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Kevin McCarthy faces rocky first day as House speaker – live
by Evelyn Reynolds 9 January 2023, 20:34
The House will convene at 5 pm eastern time to vote on a rules package, typically a customary but crucial step for operating the chamber, but which today will serve as yet another barometer of how dysfunctional the new Republican majority will be over the coming two years.The package governs how the House will conduct its business, and would cement many of the procedural giveaways Kevin McCarthy made to win the support of rightwing insurgents who blocked his election for days last week. However, those concessions could spark a revolt among moderates and others unhappy with the deal the speaker made, again raising the possibility of another bout of standoff and legislative paralysis.Much of the debate centers on how the House will handle the massive spending bills Congress must periodically pass to keep the government running. The New York Times has a good rundown of the roots of this intraparty dispute:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The new House Republican majority is proposing to make institutional changes of its own as part of a rules package Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with hard-right rebels in exchange for their support for his job. The handful of Republicans who are forcing the changes, which are scheduled to be considered on Monday, pointed to the rushed approval in December of a roughly $1.7 trillion spending bill to fund the entire government as an example of back-room legislating at its worst.
“What this rules package is designed to do is to stop what we saw happen literally 15 days ago, where the Democrats passed a $1.7 trillion monstrosity of a bill that spent the American taxpayers’ money in all kinds of crazy ways,” Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said Sunday on Fox News. He said Republicans would require 72 hours to allow lawmakers to pore over any bill.
Part of the fight over the speakership was about the way Congress works, in particular the unwieldy “omnibus” spending bills that appear to materialize out of nowhere and with only minutes to spare.
But restoring any semblance of order and structure to the consideration of spending bills and other measures will prove to be extremely difficult with conservative Republicans in charge of the House and Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House. The new dynamic is more likely a prescription for shutdown and gridlock. The roots of dysfunction run deep.Congressman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri who objected to the certification of the results of the 2020 election, has won the chairmanship of the House ways and means committee.In a statement about his win, Smith pledged as chair to support the Republican plan to slash funding to the IRS or Internal Revenue Service – billions were allocated to the agency last year to go after tax cheats.“Our first step is defunding the $80bn pay increase Democrats gave the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents to target working families. But we are not stopping there,” Smith said in a statement.Doing so would reduce revenues by almost $186bn over 10 years and add more than $114bn to the deficit, according to an evaluation from the Congressional Budget Office.Rep. Jason Smith’s stmt on winning Ways and Means gavel: “It is deeply humbling and an honor to be selected by my colleagues to serve as the next Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.” pic.twitter.com/lpciH9TkbZ— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 9, 2023
Nancy Mace, one of the moderate Republicans who had voiced hesitation over the rules package, will vote for it, NBC News reports:MACE will be a YES tonight on rules package but she wanted to make people aware of the flaws in the process W @KyleAlexStewart— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotnbc) January 9, 2023
In a Sunday interview with CBS News, Mace objected to the way the package had been negotiated:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I like the rules package. It is the most open, fair and fiscally conservative package we’ve had in 30 years. I support it, but what I don’t support is a small number of people trying to get a deal done or deals done for themselves in private, in secret, to get a vote or vote present. I don’t support that … And so I am on the fence right now about the rules package vote tomorrow for that reason.Another aspect of the deal Kevin McCarthy cut with conservative Republicans that made him House speaker was a pledge to allow a single lawmaker to call for a vote to oust him from office.Under the previous Democratic speaker Nancy Pelosi, a motion to vacate could only be made if a majority of a party agreed to it. While lowering the threshold got McCarthy the votes he needed to win the chamber’s leadership, it also raised fears that any lawmaker who disagrees with his policies and tactics would create a crisis by seeking to remove him.CNN surveyed two Republican representatives today about how they think the rule will be used. Here’s what they had to say:Rep. David Joyce on one member being able to force a vote to oust speaker: “So it concerns Kevin more than it concerns me.” Says it should only be used in extreme circumstances and not as a recourse on “everyday policies.”But does the GOP agree on that?”Probably not” pic.twitter.com/gXL7sp7kxM— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 9, 2023
The House GOP may eventually win cuts to government spending, but first they’re going to try to pass a bill that will add more than $114bn to the budget deficit.The Congressional Budget Office has released its evaluation of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which would strip the Internal Revenue Service of $71bn in funding that was allocated last year in order to crack down on tax cheats. If the funding were withdrawn, revenues would decrease by almost $186bn in the 10 years from 2023, adding to the deficit by more than $114bn.The proposal is up for a vote today, assuming the House Republicans pass their proposed rules package.It took four days and 15 ballots for Republicans to resolve their differences and elect Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House. But he can’t get much done unless the chamber agrees on its rules, and with some GOP lawmakers pledging to oppose the package up for a vote this afternoon, pressure groups have stepped in to make clear there will be consequences if it turns into a standoff.Hours before McCarthy formally was elected, Texas’s Tony Gonzales said he would oppose the rules package, reportedly over McCarthy’s willingness to cut spending to the defense department:I am a NO on the house rules package. Welcome to the 118th Congress.— Tony Gonzales (@TonyGonzales4TX) January 7, 2023
That’s prompted conservative group FreedomWorks to make this threat: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
As with the speaker vote, the package will need 218 votes to pass, and all 212 Democrats are likely to oppose it. That means the GOP can only lose six votes – and they’re already down one.The White House has accused Republicans of wanting to “defund the military” as the new House majority makes clear that across-the-board spending cuts will be a major part of their agenda in the upcoming Congress.Here’s what White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates is telling the media, according to USA Today:The White House slams possible defense cuts that Republicans’ speaker deal could produce. “This push to defund our military in the name of politics is senseless and out of line with our national security needs,” @AndrewJBates46 says. “There is bipartisan opposition ..”— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison) January 9, 2023
It’s almost certain that Republicans will use the House’s powers of investigation to go after Hunter Biden, in a bid to cast his father’s presidency as corrupt. And while there are indeed unanswered questions Hunter Biden’s foreign business entanglements, the Guardian’s David Smith reports that the strategy is not without risks for the GOP:When Borat – alias British actor Sacha Baron Cohen – told risque jokes about Donald Trump and antisemitism at last month’s Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, Joe Biden was not the only one laughing in a red velvet-lined balcony.Sitting behind the US president was Hunter Biden wearing black tie and broad smile that mirrored those of his father.The image captured the intimacy between the men but also the sometimes awkward status of Hunter as both private citizen and privileged son of a president. It is a dichotomy likely to come under a harsh public glare this year as congressional Republicans set about making Hunter a household name and staple of the news cycle.‘It’s going to be dirty’: Republicans gear up for attack on Hunter BidenRead moreEven some Republicans regard the idea of the GOP-controlled House impeaching homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the Biden administration’s muddled and increasingly harsh handling of the US-Mexico border as ridiculous.Outgoing Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (who will be succeeded by one of Donald Trump’s old press secretaries, Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she’s sworn in tomorrow, becoming the first female governor of the state), shot down any suggestion, on Fox Business this morning, that impeaching Mayorkas is a good plan.As Axios reminds us, new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last November threatened to launch an “impeachment inquiry” into Mayorkas over his handling of border policy – if he does not resign.Mayorkas has dismissed the idea of him quitting, of course.Hutchinson told Fox that “impeachment proceedings should not be based upon policy…it should be based on wrongdoing.“And so whenever there’s failed policy, let’s investigate and have hearings on that and try to change that policy. That, to me, should be the approach of the Republican Congress,” he added.US president Joe Biden visited the border yesterday for the first time as president, spending a few hours in El Paso, Texas, which has been the scene of some misery of late with an increase in irregular crossings of the border and migrants having nowhere to stay, amid freezing temperatures.Biden did not meet with any asylum seekers during his visit.Biden’s ‘carrot and stick’ approach to deter migrants met with angerRead moreWhite House chief of staff Ron Klain has rung alarm bells via Twitter on what Republicans in the House might try to do as they try to force deep national spending cuts.Here’s Klain after Florida Republican representative Michael Waltz went on Fox.They are going to try to cut Social Security and Medicare. It could not be clearer. https://t.co/h1cXaa6iwa— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) January 9, 2023
Earlier, Waltz told Fox: “We have to get spending under control.”But amid discussions about defense spending cuts, he added that that was not his primary target and he was not going to press for cuts “on the backs of our troops.”He added: “We can work on reprioritizing defense spending but that’s nibbling around the margins. If you really want to talk about spending, it’s the entitlements program – that’s 70% of the entire budget … if you want to talk about big reforms, I look forward to hearing that from those folks who are pushing towards a balanced budget.”Social security is the federal US social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits, while Medicare is chiefly the government health insurance program for those 65 and older.The Washington Post warned in a piece at the weekend that: House Republicans are set to steer the country toward a series of fiscal showdowns as they look to force the White House to agree to massive spending cuts, threatening a return to the political brinkmanship that once nearly crippled the economy and almost plunged the US government into default.In a Guardian interview before he retired, Kentucky Democrat John Yarmuth told our Chris Stein last month that the Republican party is now so extreme it could cause the world’s largest economy to default on its debt for the first time ever in its quest to extract concessions from the Biden administration.Republicans could cause US to default on its debt, top Democrat warnsRead moreIt’s a lively day in Washington, even though Joe Biden is on trip to Mexico City, where he’ll meet with the leaders of Mexico and Canada for talks.On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, it’s new House speaker McCarthy’s first day of business with the gavel in his grasp after his epic struggle to get the votes to put him in that position as last Friday turned over into the early minutes of Saturday.Here’s where things stand:
US president Joe Biden, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador have issued a joint statement condemning yesterday’s attack on Brazil’s congress and presidential palace by supporters of Jair Bolsonaro.
The special grand jury in Georgia has concluded its examination of Donald Trump’s alleged election meddling in the state, where he made efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. There are further stages to go through before prosecutor Fani Willis decides whether to indict Trump on criminal charges.
House Republican leadership apparently does not want a repeat of last week’s dysfunction in the chamber, when it took 15 rounds of voting over four days to elect a speaker. They’re now racing to make sure moderate GOP lawmakers lend their vote on a crucial package of rules for governing the House.
The House will convene at 5pm eastern time to vote on the rules package, typically a customary but crucial step for operating the chamber, with votes due after that.
Should the rule package pass, the new Republican House majority will be able to get down to business, and their first priority will be undoing part of one of Joe Biden’s biggest legislative achievements.They’ve scheduled an initial vote later today on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which would rescind almost all of the new funding to the Internal Revenue Service tax authority provided by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. The IRS has been underfunded for years, and the money was intended to help the agency modernize and better crack down on tax cheats. The GOP opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, and tried to stoke outrage by telling voters the money would be used to hire tens of thousands or armed IRS agents – which mostly turned out not to be true.Whether or not this passes, expect more legislation of this sort aimed at undoing the legacy of Biden’s two years of united government.Election meddling has consequences, and for proof of that, look no further than the now-concluded special grand jury investigation into what Donald Trump and his allies were up to in Georgia in the wake of the 2020 election.It’s unclear if Trump himself could face charges based on what the jurors determine, but they’ve already informed several of his allies they are targets of its investigation. These include Rudy Giuliani, one of his most prominent attorneys, as well as Georgia Republican party chair David Shafer and state senator Brandon Beach. It’s far from the only investigation into Trump, or his campaign to stop Joe Biden from taking office. The justice department is investigating that as well as the violent insurrection on January 6, and both cases have been handed to special prosecutor Jack Smith. Smith is also expected to decided whether to bring charges against Trump and others over the government secrets discovered at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.There are reasons to believe the special grand jury investigation in Georgia is the most immediate threat Trump is facing. Here’s more from the Guardian’s Chris McGreal as to why that might be:Of all the legal threats Trump is facing, is this the one that could take him down?Read more More
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Republican McCarthy says he finally has enough votes to win House speaker – live
by Evelyn Reynolds 6 January 2023, 20:41
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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House still without speaker as McCarthy pleads with Republican holdouts – live
by Eliana Willis 6 January 2023, 14:00
Kevin McCarthy’s team insists there has been progress in negotiations with the hard-right Republican rebels who have denied him the speakership through 11 straight votes, but whether it’s the breakthrough the California Republican so desperately needs is far from certain.The House reconvenes at noon Friday in what has already been the lengthiest search for a speaker in 159 years, with an increasingly anguished McCarthy offering more concessions to the holdouts to try to secure the 218 votes he needs.The Washington Post on Friday was among several media outlets reporting signs emerging of a possible deal to end the impasse yet, crucially, notes that while it reflects “considerable momentum” for McCarthy, the expectation is he “will not get all the votes necessary to become speaker”.Moderate Republicans are also growing restless after three days of voting in which McCarthy has failed to show any progress towards the winning threshold, and a group of 20 House Republicans has consistently voted against him.There is, therefore, something of a “make or break” feel to today’s proceedings.One Republican lawmaker told Politico Playbook on Friday:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}There is a limit to how much of this crap we can take.The website reports mounting frustration among a sizeable number of others, some of whom want to be out of Washington DC to be with sick relatives, attend family funerals or meet new babies for the first time.“There’s a lot more at stake than whether Kevin McCarthy’s going to be able to get the gavel,” the lawmaker told Playbook.“We’ve got lives that are being impacted right now, and this is tough for people.”The other area of concern is how much McCarthy seems to be giving away to the hardliners in order to make a deal.The Post, and others, say he has now consented to reduce the threshold from five to one of the number of House members needed to raise a “vacate the chair” motion, making it easier for the speaker to be ousted.Read more:McCarthy fails in speakership bid for third day after 11th voteRead moreA number of prominent politicians and others have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts on today’s second anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol insurrection. Some are linking it to the current paralysis in Congress caused by Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker after three days and 11 votes.Here’s Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the most recent speaker:Tomorrow, we solemnly observe the January 6th Attack on the Capitol.As we mark a day that threatened our Democracy, let us show our respect for the great institution of the Congress.We must open the House and proceed with the People’s work.— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 6, 2023
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss: Any political leader who planned, abetted, praised or excused the violent attack on our Congress and Capitol of January 6, 2021, and that insurrection against our sacred democracy should never be trusted on the issue of law and order.— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) January 6, 2023
Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer:This January 6th anniversary should serve as a wakeup call to the GOP to reject MAGA radicalism—which keeps leading to GOP failures.But the pandemonium wrought by House Republicans this week is one more example of how MAGA radicalism is making it impossible for them to govern.— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 6, 2023
Democratic New Jersey congressman Donald Norcross:On #January6th 2021, rioters breached the Capitol, threatening the peaceful transition of power and democracy itself. Looking back at the footage I took gives me chills.Two years later, I am more committed than ever to protecting our democracy. pic.twitter.com/2bVql6GfU4— Congressman Donald Norcross 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@DonaldNorcross) January 6, 2023
The official Senate Democrats account:Today marks two years since the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. We must defeat extremism and hold the Republicans who promote it accountable.We will not forget January 6. pic.twitter.com/AyPIaPodtI— Senate Democrats (@dscc) January 6, 2023
Today marks the second anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol riot. This afternoon, Joe Biden will award the nation’s second highest civilian honor, the Presidential Citizens Medal, to 12 people, including law enforcement officers and politicians, who resisted Donald Trump’s insurrection. Ed Pilkington reports:Rusty Bowers, the former top Republican in Arizona’s house of representatives who stood up to Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and was punished for it by being unseated by his own party, is to receive America’s second-highest civilian honor on Friday.Bowers will be among 12 people who will be awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by Joe Biden at the White House at a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. It will be the first time that the president has presented the honor, which is reserved for those who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens”.All 12 took exceptional personal risks to protect US democracy against Trump’s onslaught. Many are law enforcement officers who confronted the Capitol rioters, others are election workers and officials in key battleground states who refused to be bullied into subverting the outcome of the presidential race.Several of the recipients paid a huge personal price for their actions. Brian Sicknick will receive the presidential medal posthumously – he died the day after the insurrection having suffered a stroke; a medical examiner later found he died from natural causes, while noting that the events of January 6 had “played a role in his condition”.Bowers’ award, first reported by the Deseret News, came after he refused effectively to ignore the will of Arizona’s 3.4 million voters and switch victory from Biden to Trump. As a result, he incurred the wrath of Trump, who endorsed a rival candidate in last year’s Republican primary elections.David Farnsworth, the Trump-backed opponent, went on to defeat Bowers and usher him out of the Arizona legislature. Farnsworth is an avid proponent of the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, going so far as to tell voters that the White House had been satanically snatched by the “devil himself”.Ahead of Friday’s ceremony, Bowers described the news of his award as “something of a shock”. He said that though some of his detractors were likely to denounce his call to the White House a political stunt, he thought it was designed to “create unity and put behind us the division of the past. I’m certainly in favor of that, no matter what.”He added: “I don’t think this is to stir up division, it’s to honor those who stood up and did their job as best they could. And that’s kind of what America is about.”Read the full story:‘All I did was testify’: Republican who defied Trump will get presidential medalRead moreKevin McCarthy’s team insists there has been progress in negotiations with the hard-right Republican rebels who have denied him the speakership through 11 straight votes, but whether it’s the breakthrough the California Republican so desperately needs is far from certain.The House reconvenes at noon Friday in what has already been the lengthiest search for a speaker in 159 years, with an increasingly anguished McCarthy offering more concessions to the holdouts to try to secure the 218 votes he needs.The Washington Post on Friday was among several media outlets reporting signs emerging of a possible deal to end the impasse yet, crucially, notes that while it reflects “considerable momentum” for McCarthy, the expectation is he “will not get all the votes necessary to become speaker”.Moderate Republicans are also growing restless after three days of voting in which McCarthy has failed to show any progress towards the winning threshold, and a group of 20 House Republicans has consistently voted against him.There is, therefore, something of a “make or break” feel to today’s proceedings.One Republican lawmaker told Politico Playbook on Friday:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}There is a limit to how much of this crap we can take.The website reports mounting frustration among a sizeable number of others, some of whom want to be out of Washington DC to be with sick relatives, attend family funerals or meet new babies for the first time.“There’s a lot more at stake than whether Kevin McCarthy’s going to be able to get the gavel,” the lawmaker told Playbook.“We’ve got lives that are being impacted right now, and this is tough for people.”The other area of concern is how much McCarthy seems to be giving away to the hardliners in order to make a deal.The Post, and others, say he has now consented to reduce the threshold from five to one of the number of House members needed to raise a “vacate the chair” motion, making it easier for the speaker to be ousted.Read more:McCarthy fails in speakership bid for third day after 11th voteRead moreGood morning and happy Friday, US politics readers. The longest of weeks on Capitol Hill continues today with Kevin McCarthy still chasing the speakership after losing 11 straight House votes.The California Republican’s team has been pleading with conservative holdouts overnight, trying to reach a deal to get him to the 218 votes he needs. But the troops are growing restless, and frustration among moderates is rising at how much control McCarthy seems willing to cede to the party’s extremist fringe.“There is a limit to how much of this crap we can take,” one Republican lawmaker tells Politico’ Playbook after three days and nights of stalemate.The circus tent opens again when the House reconvenes at noon, and we’ll know pretty soon thereafter if McCarthy has achieved any kind of breakthrough.Also happening today:
It’s the second anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol riot. Joe Biden will present the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second highest civilian award, to 12 people, including law enforcement officers and politicians, who stood up to Donald Trump’s insurrection.
Security services are on high alert with several rallies planned to take place at or near the Capitol building. Democrats fear the safety of lawmakers and staff has been compromised by a weakening of security measures since Republicans won the House majority.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, will deliver her final briefing of the week at 12.45pm. More
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Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow’s retirement sets up fierce 2024 Senate contest
by Evelyn Reynolds 5 January 2023, 17:55
Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow’s retirement sets up fierce 2024 Senate contestThe vacancy will make Michigan’s Senate seat one of the most competitive in the nation, as Republicans vie for more control Michigan senator Debbie Stabenow, a member of the Democratic leadership, announced on Thursday that she would not seek re-election in 2024, setting the stage for a fierce contest to claim an open seat in a critical midwestern battleground state.How Michigan Democrats took control for the first time in decadesRead moreStabenow, 72, is the first Senate Democrat to announce her retirement ahead of 2024, when the party will try to defend its razor-thin majority by fending off challenges to incumbents in several states that former president Donald Trump won.But Democrats delivered a strong performance in Michigan last year and expressed confidence that the seat would remain in the party’s control.“Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the US Senate,” Stabenow said in a statement on Thursday. “I am announcing today that I will not seek re-election and will leave the US Senate at the end of my term on 3 January 2025.“Under the cloud of unprecedented threats to our democracy and our basic freedoms, a record-breaking number of people voted last year in Michigan. Young people showed up like never before. This was a very hopeful sign for our future,” she said.Stabenow’s decision not to seek a fifth term after serving two decades in the chamber immediately turned the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat into one of the most competitive in the nation. Republicans welcomed the development as a sign that Democrats’ hopes of maintaining their one-seat majority were already fading.“We are going to aggressively target this seat in 2024,” said Mike Berg, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans. “This could be the first of many Senate Democrats who decide to retire rather than lose.”Senate Democrats face a punishing electoral map next year. They are defending nearly a quarter of the seats in the Senate, many of them in competitive states as well as in red states like Ohio, Montana and West Virginia. By contrast, no Senate Republican faces re-election in a state Joe Biden won.But their prospects have improved in Michigan since Trump won the state in 2016. Biden won the state in 2020. And two years later, fury over efforts to ban abortion in Michigan in the wake of the supreme court decision overturning Roe v Wade propelled Democrats to victory up and down the ballot in the state.In a statement, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer praised Stabenow as the embodiment of the “true Michigan spirit” and thanked her for her years of service in Congress and her leadership within the caucus. “With Debbie’s help, and the strong Michigan Democratic party she helped build, Debbie and I are confident Democrats will retain the seat,” he said.Speculation began to swirl about who Democrats might nominate to replace Stabenow. Attention immediately turned to Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin who clinched a decisive victory in November in one of the most competitive House races that cycle. Other possible contenders included congresswoman Haley Stevens, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who recently moved to Michigan to be closer to his husband’s family.In a statement, Buttigieg called Stabenow a “force in the Senate” but said he was “not seeking any other job”.Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who resoundingly won re-election in November, praised Stabenow as a “champion for Michigan” while indicating that she was not interested in running for the seat. “As governor of this great state for the next four years, I look forward to working with [Stabenow] through the end of her term and beyond in however she serves our state next,” Whitmer said in a statement, emphasizing her plans to serve a full four-year term.Other Michigan officials whose names have been raised include Lt governor Garlin Gilchrist, secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, attorney general Dana Nessel as well as state senator Mallory McMorrow, who drew interest after a forceful rejoinder to Republican accusations that Democrats want to “groom” children went viral.Stabenow first joined Congress in 1996 after serving in the Michigan state legislature. In 2000, she became the first woman to represent Michigan in the US Senate. Stabenow climbed through the ranks, becoming a member of Democratic leadership and chair of the agriculture committee. In 2018, she turned back a well-funded and closely-watched challenge from Republican John James, who is seen as a rising star on the right.House Republicans aim to rein in ethics body preparing to investigate their partyRead moreJames was elected to the House in November and is considered a potential contender for the Republican Senate nomination. Other possible Republican candidates are former congressman Peter Meijer, a relative moderate who lost his seat last year as well as Tudor Dixon, a Trump loyalist who was defeated by Whitmer in the race for governor.In her statement, Stabenow reflected on the progress Michigan women had made in politics since she first ran for office in 1974, at the age of 24.“This began years of breaking barriers, blazing trails and being the ‘first’ woman to reach historic milestones as an elected official,” she said, adding: “But I have always believed it’s not enough to be the ‘first’ unless there is a ‘second’ and a ‘third’…”TopicsUS politicsMichiganDemocratsUS CongressUS SenatenewsReuse this content More
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House without a speaker as McCarthy fails to secure majority in six rounds of voting – live
by Evelyn Reynolds 4 January 2023, 20:38
This will give members about three and a half hours to hash things out. McCarthy could try to make deals with Republican holdouts – or bow out. In three rounds of voting today, the results have been exactly the same: Hakeem Jeffries 212, Kevin McCarthy 201, Byron Donalds 20, present 1.Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh, reporting from the West Coast.After Kevin McCarthy failed to get support after a sixth round of voting, CNN’s Manu Raju reports that Republicans are looking to regroup:What’s happening now: McCarthy foes and emissaries are in discussions about setting up talks for tonight to break the speaker standoff, per source.They are trying to nail down exactly which members will negotiate tonight. The expectation is there could be one more vote today— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 4, 2023
The roll call continues with 13 votes for Donalds. Here’s a quote from Republican representative Steve Womack on what the House speaker election is like: What. A. Quote.“This is like OJ and the white Bronco. Everybody’s watching…waiting for something to happen at 40 mph,” GOP Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) tells me.— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 4, 2023
It is expected that House members will be adjourning after the sixth round of voting if they are unable to elect a House speaker. From CNN’s Manu Raju:McCarthy now going to lose his sixth ballot for speaker. The expectation is after this vote, the House will try to adjourn to allow Republicans to negotiate. Eight votes for Donalds and counting. McCarthy can only lose four Rs— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 4, 2023
Once again, it appears that McCarthy has lost the sixth round of votes for House speaker. 7 representatives have voted for Donalds as roll count continues. Perry has called for Republicans to nominate “the first Black Republican speaker of the House,” receiving some applause from McCarthy opposers.Perry: “we are making history today and we are showing the American people this process works. … we are showing that we are not going to take any more of Washington being broken. We can also make history by electing the first Black Republican speaker of the House”— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) January 4, 2023
Frustration was growing in the chamber given Perry’s longer speech, with California representative Anna Eshoo shouting at one point, “Who are you nominating?” during Perry’s remarks.Anna Eshoo just yelled out “WHO ARE YOU NOMINATING” Perry’s next line was about nominating Donalds to be the first Black speaker of the House (groans) — only the rebels applauded. Then Perry got to Frederick Douglass and there was an “oh lord” from below on the Dem side.— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) January 4, 2023
Jeffries received another nomination in a short speech from California representative Pete Aguilar. Aguilar noted that Jeffries has received the most votes in the five rounds of voting that have happened so far, with other Democrats applauding him. Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania has nominated Donalds, giving a speech about Washington being “broken”. “I think the person that has done the most to make this fabulous…Republican majority is Speaker Pelosi,” said Perry during his speech. The House broke into jeers and cross talk after Cammack claimed that Democrats have been enjoying the dysfunction amid Republicans, accusing Democrats of having “popcorn, blankets, and alcohol” during the proceedings. The clerk had to gavel several times to reestablish decorum. From Daily Beast reporter Ursula Perano:Cammack getting some BIG negative reactions after suggesting Dems have been enjoying “popcorn and blankets and alcohol over there” during the speaker votes.I’ve spotted popcorn and coats as blankets. But clearly, Dems offended by the alcohol remark— Ursula Perano (@UrsulaPerano) January 4, 2023
The official roll call is in: Kevin McCarthy has officially lost his fifth round of voting.Another nomination has come through to nominate McCarthy for the position from Florida representative Kat Cammack.Fifth round of voting for speaker: Hakeem Jeffries 212, Kevin McCarthy 201, Byron Donalds 20, present 1. Kat Cammack of Florida nominates McCarthy in sixth round and says: “Well, it’s Groundhog Day, again.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 4, 2023
We’re still waiting on the official count of votes for House Speaker, but it appears that McCarthy has lost a fifth round of voting. There’s mixed messaging from Republicans on if McCarthy should withdraw from the House speaker process and allow someone else to be the nominee.While McCarthy opponents like Boebert have called for McCarthy to step down, Donalds told reporters that Republicans aren’t “at that point”, adding that GOP members want to have a serious discussion about the next House speaker. From ABC News’ Rachel Scott:I asked @ByronDonalds if he believes Kevin McCarthy should step aside?“I don’t think we’re there at this point. I think there’s a lot of members in the chamber who want to have serious conversations about how we can bring this all you know, to a to a close and elect a speaker”— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) January 4, 2023
Vote tally for House speaker appears to be unchanged as official votes are being recounted now. Spartz voted present again. More
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Kevin McCarthy again falls short in second round of voting for House speaker – live
by Evelyn Reynolds 3 January 2023, 20:35
It’s an epic defeat for Kevin McCarthy and warring House Republicans. The second round of voting – which has not happened in a century – is over and California Republican McCarthy is still nowhere near a majority.The clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, will announce the official tally shortly, but the pen-and-paper watchers have Democrat Hakeem Jeffries on 212 votes, McCarthy on 203, the same desultory number he got in the first round, and fellow-Republican Jim Jordan on 19 votes.Once again it is unclear what will happen next, the chamber is still in session and, unless McCarthy drops out, we have a third round of voting pending. If Democrats could leave the chamber they’d probably pop to the proverbial popcorn cart and settle in for the rest of the spectacle.Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican of Florida, has become the first McCarthy supporter to switch his vote from McCarthy to Jordan.The vote got a few claps in the chamber.Hi there, is Maanvi Singh, reporting from West Coast. It seems Kevin McCarthy is on the verge of losing for the third time today, after five Republicans so far voted in support of Jim Jordan. Democrats, meanwhile, have remained united in voting for Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. Hello again, US politics blog readers, the drama in Washington is far from over as the election for House Speaker is still inconclusive.Republican Kevin McCarthy is suffering a humiliating drubbing at the hands of his supposed fellows, as right-wing rebels turn the first day of GOP control of the House in the new Congress into a crisis for the party.We are about to witness the third round of voting. Louisiana’s Steve Scalise just rose to his feet to nominate McCarthy for speaker.My colleague in California, Maanvi Singh, will take the helm of this blog now and we’ll continue to bring you the developments as they happen.Here’s where things stand:
As we head for an excruciating third round of voting in the election for House Speaker, there is no sign of California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who has long aspired to step into the role, gaining a majority of the votes.
Kevin McCarthy suffers defeat in second round of voting in House speaker election. It’s an epic loss for McCarthy and warring House Republicans. The second round of voting – which has not happened in a century – ended with McCarthy nowhere near a majority.
Right-winger Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is a McCarthy supporter but was nominated by anti-McCarthy rebel Matt Gaetz to disrupt everything, already took 19 votes in the second round of voting in the election for House speaker.
The first round of voting delivered a humiliating defeat for Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker. He just made history in the worst way. The first person in a century to lose the vote for speaker in the first round.
After the roll call vote in the first round, Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had 212 votes, McCarthy had just 203, Republican strategic thorn Andy Biggs (nominated by rightwing rebel Paul Gosar) had 10 votes and nine lawmakers supported none of the three hats in the ring.
All the new members of Congress elected in the midterm elections in November will arrive on Capitol Hill today, many with family in tow, waiting to be sworn in to the brand new 118th Congress. There will be exuberant scenes but the House speaker vote comes first.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy faces historic struggle to clinch speakership, with a battle royale on Capital Hill.
Is Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be House speaker doomed? As we head for an excruciating third round of voting in the election for speaker, there is no sign of the California Republican, who has long aspired to step into the role, gaining a majority of the votes.Some speculate that if this goes on, McCarthy could step aside and nominate prominent Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise to be speaker in his stead.Any idea of Ohio rightwinger Jim Jordan leapfrogging into the seat and grasping the gavel seems far-fetched.Jim Jordan isn’t gaining much traction among House Republicans voting for Speaker. If Kevin McCarthy can’t twist enough arms or offer enough inducements to get to 218, look for Steve Scalise of Louisiana to be among the nominees eventually, possibly next@AJEnglish— John Hendren (@johnhendren) January 3, 2023
And…After @Jim_Jordan fails to garner the support of House Republicans, @SteveScalise will become the Speaker.Will @GOPLeader drag this out for several hours?Days?Or simply bow out?Remember, Kevin McCarthy pretends he’s very concerned about not stalling the oversight agenda. https://t.co/XeC84RkBGA— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) January 3, 2023
It’s surreal.So Jim Jordan endorsed Kevin McCarthy… but keep an eye on Steve Scalise… he’s had his head down all day. @NEWSMAX— Rob Finnerty (@RobFinnertyUSA) January 3, 2023
Steve Scalise is also a stalwart of the right wing known for hanging around with white supremacists and Klan types.Steve Scalise says attending white supremacist conference was a ‘mistake’Read moreScalise was badly wounded in a mass shooting targeting members of Congress at a baseball practice in 2017.It’s an epic defeat for Kevin McCarthy and warring House Republicans. The second round of voting – which has not happened in a century – is over and California Republican McCarthy is still nowhere near a majority.The clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, will announce the official tally shortly, but the pen-and-paper watchers have Democrat Hakeem Jeffries on 212 votes, McCarthy on 203, the same desultory number he got in the first round, and fellow-Republican Jim Jordan on 19 votes.Once again it is unclear what will happen next, the chamber is still in session and, unless McCarthy drops out, we have a third round of voting pending. If Democrats could leave the chamber they’d probably pop to the proverbial popcorn cart and settle in for the rest of the spectacle.The humiliations for Kevin McCarthy just keep coming. Right-winger Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is a McCarthy supporter but was nominated by anti-McCarthy rebel Matt Gaetz to disrupt everything, already has 19 votes in the election for House speaker.Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, is also ahead of McCarthy, with 196 votes compared with McCarthy’s 183. Jeffries won’t be able to get a majority, with Republicans controlling the House, but he is playing a big part in the epic embarrassment for McCarthy.We’re up to the Ws already in the roll call vote, so McCarthy’s second go around of twisting on a skewer is about to wrap up.McCarthy is doing his best to keep a fixed smile on his face in the chamber, but the giveaway is his left hand reflexively tapping his leg with nerves.The last time the vote went to multiple ballots was in 1923, when a small bloc of Republicans refused to reelect Rep. Frederick Gillett (R-Mass.) as speaker. (The rebels were part of the party’s progressive faction, in contrast to the conservatives threatening to block McCarthy’s rise today, but like their modern counterparts, they were pressing for changes to House rules), the Washington Post reports today.The Washington Post continues:“So powerful and determined was the grip of the insurgents that after the fourth ballot Nicholas Longworth, the Republican floor leader, moved an adjournment until tomorrow, when the struggle will be resumed,” the New York Times reported at the time.Gillett did not prevail until the ninth ballot, two days after voting began. He was elected with 215 votes, the lowest total of any speaker since the House reached its modern size. (Others have come close, though: Pelosi prevailed with 216 votes in 2021, as did Boehner in 2015.)Older fights over the speakership dragged on even longer, such as the 1855 deadlock that ended with the election of Representative Nathaniel Banks as speaker. It took 133 ballots. “This will not take that [long],” former House speaker Newt Gingrich told The Early last month.The second round of voting for the speakership has begun. There was no recess between votes, only frantic minutes of huddling horse-trading on the floor.This has not happened in century. All other speakers have managed to get elected on one round of voting.Arizona rightwinger Andy Biggs, who was nominated in the first round as a spoiler and got 10 votes, just voted for Jim Jordan, the Ohio rightwinger who’s just been nominated by Florida rebel Matt Gaetz as a spoiler against McCarthy in this round.Freedom caucus extremist Lauren Boebert just voted for Jordan, too.Here’s Axe:This is awful for Rs. Good for the Ds. But likely bad for the country as a whole over the next two years, as the crazy right holds the House hostage.This was foreshadowed by the anemic R margin in the fall, a rejection by Americans of the very extremism that is seizing the day.— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) January 3, 2023
Ohio right-winger Jim Jordan has just re-nominated Kevin McCarthy to become House Speaker.Jordan said: “We need to rally around him.” He then quoted the Bible, calling on the caucus to “keep the faith” and unify around McCarthy.It’s a crisis for the Republicans in the House, no doubt about it.California Democrat Pete Aguilar is now once again nominating Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as that party’s choice for speaker.Freedom caucus and right-wing rebel Matt Gaetz of Florida has now risen. he’s nominating Jim Jordan to become speaker. We’re definitely in sitcom territory now, other than this is about one of the highest offices in the land and third in line to the presidency.Wry smiling from McCarthy, who’s sitting feet from Gaetz. In the first round, Arizona congressman Paul Gosar nominated Andy Biggs. He’s not being nominated this time around. The reading clerk is now going to call the roll and voting will begin.House clerk Cheryl Johnson is now formally reporting the vote in the first round for House Speaker, where Kevin McCarthy slumped to a humiliating defeat.Johnson confirms that Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries received 212 votes. McCarthy received 203 votes. Rightwinger Andy Biggs of Arizona received 10 votes. Rightwinger Jim Jordan, who was not formally nominated, received six votes.There were 434 votes vast. Republicans hold 222 seats and should have been able to reach a majority behind one nominee – but civil war prevails.Johnson announced: “No person, having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast … as speaker has not been elected.”She notes that for the first time since 1923, the voting will now go to a second round.Astonishingly, because it is the first day of the new Congress, the floor of the House of Representatives is not just full of representatives, there is a smattering of children, babies, even, miniature adults in suits and a variety of family members.They’re there to see their relatives sworn in for the 118th Congress. There are many freshman members who won their races in the midterm elections in November and are now waiting to take their seats.On the first day of a new congress, new members bring family along. What these folk are now witnessing is an historic mess as Republican civil war in the House produces a scene of chaos.No-one is being sworn in until the House has a Speaker, which it is currently missing, the Speaker’s seat sitting vividly unoccupied, the gavel silent.Right-winger and conspiracy theory-fan Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is huddling with Kevin McCarthy right now, after he just lost the first round of voting to elect the House Speaker.She voted for him, unlike other right-wing rebels such as Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Scott Perry.Jim Jordan, who backs McCarthy, is trying to swing support behind McCarthy now, doing the rounds on the floor.🚨🚨 NEWS: Sources tell me TEAM MCCARTHY wants to move DIRECTLY into second ballot.JORDAN making the rounds on the floor to whip his supporters.— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2023
Much huddling and milling about on the floor of the House of Representatives before the chamber is expected to proceed to an historic second round of voting for the election of House speaker.California Republican Kevin McCarthy just spectacularly failed to win a majority of House votes to become speaker in the first round. The House currently has no speaker. The chamber is not in recess, it’s still in session. It’s not entirely clear what will happen in the moments between now and the next round of voting.McCarthy has been handed his pride on a plate by a knot of right-wing rebels in his own party who refused to vote for him, who he has failed to win over despite intense days and, indeed, weeks of negotiating.Six lawmakers voted for representative Jim Jordan, even though he was nor formally on the ballot. Will Jordan try to get those people to switch to McCarthy? That still won’t give McCarthy the requisite 218-vote majority he needs.McCarthy can be seen laughing loudly as he talks to allies on the floor. One wonders what he is feeling inside.The first round of voting is over and it’s a humiliating defeat for California Republican Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker.He just made history in the worst way. The first person in a century to lose the vote for speaker in the first round.After the roll call, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had 212 votes, McCarthy had just 203, Republican strategic thorn Andy Biggs (nominated by rightwing rebel Paul Gosar) had 10 votes and nine lawmakers supported none of the three hats in the ring.McCarthy needed 218 votes to be elected speaker and he technically could have garnered that many based on Republican numbers, but failed spectacularly.This immediately plunges House Republicans into crisis on their first day in control of the House after the midterm elections.We’re coming up on the end of the alphabet and not only is Kevin McCarthy far short of winning a majority in the election for House Speaker, he’s behind Democratic minority leader HakeemJeffries in the voting.This is a disaster for Republicans on their first day supposedly in control of the House of Representatives.They can’t recess without the clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, agreeing to a vote, it seems, so the Democrats might just keep everyone on the floor and force the second round of voting to proceed with McCarthy having any chance to twist more arms on his side. More
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Kevin McCarthy faces long battle after two votes fail to win House speakership
by Evelyn Reynolds 3 January 2023, 19:56
Kevin McCarthy faces long battle after two votes fail to win House speakership‘We have a battle on the floor’: ultraconservatives vote against the aspiring leader as challengers rack up votes In a historic delay, House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, is facing a protracted battle to secure the speaker’s gavel after failing to win the first and second votes on Tuesday, the opening day of the new Congress.On both of the first two ballots to decide the next House speaker, 19 Republicans opposed McCarthy’s candidacy, leaving him 15 votes short of the 218 needed for a win. In a demoralizing sign for the new House Republican majority, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries received more votes than McCarthy on both ballots.With his loss, McCarthy became the first nominee for speaker in 100 years to fail to win the initial vote for the gavel. After the inconclusive first two ballots, the House prepared for additional votes that could stretch into Tuesday evening.McCarthy previously acknowledged he was unlikely to win the speakership on the first ballot, setting the stage for a potentially lengthy delay before new members of the House can be sworn into office. Underscoring his commitment, McCarthy suggested he was comfortable breaking the record for the longest speakership election in history, which currently stands at two months and 133 ballots.“We may have a battle on the floor,” McCarthy told reporters ahead of the vote. “But the battle is for the conference and the country, and that’s fine with me.”The Republican opposition to McCarthy has been led by members of the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right group of lawmakers who have pushed for a number of changes to chamber rules in recent weeks. Scott Perry, the chair of the Freedom Caucus, reiterated his opposition on Tuesday and accused McCarthy of failing to work in good faith with his group.“At nearly every turn, we’ve been sidelined or resisted by McCarthy, and any perceived progress has often been vague or contained loopholes that further amplified concerns as to the sincerity of the promises being made,” Perry said in a statement. “Kevin McCarthy had an opportunity to be Speaker of the House. He rejected it.”McCarthy’s allies have lashed out against Perry and other holdouts in the speakership vote, contending they have prioritized their own political ambitions over the wellbeing of the party.Formally nominating McCarthy for speaker before the first vote, Elise Stefanik wholeheartedly endorsed his candidacy and delivered some thinly veiled criticism of his opponents.“No one in this body has worked harder for this Republican majority than Kevin McCarthy,” Stefanik said. “A proud conservative with a tireless work ethic, Kevin McCarthy has earned the speakership of the People’s House.”In the first vote, a third nomination was put forward by Arizona congressman Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican who offered Arizona congressman Andy Biggs as a conservative alternative. Of the 19 Republicans who opposed McCarthy on the first ballot, 10 supported Biggs, who lost to McCarthy in the November nominating contest, 188-31. On the second ballot, Jim Jordan, a Republican of Ohio, won the support of all 19 Republicans who opposed McCarthy in the first vote. That impressive showing came even after Jordan himself nominated McCarthy for the second ballot in an attempted show of unity. In his nominating speech, Jordan outlined Republicans’ legislative agenda and urged his colleagues to set aside their differences to achieve their collective goals.“We need to rally around him [and] come together,” Jordan said.The Tuesday conference meeting failed to resolve the lingering issues between McCarthy and his detractors. Matt Gaetz, one of McCarthy’s most vocal critics in the caucus, said that those withholding their support were threatened with being removed from committees if they did not change their position.“If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise,” Gaetz told reporters. “I’m a Florida man, and I know of what I speak.”Gaetz and his colleagues showed no sign of relenting as the House prepared for a third ballot on Tuesday afternoon. Their continued opposition raised the prospect of the first lengthy floor fight over the House speakership in 100 years, as the last such spectacle unfolded in 1923.”We’re not going to back down until we get in a room and we decide how we’ll be able to stand up and fight for the American people no matter who the speaker is.””I’m not blinking.” pic.twitter.com/BGY2RmucQ8— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) January 3, 2023
As Republicans squabbled, Democrats rallied behind their leader, Jeffries. “He does not bend a knee to anyone who would seek to undermine our democracy,” California congressman Pete Aguilar, the third-ranking House Democrat, said in a speech nominating Jeffries to be speaker.Across the Capitol, the Senate convened without incident. Democrats welcomed two new members – including Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who helped his party secure a 51-49 majority in the chamber.In his first floor remarks of the new Congress, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, commended his counterpart, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, on becoming the chamber’s longest-serving party leader in history.As a new era of divided government begins, after two years of unified Democratic control, Schumer acknowledged the legislative path forward “won’t be easy” but was nevertheless optimistic.“After everything we’ve accomplished in an evenly divided Senate and a narrowly divided House,” he said, “there’s no reason both sides can’t keep working together for the good of our country, our beloved country.”Kevin McCarthy’s faces election for House speaker unsure if he has votes needed – liveRead moreTopicsHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansUS politicsUS CongressUS SenateChuck SchumernewsReuse this content More
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January 6 panel releases transcripts of key witness Cassidy Hutchinson – as it happened
by Evelyn Reynolds 22 December 2022, 20:00
The full report from the January 6 House panel investigating Donald Trump’s insurrection has not yet materialized, but the committee has just published transcripts of the testimony of a key witness.Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gave some of the most dramatic, and damning testimony during a live public hearing in the summer. She said Trump attempted to strangle his secret service agent and lunged for the steering wheel when he was told that he would not be driven to join the rioters he incited during the January 6 Capitol riot.She gave further, closed doors testimony to the panel in September, released by the committee in two documents this morning. One from 14 September is here; and the other from the following day is here.The first session lasted five and a half hours, and the second was two and half. There’s more than 200 pages of transcript here, but one episode sticks out, aboard Air Force One early on 5 January 2021, as Trump was flying back to Washington after “stop the steal” rallies in Georgia.It would appear to allude to the plot to try to persuade vice-president Mike Pence to deny certification of Trump’s election defeat by Biden in Congress the following day, the infamous Capitol riot incited by Trump.In a conference room meeting attended by, among others, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, allies were talking up the scheme, and assuring Trump it would succeed, Hutchinson says.But she says she then saw Meadows take Trump aside after the meeting and caution him thus: “In case we didn’t win this [the election] sir, and in case, like, tomorrow doesn’t go as planned, we’re gonna have to have a plan in place.”According to Hutchinson, Trump replied: “There’s always that chance we didn’t win, but tomorrow’s gonna go well,” a potentially crucial admission that Trump already knew his defeat was not fraudulent.We’re closing the live politics blog now, but look out for our news report later on the January 6 committee’s final report, assuming the panel sticks to its word and publishes it today.Even without the report, it’s been a busy day. The select committee did release transcripts of the two-day deposition of Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and a key witness during public hearings this summer.Hutchinson spoke of a campaign of pressure on her by White House attorneys, including one paid by Trump, to give misleading testimony.Here’s what else we followed:
The Senate voted 68-29 to pass the $1.7tn omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded for another year. The House is expected to take up the bill later on Thursday, and Joe Biden must sign it before a Friday deadline to avert a government shutdown.
Arizona governor Doug Ducey said he’d take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the US government over trespassing on federal lands.
Newly elected New York congressman George Santos, whose life story has come under question since the Republican’s midterms victory last month, said he’ll address those concerns next week.
Former president George W Bush issued a statement condemning the Taliban for pulling the plug on university education for women in Afghanistan, accusing the country’s ruling party of treating women as “second-class citizens”.
Joe Biden will speak from the White House at 4pm ET Thursday with a Christmas message.The president’s address, the White House said in a memo, will be “focused on what unites us as Americans, his optimism for the year ahead, and wishing Americans joy in the coming year”.You can watch the Biden Christmas address here.The governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, will take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the US government over trespassing on federal lands.The Associated Press reports that the Biden administration and the Republican governor entered into an agreement under which Arizona will cease installing the containers in any national forest, according to court documents filed in US district court in Phoenix.The agreement also calls for Arizona to remove containers already installed in the remote San Rafael Valley, in south-eastern Cochise county, by 4 January and without damaging any natural resources. State agencies will have to consult with US Forest Service representatives.Read the full story:Arizona governor agrees to remove wall of shipping containers on Mexico borderRead moreGeorge W Bush, the president who ordered US forces into Afghanistan as part of the global war on terror, has issued a statement condemning the Taliban for pulling the rug on university education for Afghan women.In a statement from his office in Crawford, Texas, the 76-year-old former commander in chief and former first lady Laura Bush said their “hearts are heavy for the people of Afghanistan”:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We are especially sad for Afghan women and girls, who are enduring terrible hardship under the brutal Taliban regime. Just this week, all Afghan women were banned from studying at university. Many were turned away from their jobs in schools; others were prevented from worshiping in mosques and seminaries.
And in the latest assault on human rights in the country, we fear for young girls being barred from school entirely. Treating women as second-class citizens, depriving them of their universal human rights, and denying them the opportunity to better themselves and their communities should generate outrage among all of us.
For Afghans who were forced to flee their homes, these attacks remind us of our responsibility to help those who’ve helped us over the last two decades, including the evacuees here in the United States. Afghans, like people around the world, simply want to live in freedom and provide a better future for their children.
Laura and I, along with the team at the Bush Center, pray that 2023 will bring a better time for the people of Afghanistan and those fighting for freedom everywhere.Other former world leaders have also been vocal. In an opinion piece for the Guardian, Gordon Brown, the United Nations special envoy for global education, and most recent Labour prime minister, said the Taliban’s ruling had done “more in a single day to entrench discrimination against women and girls and set back their empowerment than any other single policy decision I can remember”.Read more:The Taliban are taking away women’s right to learn. The world can’t afford to stay silent | Gordon BrownRead moreSenators have just voted 68-29 to pass the $1.7tn omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded for another year.The House is expected to take up the bill later on Thursday, with the outgoing Democratic majority likely to pass it in one of its last acts before ceding control of the chamber to Republicans next month.Politicians are facing a midnight Friday deadline to get the measure to Joe Biden’s desk before parts of the government would have to shut down through lack of funding.“There are so many good things in the bill it’s hard to get them all out,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said.“We’ve concluded this Congress, one of the most disruptive in decades, with one of the best omnibus packages in decades.”George Santos says he’ll address questions “next week” about an allegedly fantastical biography the newly-elected New York congressman presented to voters in last month’s midterms.Speculation has grown in recent days that the Republican may not have been entirely truthful in statements about his background, education and achievements. His beaten Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, said Santos “was running a scam against the voters”.“To the people of #NY03 I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more,” Santos said in a Thursday afternoon tweet.To the people of #NY03 I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more.Happy Holidays to all!— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) December 22, 2022
Santos had claimed his grandfather escaped the Holocaust; that he had worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs; that he had graduated from Baruch College; and that he ran a non-profit, tax-exempt pet rescue group.Every one of the claims has been disproved, according to research by, among others, the New York Times and CNN.Santos, who beat Zimmerman by eight points in November, became the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a non-incumbent, the Times reported.More, from Maya Yang, on how Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s only current rival for the next Republican presidential nomination, has appointed a judge previously ousted over a controversial ruling in which he denied a teenager an abortion, citing her school grades.DeSantis appointed Jared Smith to the newly established sixth district court of appeal, an appointment which will begin on 1 January 2023. Smith was previously a judge on the Hillsborough county court, until he was ousted in August after his decision on the abortion-related case.In January, Smith ruled that a 17-year-old was unfit to obtain an abortion as he questioned her “overall intelligence”. According to Florida law, both parental notification and consent is required in order for a minor to receive an abortion. In the teenager’s case, she asked the court to waive the requirement.The requirement can be waived if the court finds “by clear and convincing evidence, that the minor is sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy”.In his ruling, Smith cited the teenager’s grades as a factor in his decision to deny her the abortion.“Addressing her ‘overall intelligence’ … the court found her intelligence to be less than average because ‘[w]hile she claimed that her grades were ‘Bs’ during her testimony, her GPA is currently 2.0. Clearly, a ‘B’ average would not equate to a 2.0 GPA,’” Smith wrote.Smith also questioned the teenager’s “emotional development and stability, and ability to accept responsibility”.“This court has long recognized that the trial court’s findings … may support a determination that the minor did not prove that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” he wrote.An appeals court overturned the ruling. In August, Smith lost his re-election bid against Nancy Jacobs, a Tampa criminal defense and family law attorney.DeSantis appoints judge who denied abortion to girl over school gradesRead moreSpeaking of impending investigations of Hunter Biden, the president’s son has hired a well-known Washington lawyer, who represented Jared Kushner in Congress as well as during the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Donald Trump and Moscow, to advise him during his looming congressional combat.The younger Biden “has retained Abbe Lowell to help advise him and be part of his legal team to address the challenges he is facing,” another attorney, Kevin Morris, told news outlets on Wednesday.“Lowell is a well-known Washington based attorney who has represented numerous public officials and high-profile people in Department of Justice investigations and trials as well as congressional investigations. [For Hunter Biden] Mr Lowell will handle congressional investigations and general strategic advice.”Lowell has worked across the political divide, representing Democrats including Bob Menendez, a New Jersey senator, and the former senator and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards, both in corruption cases that ended in mistrials, and acting as chief minority counsel to House Democrats in the impeachment of Bill Clinton.Recently, Lowell represented Tom Barrack, a Trump ally acquitted in a foreign lobbying case.Lowell, 70, has said that to be a trial lawyer, “you have to have a desire to be a performer at some level. If I hadn’t done this, it would have been Broadway”.But his work for Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and chief adviser, brought an uncomfortable sort of spotlight. Writing in the American Lawyer in late 2020, Lowell suggested criticism of his work for another client was generated “primarily because I later represented … the president’s son-in-law.“The resulting news coverage, and especially the more sensational headlines, triggered the all-too-common flurry of hate mail, threatening voice mails and anonymous criticisms for doing the very job that attorneys are supposed to do.”Full story:Hunter Biden hires Jared Kushner lawyer to face Republican investigatorsRead moreJamie Raskin of Maryland, a member of the January 6 committee and before that a House manager in the second impeachment of Donald Trump, will be the top Democrat on the House oversight committee in the next Congress.Raskin beat Gerry Connolly of Virginia in a closed ballot on Capitol Hill.So far, so inside Beltway baseball. But it’s an important vote to note nonetheless. Raskin, who was a professor of constitutional law before entering Congress, has achieved a high profile and he will need to wield it to good effect in the oversight role from January, given Republicans’ declared intent to use the committee to launch investigations into Hunter Biden and other subjects designed to damage Joe Biden.The current oversight chair, Carolyn Maloney of New York, will leave Congress shortly, having lost her primary this year.James Comer of Kentucky, the incoming Republican chair, told reporters last month he intended to go on the offensive, by investigating whether family business activities have “compromise[d] US national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality”.“We want the bank records and that’s our focus,” Comer said. “We’re trying to stay focused on: ‘Was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals and is he compromised?’ That’s our investigation.”Raskin’s work on the January 6 investigation is all but done. Now comes the next hefty task.Here’s some further reading about Raskin, from our Washington bureau chief, David Smith:Congressman Jamie Raskin: ‘I’ll never forget the terrible sound of them trying to barrel into the chamber’Read moreWhite House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said she felt she had “Trump himself looking over my shoulder” as she discussed with her attorney her upcoming testimony to the January 6 committee earlier this year.Hutchinson, an assistant to then-president Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, makes the revelation in a transcript of a deposition to the panel that was released on Thursday morning.In it, Hutchinson, a star witness against Trump in public hearings of the committee this summer, outlines what she saw as sustained campaign of pressure by lawyers paid by Trump to get her to mislead the panel.CNN reported on Wednesday that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the White House at the time, allegedly advised Hutchinson to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she did over Trump’s efforts to reverse his defeat to Joe Biden.According to the transcript, Hutchinson told the panel:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}It wasn’t just that I had Stefan sitting next to me; it was almost like I felt like I had Trump looking over my shoulder. Because I knew in some fashion it would get back to him if I said anything that he would find disloyal.
And the prospect of that genuinely scared me. You know, I’d seen this world ruin people’s lives or try to ruin people’s careers. I’d seen how vicious they can be.Hutchinson, then 26, said she originally thought she was “fucked” because she couldn’t afford a lawyer after receiving a subpoena from the House committee, but was hooked up with Passantino through her White House contacts. It turned out that Passantino was being paid by a Trump political action committee.NEW: Cassidy Hutchinson told Jan. 6 committee that Ben Williamson — aide to former Trump chief Meadows — told her: “Well, Mark wants me to let you know that he knows you’re loyal and he knows you’ll do the right thing tomorrow and that you’re going to protect him and the boss.”— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) December 22, 2022
Hutchinson also said that Passantino had never explicitly asked her to lie to the panel:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I want to make this clear to you: Stefan never told me to lie. He specifically told me, ‘I don’t want you to perjure yourself, but ‘I don’t recall’ isn’t perjury. They don’t know want you can and can’t recall’.But she said she felt increasingly pressured into misleading the panel. The relationship with Passantino soured, and ended, she said.Read more:Cassidy Hutchinson: who is the ex-aide testifying in the January 6 hearings?Read moreThe $1.7tn government spending bill could pass Congress as early as Thursday night after Democratic and Republican negotiators in the Senate appeared to strike a deal over certain amendments that were holding it up.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer announced the agreement to clear about 15 amendments, the Associated Press reported. Such amendments are subject to a 60-vote requirement and would ordinarily fail in the evenly divided chamber.“It’s taken a while, but it is worth it,” Schumer said in announcing the series of votes, needed to lock in an expedited vote on final passage and get the bill to Joe Biden’s desk before a partial government shutdown would begin at midnight Friday. The House will take up the bill after the Senate completes its work, the AP reports.The massive bill includes about $772.5bn for non-defense, discretionary programs and $858bn for defense, and would finance the government through September. Lawmakers were racing to get the bill approved before a shutdown could occur, and many were anxious to complete the task before a deep freeze and wintry conditions leave them stranded in Washington for the holidays. Many also want to lock in government funding before a new GOP-controlled House next year could make it harder to find compromise on spending.Read more:Schumer seeks Senate path for funding bill as government shutdown loomsRead moreThe full report from the January 6 House panel investigating Donald Trump’s insurrection has not yet materialized, but the committee has just published transcripts of the testimony of a key witness.Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gave some of the most dramatic, and damning testimony during a live public hearing in the summer. She said Trump attempted to strangle his secret service agent and lunged for the steering wheel when he was told that he would not be driven to join the rioters he incited during the January 6 Capitol riot.She gave further, closed doors testimony to the panel in September, released by the committee in two documents this morning. One from 14 September is here; and the other from the following day is here.The first session lasted five and a half hours, and the second was two and half. There’s more than 200 pages of transcript here, but one episode sticks out, aboard Air Force One early on 5 January 2021, as Trump was flying back to Washington after “stop the steal” rallies in Georgia.It would appear to allude to the plot to try to persuade vice-president Mike Pence to deny certification of Trump’s election defeat by Biden in Congress the following day, the infamous Capitol riot incited by Trump.In a conference room meeting attended by, among others, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, allies were talking up the scheme, and assuring Trump it would succeed, Hutchinson says.But she says she then saw Meadows take Trump aside after the meeting and caution him thus: “In case we didn’t win this [the election] sir, and in case, like, tomorrow doesn’t go as planned, we’re gonna have to have a plan in place.”According to Hutchinson, Trump replied: “There’s always that chance we didn’t win, but tomorrow’s gonna go well,” a potentially crucial admission that Trump already knew his defeat was not fraudulent.Nancy Pelosi is delivering the final press conference of her long-time tenure as House speaker, and is reminiscing over all the memorable presidents she has served:Pelosi: “I was speaker and minority leader under President Bush, under President Obama and under whatshisname?”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 22, 2022
It’s safe to say that Madam Speaker has not suddenly become that forgetful as she prepares to stand down.Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona’s Democratic-turned-independent senator, has always had a reputation as one of Washington’s more unconventional politicians. Now, it seems, she’s also one of the most demanding.The Daily Beast has published details of what it says is a 37-page memo “intended as a guide for aides who set the schedule for and personally staff Sinema during her workdays in Washington and Arizona”.It makes for quite a read, reminiscent of some of the more outlandish demands contained in the “riders” of various rock stars.Sinema must always have a room temperature bottle of water at hand, the Beast says, citing the memo.At the beginning of each week, her executive assistant must contact Sinema in Washington to “ask if she needs groceries,” and copy both the scheduler and chief of staff on the message to “make sure this is accomplished”.Anyone booking her travel must avoid Southwest Airlines, never book her a seat near a bathroom, and never a middle seat, the Beast says.And if the internet in Sinema’s private apartment fails, the executive assistant “should call Verizon to schedule a repair” and ensure a staffer is present to let a technician inside the property.The allegations come just a week after Slate published a piece claiming Sinema was a prolific seller on Facebook’s online marketplace, listing mostly shoes and clothing.The Beast said Sinema’s office said it couldn’t verify the document’s authenticity, which is not an outright denial, and said the information as published “is not in line with official guidance from [her] office and does not represent official policies of [the] office”.You can read the Beast’s report here.Never one to hide his opinions, however extreme, Fox News host Tucker Carlson did not share in the almost universal acclaim for Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s historic address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.“The president of Ukraine arrived at the White House, dressed like the manager of a strip club and started to demand money,” Carlson announced at the opening of his show on Wednesday, citing both Zelenskiy’s request for more western armaments and his trademark olive green military-style clothing.“Amazingly, no one threw him out. Instead, they did whatever he wanted,” Carlson continued, fuming at the further $1.85bn in US aid for Ukraine, including, for the first time, advanced Patriot air defense missiles, announced by the Biden administration on Wednesday.Tucker Carlson, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz stand with Putin; most of America stands with Zelensky and the people of Ukraine.The contrast between the far right and most of America has never been more glaring.— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) December 22, 2022
Right-wingers bashing US support for Ukraine as it fights to repel the 10-month-old invasion by Russia is nothing new. A number of politicians and celebrity figures such as Carlson have long questioned the tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers money committed so far.But the howls of protest have become louder in recent weeks as Republicans prepare to take control of the House, and a further $44bn in emergency aid for Ukraine is included in the $1.7tn government spending package that looks on track for congressional passage today.Ahead of November’s midterms, Republicans even hinted that if they won control, the stream of funding for Ukraine could be cut off, as reported by Axios, and others, in October.On Wednesday night in the House, two notorious Republican extremists, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida, remained sitting and unmoved as Zelenskiy spoke, while many party colleagues sprang to their feet in applause.It caught the attention of Democratic New York congressman Ritchie Torres, who was not impressed with the pair’s antics, or Carlson’s comments for that matter.“Tucker Carlson, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz stand with [Russian president Vladimir] Putin; most of America stands with Zelenskiy and the people of Ukraine. The contrast between the far right and most of America has never been more glaring,” he said in a tweet.CNN is reporting that Senate negotiators for the Democrats and Republicans have struck a deal to secure passage of the $1.7tn government spending package.A number of amendments are incorporated into the bill, reflecting a “furious push by Senate leaders to get this done,” the network reports.We’ll have more details soon.Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chaired the January 6 House panel, says its investigation into Donald Trump’s insurrection uncovered witnesses that not even the justice department could find.In a revealing interview with MSNBC on Wednesday night, Thompson also said the bipartisan, nine-member committee took its time before referring the former president for criminal charges on Monday because it “wanted to get things right”.Thompson, and Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair from Wyoming, will present their 800-page full report to Congress sometime today. The panel has already sent evidence to the justice department to assist its own parallel criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.Thompson told MSNBC:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I am more comfortable with the fact that the special counsel has been actively engaged in pursuing any and all the information available. They have been in contact with our committee, asking us to provide various transcripts.
There were people that we deposed that justice had not deposed. There were electors in various states that justice couldn’t find. We found them. We deposed them.
So we had a lot of information, but now we make all that information available to them. And if they come back and want to interview staff or any members, ask any additional information, you know, we’ll be more than happy to do it. Thompson also spoke emotionally about the demands of conducting an intensive, 18-month inquiry, and the reason it was necessary:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}It’s been difficult. I have spent many nights away from home. I’ve spent a lot of time just trying to figure out why, in the greatest democracy in the world, would people want to all of a sudden stow on the Capitol because they lost an election?
You know, normally in a democracy, you settle your differences at the ballot box. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but under no circumstances do you tear the city hall up, or the courthouse up, and, God forbid, the United States Capitol.
It was just something that for most Americans, it was beyond imagination. And so, it played out in real time. People could see it. And there are still a lot of people who can’t fathom why our people would do that. You can view Thompson’s MSNBC interview here.It’s a third day of reckoning this week for Donald Trump as the January 6 House committee releases the final report from its 18-month investigation into the former president’s insurrection.Delayed from Wednesday, today’s publication of a dossier expected to run to 800 pages will expose in depth the extraordinary, and illegal efforts Trump employed to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
On Monday, the panel held its final hearing and referred Trump to the justice department for four criminal charges, including engaging in or assisting an insurrection.
And on Tuesday, a separate House panel voted to release tax returns that Trump had fought for three years to keep secret.
We already know from previous hearings much of the plotting and scheming that took place. Trump incited a mob that overran the US Capitol on January 6 2021, seeking to halt the certification of Biden’s victory; tried to manipulate states’ election results in his favor; and attempted to install slates of “fake electors” to reverse his defeat in Congress.On Wednesday night, the House panel released transcripts of 34 witness interviews.Today, the Select Committee made public 34 transcripts of witness testimony that was gathered over the course of the Select Committee’s investigation.These records can be found on the Select Committee’s website: https://t.co/JZaSH4GmdK— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 21, 2022
Subjects of the interview transcripts included Jeffrey Clark, a senior official in the Trump justice department; John Eastman, a conservative lawyer and an architect of Trump’s last-ditch efforts to stay in office; and former national security adviser Mike Flynn, who was convicted of lying to the FBI but pardoned by Trump.Each invoked his fifth-amendment right against self-incrimination.More transcripts are expected to be released today.Panel member Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, told CBS: “I guarantee there’ll be some very interesting new information in the report, and even more so in the transcripts.”Read more:January 6 panel releases transcripts of testimony ahead of 800-page reportRead moreGood morning US politics blog readers. If you figured things were winding down for the Christmas holiday, think again.Sometime today we will see the release of the full January 6 House committee report into Donald Trump’s insurrection, delayed from Wednesday for reasons unknown. But the panel did release transcripts of 34 witness interviews last night, many of which make interesting reading.Also in Trump news, we’re learning the former president paid no federal tax at all in the final year of his administration.Elsewhere, here’s what we’re following:
There’s uncertainty over the passage of the bipartisan $1.7tn government spending package after early-hours drama in the Senate when Republicans threatened to blow up the deal over an immigration provision.
Nancy Pelosi will give her last press conference, scheduled for 10.45am, before she stands down as speaker when Republicans take control of the chamber early next month.
There’s reaction to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s powerful and historic address to to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.
Joe Biden has no public engagements scheduled, and no White House press briefing is listed, although that could change.
A reminder you can follow ongoing developments in the war in Ukraine in our live blog here.Strap in and stick with us. It’s going to be a lively day. More

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January 6 panel releases transcripts of key witness Cassidy Hutchinson – as it happened

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