quality of education we provide our kids, and there is no reason why we cannot create the best public educational system in the world.In terms of higher education, we face the absurd situation of hundreds of thousands of bright young people who have the desire and ability to get a college education but cannot do so because their families lack the money. How many great doctors, scientists, and teachers are we losing as a result? There are also millions of young people who need training in order to become skilled mechanics, carpenters, welders, and electricians who are not getting the post-high school training they need. Further, 45 million Americans are struggling with student debt – sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.In terms of labor and our economy, we must recognize that we live in a period of more income and wealth inequality than at any time in the last hundred years. While the very rich become richer and three people now own more wealth than the bottom half of American society, 60% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck and millions are trying to exist on starvation wages. Meanwhile, we have a pathetic federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour which has not been raised since 2009.As more and more workers try to improve their standard of living by forming unions, they are facing fierce and illegal union busting from such employers as Starbucks, Amazon, McDonalds and other major employers.There is a lot of discussion in the media about how “divided” our nation is and, on many issues, that is absolutely true. But what we don’t appreciate is that on some of the most important issues facing our country the American people – Democrats, Republicans, independents – are quite united.The American people know we are being ripped off by the drug companies and they want lower prescription drugs prices.The American people know that our healthcare system is outrageously expensive and they want universal and lower cost health care.The American people know that education is essential to our lives and the future of this country and they want high quality and affordable education from childcare to graduate school.The American people know that no one can survive on a $7.25-an-hour minimum wage, and they want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.The American people know that workers have a constitutional right to form unions and that corporations that engage in illegal union busting activities must be held accountable.And these are just a few of the issues within the jurisdiction of the Help committee that a strong majority of the American people want us to address.At a time when too many Americans are giving up on democracy, now is the time to attempt to restore faith in our government. Now is the time for Congress to have the courage to take on the lobbyists and powerful special interests and show the American people that our government can work for them, and not just the 1%. Let’s do it.
      Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress
      TopicsUS healthcareOpinionMinimum wageUS politicsUS educationUS CongressBernie SanderscommentReuse this content More

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      After chaotic week, McCarthy faces new battle as House votes on rules package

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      After chaotic week, McCarthy faces new battle as House votes on rules packageSome Republicans indicate they may withhold support unless details of concessions made to hard-right lawmakers are unveiled After five days of chaos and 15 rounds of floor votes, newly elected Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy is set to face an instant challenge on Monday as the House votes on a new rules package.A handful of establishment Republicans indicated on Sunday they may withhold their support for the rules unless more details of concessions made to ultraconservative lawmakers during a week of torrid negotiations are unveiled.McCarthy ascended to the speakership late on Friday after winning over support from holdout members of the hard-right freedom caucus who had leveraged their power due to the slim margin of control Republicans hold in the House.But full details of those negotiations have not been made public, leading to speculation that McCarthy has guaranteed the group positions on key committees and thrust them further into power.Speaking to CBS News on Sunday congresswoman Nancy Mace, a more moderate Republican from South Carolina, said while she supported the package itself, she had not decided on whether to vote for it on Monday.“My question really is today: what backroom deals did they try to cut, and did they get those?” Mace said, with reference to the holdout lawmakers.She added: “We don’t know what they got, we haven’t seen it. We don’t have any idea what… gentleman’s handshakes were made. And it does give me a little bit of heartburn because that’s not what we ran on.”The package itself was published on Friday evening, and includes a measure to allow a single member to force a “motion to vacate” the speakership, already weakening McCarthy’s position, and a key demand of the holdout conservatives. It also includes reinstating a provision to allow lawmakers to propose amendments to appropriations bills, adds a 72-hour window for members to read bills before they vote, and a commitment to vote on legislation on term limits for members of Congress.But anonymous briefings have indicated that the holdout Republicans also attempted to negotiate more leverage over key committees, including approvals over a third of positions on the powerful rules committee, which is responsible for what proposed legislation reaches the floor of the House.On Sunday, Republican congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas told CBS he would vote against the rules, citing disagreements with potential spending cuts to the defense department, which he described as a “horrible idea”.Gonzales said he was not urging other members to also vote against the rules, but cautioned that last week’s tumult within the party, was “only the beginning”.“Republicans are much different than Democrats,” Gonzales said. “We’re not just going to line up and jump off the cliff. All of us represent our districts and we’re gonna fight for that.”One of the central figures in negotiations between the ultra-conservatives and McCarthy was Texas congressman Chip Roy who acknowledged on Sunday that negotiations included adding more freedom caucus members to influential committees but did not provide further details.Speaking to CNN Roy said: “It’s not about petty personal desires. I don’t want to be on the Rules committee. I don’t want to leave my family on Sunday night and miss my kids, to come up here (Washington DC). But I might do it if that’s what my colleagues decide.”The divisions highlight the dilemmas posed by such a slim Republican majority in the House. But speaking on Sunday, Jim Jordan, a freedom caucus member and the expected new chair of the House judiciary committee, predicted the rules package would pass on Monday and defended the chaos of last week.“Sometimes democracy is messy, but I would argue that’s how the founders intended it,” Jordan told Fox News. “They wanted real debate, real input from all people and then you get a decision, whether it’s one vote or 15 votes, Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House.”The House judiciary committee, under Jordan’s leadership, is expected to launch a highly charged investigation into the US justice department over purported allegations of political bias, partly in relation to its ongoing inquiry of the January 6 insurrection.But a number of Republican lawmakers have been implicated in the investigation themselves, leaving open questions around conflicts of interest.On Sunday, the House freedom caucus chair Scott Perry, one of those under investigation, argued he could still serve on a committee undertaking oversight of federal investigators.“Should everybody in Congress that disagrees with somebody be barred from doing the oversight and investigative powers that Congress has?” Perry told ABC News, adding: “I get accused of all kinds of things every single day, as does every member that serves in the public eye.”TopicsKevin McCarthyHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      McCarthy clinches speaker’s gavel at 15th attempt as Republicans in disarray

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      McCarthy clinches speaker’s gavel at 15th attempt as Republicans in disarray With a wafer-thin majority, and few powers, Nancy Pelosi’s successor looks set to be one of the weakest speakers in historyHe had nothing to lose but his dignity. Congressman Kevin McCarthy knew the job he had always craved was within his grasp. All he needed was the vote of a 40-year-old Florida man under investigation over sex trafficking allegations.McCarthy walked over and begged Matt Gaetz to make him speaker of the US House of Representatives. Gaetz stared, pointed a finger and refused. Fellow Republican Mike Rogers stormed towards Gaetz and had to be forcibly restrained.After Brexit and Trump, rightwing populists cling to power – but the truth is they can’t govern | Jonathan FreedlandRead moreThat this tragicomedy played out on the second anniversary of the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol was almost too on the nose. That it was Gaetz, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump and smash-mouth media performer, who held McCarthy’s fate in his hands said everything about the Republican party in 2023.Midnight tolled, and within an hour McCarthy had achieved his dream of becoming speaker, securing a majority of votes from those present at the 15th attempt in the longest such election since the civil war. He beamed, punched the air and waved the gavel with childlike enthusiasm. “That was easy, huh?” he said. “I never thought we’d get up here.” But at what cost?After a historic humiliation, it was a pyrrhic victory. With a wafer-thin majority, and having surrendered numerous powers to far-right rebels so they would drop their opposition, McCarthy is set to be one of the weakest speakers in history.His concessions reportedly included allowing a single member to call for a vote to remove the speaker, putting him at risk of a shorter tenure than Liz Truss’s 50 days as British prime minister. He also offered key committee positions to the House Freedom Caucus, granting them outsized influence and raising the spectre of chaos for the next two years.The former Republican National Committee chairperson Michael Steele told the MSNBC network: “If it does come to, God forbid, a shutdown of the government, the American people have only one place to look and that is the man right there on our screen right now who gave away the House so he could take a seat.”The late-night drama capped a torrid week in which liberals indulged some guilt-free schadenfreude as the Republican party ate itself on live television, unable to coalesce around a choice for the position that is second in line in the presidential succession.The old House chamber resounded with a hubbub of voices, fiery speeches, shouts of “McCarthy” and “Jeffries” [Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries], chants of “Hakeem! Hakeem!”, roars of “Yea!” and “No!” to decide adjournments, the wails of babies (some members brought the families and, in one case, a pet dog) and, 14 times over, House clerk Cheryl Johnson uttering the words, “A speaker has not been elected.”Joe Biden described the saga as an “embarrassment”. For McCarthy, it was like a recurring nightmare. Nominating him on the sixth ballot, Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack said: “Well, it’s Groundhog Day.”Trapped in a time loop, the elected representatives to the House could not be sworn in, leaving the lower congressional chamber in suspended animation. But still the Capitol hummed with tourists, reporters and banks of TV cameras. Trolleys of pizza rolled along marble corridors to sustain late-night negotiations behind closed doors.Commentators interpreted the disarray as evidence of a new generation of conservative Republicans, many aligned with Trump’s “Make America great again” (Maga) base, who want to upend business as usual in Washington. It also suggested that the former president has unleashed anti-establishment forces that even he can no longer control.McCarthy had initially condemned Trump over the January 6 attack but, before the month was out, went cap in hand to his home in Florida to pledge his fealty. In turn, Trump supported McCarthy for the speakership but the gesture appeared half hearted; notably the former president did not round on McCarthy’s opponents with his customary insults and nicknames.As the voting went on and on, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a conservative firebrand, noted that “her favourite president” had called on the anti-McCarthy holdouts to “knock this off”. But she went on: “I think it actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy, ‘Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw’.” The show of defiance prompted a loud “Oooh!” from many in the House.Speaking by phone on Friday morning with the House still in limbo, Newt Gingrich, a former Republican speaker, said: “It was very significant that these people who call themselves Trump supporters just shrugged off his endorsement of McCarthy. That was a significantly different reaction than he would have gotten a year or two ago. It certainly means he’s weaker than he was. He must have been very surprised by how casually they rejected him.”Some of the rebels’ motives would have been very familiar to Trump: money. Several McCarthy opponents used the stalemate as an opportunity to send out fundraising appeals. Gaetz’s campaign asked donors to “support our fight with critical reinforcements” and branded McCarthy “Kyiv Kevin” – a reference to his support for Ukraine. Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona urged donors “to turbocharge our emergency efforts to break the establishment”.Gingrich commented: “There is a wing of the Republican party which is very unhappy with Washington and that wing makes it profitable for some members to be very disruptive. If you look at Gaetz and Biggs, they’re making money every day this goes on because they’re sending out fundraising appeals by email, so they have a big vested interest in keeping it going. If you look at others, this is their chance to maximise their leverage.”He warned that this is “the most dangerous period” for Republicans since a divisive 1964 party convention that saw moderates facing off against conservative insurgents. But there are some critics who argue that Gingrich himself planted the seeds of the current crisis, pointing to his partisan shock tactics as speaker in the 1990s that transformed politics into a blood sport (a charge he vehemently denies, pointing to several bipartisan accomplishments during the Bill Clinton White House).The next mutation was the Tea Party in 2010, a grassroots conservative movement that endorsed small government and fed a racist backlash against President Barack Obama. Republican speakers including John Boehner had trouble fending off a rebellious right flank and ended up with government shutdowns, standoffs and early retirement.The right was further empowered by the rise of Trump and went on to adopt his style of performative populism. A majority of the members opposing McCarthy this week voted to overturn the 2020 election. Yet party leaders have repeatedly acquiesced to their demands rather than seeking to hold them accountable.Former Republican Capitol Hill communications director Tara Setmayer said: “The Maga wing are political nihilists and that’s evidenced by their behaviour and their demands. They’ve been rewarded for being political trolls, not professional elected officials who govern for the best interest of their constituents. This is all about political kabuki theatre and fundraising for them.”Many of the holdouts represent overwhelmingly majority Republican districts, Setmayer noted, and cannot be bought off with promises of infrastructure projects to impress voters. She added, “Bringing the bacon home to their districts? That is not the currency that the Maga wing operates in today’s political climate. In the era of Trumpism it’s attention, viral moments, media hits on Fox News and Steve Bannon’s podcast. The grift is the political currency.”Setmayer, a senior adviser to the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, warned that these are ominous signs for the coming Congress, saying: “The Republican party is incapable of governing like grownups in Washington and that’s unfortunate because it [affects] the entire country.“If you listen to what a lot of these Republicans are saying, their focus is on personal agendas and vendettas against Democrats or the Biden administration. They want to focus on nonsense like endless spurious investigations into Hunter Biden and the Department of Justice and the ‘deep state’ and Dr Fauci and relitigating Covid policies. This is all backward thinking, not putting a focus on real issues that impact Americans every single day. It’s going to be chaos. Chaos is their currency.”The power of the far-right extremists could jeopardise crucial agenda items such as passing a budget and lifting the debt ceiling limit to cover previously authorised spending.Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, said: “I believed from the start that this would be a period of minimum legislative productivity and nothing that’s happened in the past four days has changed my mind. But this is a game for very high stakes because these people could blow up the world financial system if they’re not careful.”Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella agreed. “We’re going to have nothing but internal strife and gridlock within the Republican party that will create a dysfunctional House of Representatives,” he said. “This is what happens when you allow someone like Donald Trump to hijack an entire party, someone who only traffics in lies and conspiracy theories.”Kevin McCarthy wins House speaker bid after gruelling 15-vote sagaRead moreRepublicans’ identity crisis looks set to persist. Disappointing midterm election results suggested that Trump’s influence may be waning as he again seeks the party’s presidential nomination. But the decline of a strongman can create a leadership vacuum and fresh uncertainties. This week saw allies such as Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene on opposing sides and drove a wedge between Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, noted that for decades the Republican party had an ideologically-driven conservative wing that sought to change policy.“But we now have an almost anarchist element in the Republican party that has no real concern about governance,” he said. “In fact, they’re anti-governance. They don’t want to see Congress operate and so the normal rules for negotiations, the give and take, doesn’t apply because the only thing they want is mayhem. It’s a whole new radicalism.”TopicsHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Republican McCarthy says he finally has enough votes to win House speaker – live

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      Kevin McCarthy says he has enough votes to win election as speaker of the House on Friday night in a what could be the final act of a drawn out saga.Speaking with reporters just now, the California Republican, who has lost 13 straight votes over four days, said he was confident he finally has enough support to prevail.House members have just voted to adjourn until 10pm, after which time, McCarthy says, colleagues will finally propel him to the speakership in a 14th vote:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’ll come back tonight. I believe at that time we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all.
      It just reminds me of what my father always told me. It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. And now we have to finish for the American public.“The adjournment will allow two Republican congress members absent from today’s two votes so far to return to Washington DC, and for McCarthy’s allies to work further on two of the six holdouts who still block his pathway.In particular, Republicans Matt Rosendale of Montana and Eli Crane of Arizona are believed to be the two most likely members of the so-called “Never Kevins” to flip.McCarthy won Friday’s two votes so far, with 213 and 214 votes respectively, still shy of the threshold he needs. But he picked up significant momentum, flipping 15 of the 20 rebels who opposed him previously.In his brief comments to reporters just now, he brushed aside criticism that the length of the process had undermined Republicans’ ability to govern:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Getting together and just finding the ability of how we’re going to work together… it’s new for us, being in a tight majority [but] at the end of the day, we’re going to be more effective, more efficient. And definitely government’s going to be more accountable.
      That’s the great part, because it took this long now we learned how to govern. So now we’ll be able to get the job done.Hi all – Sam Levin here continuing our live coverage for the rest of the day.Congressman Matt Gaetz, a vocal member of the “Never Kevins”, appeared to concede that Kevin McCarthy might ultimately become speaker, NBC News has reported.“I think the House is in a lot better place with some of the work that’s been done to democratize power out of the speakership and that’s our goal,” Gaetz said this afternoon, according to the station, which reported that he had been huddled with the rightwing extremist congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who has also staunchly opposed McCarthy.More here on the latest developments.House speaker election at ‘a turning point’ despite McCarthy’s 13th lossRead moreJoe Biden has honored the “heroes” who repelled the deadly January 6 Capitol riot, by awarding them presidential citizens medals at the White House on Friday on the second anniversary of the insurrection. He insisted there was “zero place in America for political violence”.The president delivered a powerful speech denouncing the rioters who overran the Capitol building at Donald Trump’s behest as he attempted to remain in office, and praising the law enforcement officers who stood in their way..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}A violent mob of insurrectionists assaulted law enforcement, vandalized sacred halls, hunted down elected officials, all for the purpose of attempting to overthrow the will of the people and usurp the peaceful transfer of power.
      All of it was fueled by lies about the 2020 election. But on this day, two years ago, our democracy held because we the people, as the Constitution refers to us, did not flinch. We the people endured. We the people prevailed.Biden awarded the medals, the first of his administration, to 12 “extraordinary Americans”, including five law enforcement officers who lost their lives. Relatives of the fallen officers accepted the awards on their behalf, among them Gladys Sicknick, mother of fallen Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}History will remember your names, your courage, your bravery, your extraordinary commitment to your fellow Americans.
      America owes you all a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay unless we live up to what you did.Read more:‘All I did was testify’: Republican who defied Trump will get presidential medalRead moreKevin McCarthy says he has enough votes to win election as speaker of the House on Friday night in a what could be the final act of a drawn out saga.Speaking with reporters just now, the California Republican, who has lost 13 straight votes over four days, said he was confident he finally has enough support to prevail.House members have just voted to adjourn until 10pm, after which time, McCarthy says, colleagues will finally propel him to the speakership in a 14th vote:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’ll come back tonight. I believe at that time we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all.
      It just reminds me of what my father always told me. It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. And now we have to finish for the American public.“The adjournment will allow two Republican congress members absent from today’s two votes so far to return to Washington DC, and for McCarthy’s allies to work further on two of the six holdouts who still block his pathway.In particular, Republicans Matt Rosendale of Montana and Eli Crane of Arizona are believed to be the two most likely members of the so-called “Never Kevins” to flip.McCarthy won Friday’s two votes so far, with 213 and 214 votes respectively, still shy of the threshold he needs. But he picked up significant momentum, flipping 15 of the 20 rebels who opposed him previously.In his brief comments to reporters just now, he brushed aside criticism that the length of the process had undermined Republicans’ ability to govern:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Getting together and just finding the ability of how we’re going to work together… it’s new for us, being in a tight majority [but] at the end of the day, we’re going to be more effective, more efficient. And definitely government’s going to be more accountable.
      That’s the great part, because it took this long now we learned how to govern. So now we’ll be able to get the job done.Joe Biden is speaking now at the White House to pay tribute to the law enforcement officers who defended the US Capitol against a violent mob of Donald Trump-incited insurrectionists two years ago.We’ll bring you the best of his comments very shortly..@POTUS: “But on this day two years ago, our democracy held because We the People did not flinch. We the People endured. We the People prevailed.And on this day of remembrance, we honor a remarkable group of Americans who embodied the best.”— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) January 6, 2023
      You can follow the president’s speech here:Happening Now: President Biden marks two years since the January 6th insurrection during a Presidential Citizens Medal ceremony. https://t.co/LVhkWzSs8e— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 6, 2023
      Kevin McCarthy has picked off at least one of the seven remaining Republican holdouts, Andy Harris of Maryland.It won’t change the outcome of the 13th vote for speaker – McCarthy will still lose this round – but it would appear to point to a successful strategy of picking off the rebels one by one.BIG — Andy Harris, one of the seven remaining holdouts, has just flipped to McCarthy. McCarthy’s critics picking off the remaining opponents one by one. Now the focus shifts to Rosendale & Crane.— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) January 6, 2023
      So far today, 15 of the 20 Republicans who have voted against him consistently through 11 votes from Tuesday to Thursday have been persudade to join the McCarthy camp.The Californian will sense that he’s edging closer. Six of the seven hardline Republican holdouts blocking Kevin McCarthy’s path to the House speakership held firm in a 13th round of voting, thwarting once again the Californian’s pathway to the gavel.McCarthy won 214 votes, still shy of the threshold he needs. But he did flip the vote of Andy Harris of Maryland, potentially leaving him just two more votes away from victory assuming the chamber embarks on a 14th ballot on Friday afternoon.The other six so-called “Never Kevins” voted for Ohio’s Jim Jordan, who was not nominated, meaning there was not enough support for McCarthy to win on this vote.They included Andy Biggs of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida, among the most vocal of McCarthy’s opponents. Earlier Friday, several House members walked out as Gaetz attacked McCarthy from the floor.McCarthy’s allies, meanwhile, will be encouraged by the apparently successful strategy of picking off the rebels one by one to put him on the brink of victory. It represents an astonishing turnaround in his fortunes from 11 votes over three days earlier this week, during which at least 20 Republicans opposed him every time.McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors’ demands, according to the Associated Press, including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office. That change and others mean the job he fought so hard to gain will be somewhat weakened, assuming he emerges triumphant.There are now 6 GOP holdouts left in the election for Speaker of the House. McCarthy needs two votes from this group to win:Biggs AZBoebert COCrane AZGaetz FLGood VARosendale MTThe 6 all sat together in one row during this latest vote.— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) January 6, 2023
      There are seven holdout Republicans still standing in Kevin McCarthy’s path. Two of them, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have voted for Ohio’s Jim Jordan, even though he was not formally nominated.If three more Republicans join Boebert and Biggs, McCarthy looks all but certain to lose again. But if McCarthy can flip four of the five rebels yet to vote, he will win.Rejuvenated allies of Kevin McCarthy have touted the California Republican for an imminent 13th House speaker vote, more confident that this time they may have the support he needs to secure the gavel.Round 12 earlier this afternoon saw McCarthy flip more than a dozen of the 20 Republican holdouts who have so far blocked his path to the speakership.Some frantic horse trading has taken place, and McCarthy’s team is optimistic and ready to go again.Kentucky Republican James Comer has just delivered a fiery speech nominating McCarthy, promising investigations into Joe Biden and his dealings with Ukraine and Russia.Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of Texas is nominating Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic party’s leader in the House, for speaker.There are no other nominations, for the first time.Voting is under way and it seems to be a two-way fight between McCarthy and Jeffries, potentially a good sign for the Republican that this could finally be the vote in which he wins the speaker’s gavel.It’s been a lively morning in US politics and there is a lot more drama ahead. The House still does not have a speaker but California Republican Kevin McCarthy is finally making some progress. In a few minutes, Joe Biden is due to speak at the White House on the second anniversary of the January 6 insurrection by extremist supporters of Donald Trump, encouraged by the-then president. Biden will also present medals to a group of people who upheld the law and US democracy on January 6, 2021, and in the 2020 election and its aftermath against dangerous opposition from the far right.Here’s where things stand:
      Kevin McCarthy lost a historic 12th round of voting in his tortured quest to become House speaker – but the California Republican picked up support from several of the hardline Republican rebels who have consistently opposed him.
      Tribute was paid in Washington, DC, this morning to the late law enforcement officers who defended the US Capitol against Trump’s mob of insurrectionists two years ago today. The “tremendous bravery” of the five law enforcement officers who lost their lives as a result of the riot, 140 more who were injured, and hundreds of others on duty that day were honored by current Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries and predecessor Nancy Pelosi, the most recent speaker.
      The House of Representatives reconvened for the fourth day of the 118th Congress without a speaker. And the voting began again. The House can do no business until a speaker is elected, including swearing in its members.
      Another lawsuit against Trump. The partner of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress, has sued Donald Trump.
      California’s governor Gavin Newsom, a rising star in the Democratic party, will be sworn in for his second term on Friday by comparing his leadership style with that of Republican governors and former president Donald Trump. He is widely seen as a future presidential candidate, though he says he plans to support Joe Biden in 2024.
      While we vote for the next stage of the House voting, here’s a video of the tribute in Washington DC this morning paid to the late enforcement officers who defended the US Capitol against Donald Trump’s mob of insurrectionists two years ago today.The “tremendous bravery” of the five law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the riot, 140 more who were injured, and hundreds of others on duty that day were honored by current Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries and predecessor Nancy Pelosi, the most recent speaker.Here’s the fillip for Kevin McCarthy, the chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus among House Republicans, Scott Perry, has swung behind him.This could make the difference. Clearly McCarthy is not there yet to get the majority needed to elect him speaker of the House. But he’s a lot closer.We’re at a turning point. I’ve negotiated in good faith, with one purpose: to restore the People’s House back to its rightful owners. The framework for an agreement is in place, so in a good-faith effort, I voted to restore the People’s House by voting for @gopleader McCarthy.— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) January 6, 2023
      McCarthy has now flipped 14 hold-outs out of the 19 or 20 who’ve been opposing him since Tuesday – not enough to get him across the line yet, but noises are coming from his camp about momentum.Kevin McCarthy appears to have lost a 12th vote to become House speaker, but picked up support from several of the hardline Republican rebels who have consistently opposed him.Voting is still under way but enough Republicans have voted against him to deny the Californian Republican the 217 votes he needed. (The threshold had fallen by one from 218 because at least two House members voted only “present”).In 11 previous votes over three days, 20 Republican holdouts voted consistently against McCarthy. In Friday’s first vote, at least six switched their support to him, after overnight negotiations between the rebels and McCarthy’s team, and a conference call this morning.The next steps remain unclear, although more negotiations are likely this afternoon to win over more of the holdouts as McCarthy’s allies attempt to build on the momentum.McCarthy spoke optimistically as he entered the chamber ahead of the vote.“I feel good, I think you’re going to see an improvement in the vote today, we have a couple members who unfortunately are out so we’re seeing progress,” he told reporters.“My father always told me one thing, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”Several House members reportedly walked out of the chamber during Matt Gaetz’s speech nominating Jim Jordan.Also notable was that his address failed to gain the applause of a single congress member.people walk out during Gaetz’s speech, which is for Jim Jordan pic.twitter.com/tfFjuN2v87— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 6, 2023
      As voting continues, McCarthy has picked up at least five votes from the 20 rebels who had previously opposed him, indicating significant momentum to his cause.It remains to be seen if the shift is enough to get McCarthy to the 218 votes he needs during this round of voting, but it’s the first time in 12 rounds of voting he has picked up support, and his allies will be encouraged.Proceedings in the House are already growing rancorous as Florida Republican Matt Gaetz tears into Kevin McCarthy.Gaetz, a leading member of the “Never Kevins” who have barred McCarthy’s path to the speakership over the last three days, and who on Thursday nominated Donald Trump for the role (the fortmer president got one vote, that of Gaetz), says the 12th vote will have the same result as the previous 11.“One must wonder,” Madam Clerk, is this an exercise in vanity?” Gaetz wonders.“Mr McCarthy doesn’t have the votes today. He will not have the votes tomorrow, and he will not have the votes next week, next month, next year.”Gaetz nominates Jim Jordan of Ohio.Now another Republican maverick, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, is on her feet, nominating Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.Despite all the talk this morning of “glimmers of hope” and “breakthroughs”, it’s not looking good for McCarthy as things stand. Voting is under way.Mike Garcia, a Republican congressman from California, is on his feet nominating Kevin McCarthy for speaker (again), and a 12th vote looks like it’s imminent.“This is not about Kevin McCarthy,” Garcia is insisting, even though it is. He’s paying tribute to US service members, and addressing the fentanyl crisis even as he’s urging his colleagues to support McCarthy.He’s also talking directly to Democrats, and drawing boos, as he takes a dig over them voting from home during the pandemic. He’s been rebuked for not directing his remarks through the chair.“We are on the verge of a very important victory… a victory for the future of our nation,” he insists, although it’s far from clear McCarthy has even close to the 218 votes he will need to win the speaker’s gavel.Democrat James Clyburn of South Carolina is nominating Hakeem Jeffries as his party’s nominee for a 12th time. Jeffries, the party’s leader in the House, has won all 212 Democrat votes in every round of voting so far. More

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      Democrats commemorate January 6 attack with tears and silence at US Capitol

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      Democrats commemorate January 6 attack with tears and silence at US CapitolHundreds of members of Congress gathered to pay tribute to five police officers whose deaths have been tied to the insurrectionSenior Democrats on Friday led a large and poignant gathering on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington to commemorate the “solemn day” on the second anniversary of the deadly January 6 insurrection by extremist supporters of Donald Trump.Hundreds of members of Congress paid tribute to five police officers whose deaths have been tied to the violent insurrection in 2021, as rioters overwhelmed law enforcement and broke into the Capitol at the urging of the then president, intent on stopping the official certification of his election defeat by Joe Biden.Many were in tears at Friday morning’s event, including Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who had to flee for safety two years ago as the mob rampaged through the Capitol, calling out for her and invading her office while members of her staff hid in fear for their lives.Pelosi’s replacement as the most senior Democrat in the House, the new minority leader and New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, paid tribute to the deceased police officers.“Many more will forever be scarred by the bloodthirsty violence of the insurrection of this mob,” he said.Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died not long after being attacked by the mob. Four other police officers affected by the events that day later took their own lives.The ceremony included families of the fallen officers reading out their names, with the tolling of a bell, and concluded with 140 seconds of silence, one for each of the 140 law enforcement officers injured during the attack.Jeffries announced it was a bipartisan gathering of lawmakers, but there was no sign of Republican leadership. Many Republican House members were engaged in a simultaneous conference call with Kevin McCarthy as he pleaded for their support in his epic struggle to become the next speaker of the House.One Republican Congress member was spotted by CNN as being at the event, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.Jeffries said: “We stand here today with our democracy intact because of those officers. Violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and attempted to halt the peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of our republic. They failed.“They failed because of the bravery and valor of the United States Capitol police and the Metropolitan police department officers who fought heroically to defend our democracy. We will never forget their sacrifice and we will never forget this day.”Pelosi dabbed at tears as she listened to Jeffries’ remarks.Then she added: “The January 6 insurrection shook our republic to the core.”She noted that many inside and outside Congress still held the “physical, psychological and emotional scars” of an unprecedented day in modern American democracy.TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsUS CongressDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Republicans’ dysfunction over speaker threatens the health of US government

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      AnalysisRepublicans’ dysfunction over speaker threatens the health of US governmentJoan E GreveElection spectacle shows any speaker will face significant hurdles in trying to advance legislation, including must-pass bills The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, began the first week of the 118th Congress striking a defiant tone, insisting he would not abandon his quest for the speakership until he was declared the winner.“I have the record for the longest speech ever on the floor,” McCarthy said on Tuesday. “I don’t have a problem getting a record for the most votes for speaker, too.”The speaker of the House debacle is the Maga revolution eating its children | Jan-Werner MüllerRead moreBy Friday, McCarthy was well on his way to fulfilling that pledge. When the House adjourned on Thursday evening, McCarthy had already failed 11 times to win the speakership. The stalemate marked the first time in 163 years that it required more than nine ballots to choose a House speaker.The embarrassing spectacle has attracted international scrutiny and raised more questions about the future of the Republican party, as well as the US Congress. With a narrow majority in the House and an unruly conference to lead, any Republican speaker will face significant hurdles in trying to advance legislation.When it comes to must-pass bills like a government funding package or a debt ceiling hike, the Republican dysfunction displayed during the speakership election could threaten the health and legitimacy of the US government and economy.The delay in choosing a speaker has already affected congressional offices, preventing House members from communicating with agencies about constituent requests or receiving classified briefings.“If Republicans are unable to muster the votes for a speaker, it will make very clear from the outset they cannot be counted on to fulfill the body’s basic responsibilities,” Brendan Buck, a former senior adviser to House Republican leaders, wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week. “No matter who emerges as the top House Republican, the prolonged spectacle would leave the Republican majority hopelessly damaged from the start, along with the institution of the House itself.”The cause of McCarthy’s woes can be attributed to 20 members of the House Republican conference who refuse to back his candidacy. The hard-right lawmakers have pushed for a number of chamber rule changes, among other demands, before they will even consider backing McCarthy.Fears over lax security in Republican-controlled House two years after Capitol attackRead moreSome of those rule changes would essentially force McCarthy to lead the House with one hand tied behind his back. The anti-McCarthy coalition has proposed a rule allowing a single member to call for a vote on ousting the sitting speaker, which could bring a swift end to any leader’s tenure.“There are only two outcomes here,” Congressman Matt Gaetz, a Republican of Florida and one of McCarthy’s detractors, said on Twitter on Thursday. “Either Kevin McCarthy withdraws from the Speaker’s race, or he has to wake up every morning and put on the world’s best constructive straitjacket before the beginning of every House session.”Even an endorsement from Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican party, has not been enough to sway Gaetz and his allies. In a worrisome sign for whoever becomes the next House speaker, some of the holdouts do not appear to have any concrete demands in the negotiations. Their only stance in the speakership battle is to oppose McCarthy.“I’m not looking for a deal,” the freshman congressman Eli Crane, a Republican of Arizona, told Politico. “Leadership knows where I’m at.”The ongoing chaos could further jeopardize Republicans’ long-term political prospects. After expressing high hopes for a “red wave” in the midterm elections, Republicans had to instead settle for a slim majority in the House, while Democrats maintained control of the Senate.Some of McCarthy’s allies have blamed their disappointing performance in November on the extremism displayed by Trump and his acolytes. The speakership standoff will only intensify voters’ concerns about the trajectory of the Republican party, they warn.“If this remains the face of the GOP in 2024, we will get pummeled in the presidential and congressional elections,” Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican of Nebraska and a McCarthy supporter, told Politico. “We would have won more seats in 2022, but too many feared the extremes in the GOP even before this.”For many of McCarthy’s Democratic critics, his latest crisis comes with some schadenfreude. McCarthy first became a member of House Republican leadership under former speaker John Boehner, who stepped down in 2015 after numerous clashes with the most conservative members of the conference. Boehner memorably attacked some of those members as “political terrorists”.McCarthy has been expected to succeed Boehner as speaker but took himself out of the running for the post. In the years since, McCarthy has made a point to stay in Trump’s good graces and play ball with some of the most far-right members of his conference. As the speakership battle has unfolded, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who previously lost her committee assignments over her extreme views, has been a vocal supporter of McCarthy’s candidacy.The House speaker fiasco shows that Republicans are unable to govern | Andrew GawthorpeRead moreNow, despite McCarthy’s best efforts to cajole them, many of those far-right members are staging a revolt against him. Unless McCarthy can convince them otherwise, they have the numbers to deprive him of a job that he has chased for nearly a decade.Some Democrats cannot help but see a certain amount of justice in McCarthy’s plight.“Years of blindly pursuing power, currying the favor of special interests and bowing to election deniers has left the GOP in shambles,” Congresswoman Katherine Clark, the House Democratic whip, said on Thursday. “Kevin McCarthy is now being held hostage to his own ambitions by the dangerous members that he’s enabled.”TopicsHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressRepublicansUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

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      The speaker of the House debacle is the Maga revolution eating its children | Jan-Werner Müller

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      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
      TopicsUS politicsOpinionUS CongressRepublicanscommentReuse this content More