House tees up votes on Ukraine and Israel aid as Speaker Johnson defies his right flank

Table Of Content

• Dems celebrate largest ever Black Congressional Caucus, but exclude GOP's Byron Donalds
• George Santos refuses to answer questions about resume lies while promising to support McCarthy
• McCarthy allies remain publicly confident he will secure speakership
• Get the Best of Fox News
• House Speaker VoteMcCarthy Wins Speakership on 15th Vote
• Your Government in Action
• GOP schedules a conference call during a key negotiation period

The 12th vote for House speaker Friday was on track to yield another non-decision, as more than four Republicans voted for someone besides House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Rep.-elect Maxine Waters of California yelled at Rep.-elect Matt Rosendale of Montana on the House floor Thursday, one of 20 Never-Kevin Republicans who are vying for a candidate other than McCarthy to take the position. Entering the sixth vote on Wednesday, Rep.-elect Kat Cammack of Florida accused Democrats of sitting by with "popcorn and blankets and alcohol," drawing boos from the left. A reporter pressed Santos on his false representations following reports he lied about several aspects of his resume before being elected, including misrepresenting his education, work experience and claiming Jewish descent. We don’t know if McCarthy will win on a potential 14th ballot right after the House returns at 10 pm et. We expect the House to elect Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House Speaker either late tonight or in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Dems celebrate largest ever Black Congressional Caucus, but exclude GOP's Byron Donalds

The motion to adjourn ultimately failed with 155 Republicans voting to adjourn, while 67 Republicans and all 212 Democrats voting to remain in session and hold another Speaker vote. The Speaker’s contest started on Tuesday with 19 Republicans refusing to back McCarthy for the speakership and as the week wore on the total had grown to 21 members. The White House offered reaction to the House Republicans’ continued failure to elect a speaker after another loss for Rep. Jim Jordan Friday, calling out the “chaotic infighting” on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. House Republicans are exhausted by weeks of infighting over who will lead the conference and frustrated by the inability of the chamber to pass legislation, particularly in response to the Israel-Hamas war. Ciscomani was one of at least a dozen Republicans who had yet to throw their support behind Jordan. His lack of legislative experience has been a criticism that moderates and Democrats have deployed against him in recent days.

George Santos refuses to answer questions about resume lies while promising to support McCarthy

Still others said he was insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump, because he voted to certify the results of the 2020 election won by President Biden. Any candidate for speaker can lose only a handful of votes and still win the speakership because Republicans hold such a small majority in the House. In a secret-ballot vote on Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson got 128 votes, with 44 Republicans voting for nominees not on the ballot, including 43 for Mr. McCarthy, whom many view as unfairly ousted. Still, in a separate vote afterward, only a few Republicans indicated they would not back Mr. Johnson on the floor, while about 20 Republicans were absent.

McCarthy allies remain publicly confident he will secure speakership

The podcasts, spanning 69 episodes, offer an extended window into Mr. Johnson's views and politics, as he co-hosts the program with his wife, a licensed pastoral counselor. “I look forward to meeting with Speaker Johnson soon to discuss the path forward to avoid a government shutdown,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement. In the end, it was Mr. Johnson who was able to bring together both the party’s hard-right and mainstream flanks that had taken turns sinking speaker candidates. But the unity was in part a product of burnout among House Republicans, who in spite of their differences grew eager to put an end to the weekslong spectacle of mass dysfunction and paralysis that many said had left their constituents distraught. Under pressure to step aside when there appeared to be no chance that he could clinch the speaker’s gavel, he hung on anyway. Mr. Gaetz said on Tuesday that lawmakers should not give the post to somebody willing to sell “shares of himself to get” it.

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The somewhat longer answer is that Republicans are meeting on Capitol Hill at 1 p.m. With his support eroding, he could drop out of the race and Republicans could go back to square one to find a new nominee. Or he could keep running, and keep trying to convince his detractors that they should support him. Jordan received even more Republican votes against him — 25 — than he did in earlier rounds, with three more GOP members joining the ranks of the defectors. "The eight of us have said that we are willing to accept censure, sanction, suspension, removal from the Republican Conference. We of course will remain Republicans," Gaetz said. "But if what these holdouts need is a pound of our flesh, we're willing to give it to them in order to see them elect Jim Jordan for speaker."

Capitol Police OfficerWilliam "Billy" Evans was killed in the line of duty in April 2021 when a driver rammed his vehicle into the Capitol complex. At least one Capitol Hill institution has a new speaker already — in fact, it's chosen several in half the time the House has taken to pick its leader. "That's really off the table," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a McCarthy supporter, told NBC. "I don’t think that works very well in any time. I think it's particularly unsuited to these times. The polarization is too great."

House approves $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan - ABC News

House approves $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Posted: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

As of Friday afternoon, the personal office has taken over organizing the event — if it still takes place. Incoming House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson was scheduled to lead his first committee farm bill listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show on Saturday. Committee placements are one of the portions of the framework that has been hotly negotiated this week. And now, McCarthy has been counseling Jordan on his speaker’s race strategy, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, a far more active role than he appeared to be playing when Scalise was the speaker nominee. Won a closed-door vote, beating six others vying for the Republican nomination for speaker.

"What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office? How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?" the Florida Republican added. House Republicans will return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for the second day of the new Congress as the party remains deadlocked over who to select for House Speaker. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., defended his decision to flip his vote for House Speaker away from Kevin McCarthy in the third round of voting on Tuesday. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., rebuked former President Donald Trump's call for Republicans to vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy to become speaker of the House on Wednesday. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz" Wednesday that the speaker fight is happening because GOP failed in midterms, and because Democrats "follow orders."

That's an increase for Hern and a decrease for Donalds, but it leaves at 20 the number of Republicans voting for an alternate candidate over the last two days. Republican Rep.-elect Kevin Hern, a House Freedom Caucus member nominated to be House speaker by Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert, received seven votes from opponents of GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy in the 10th round of balloting on Thursday. Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, is one of 20 members who have repeatedly voted against McCarthy during 10 rounds of balloting over the last three days. Asked whether he'd change his vote Thursday should the chamber continue their rounds of votes, Norman said, "I'm voting for Byron Donalds."

Rep.-elect Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and other other rank-and-file Republicans were also spotted heading into the meeting. When asked if he has the votes, McCarthy stated, "Look, look you're going to go in here, we're gonna have votes, nothing is going to change. What we're doing is we're having really good progress in conversations..." "My view has been let's continue to organize on our side as we've done strength, unity, resilience," Jeffries told Fox News Digital when asked about the comments on Donalds. "The Republicans have created a mess on their side and the Republicans need to sort it out."

Incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries pivoted from having to address a fellow Democrat's inflammatory remarks about GOP Rep.-elect Byron Donalds. "It doesn't really matter what my vote is at this point because he doesn't have 218. There are too many people who are committed to never voting for him," she said. The House adjourned Wednesday evening after six total failed attempts to elect a speaker. En route to the House floor House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked what his plan is ahead of the seventh vote for speaker.

The vote will be the fourth held in the past two weeks and the first since Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to be elected speaker on Friday. House Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to be their fourth speaker-designate in the last three weeks on Tuesday night. His nomination comes just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) withdrew as the speaker nominee after it became evident he could not secure the 217 votes needed on the floor. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) dropped out of the speaker’s race last week when he lost a vote of confidence during a closed-door meeting after losing a third round of votes on the House floor. In January, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) secured the speaker’s gavel after being elected on the 15th ballot.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., was nominated as an alternative Republican candidate to McCarthy in the first round, a move he said he would make after he challenged McCarthy in a GOP conference meeting late last year. After denying House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy the speaker’s gavel in the first round of voting, members of the House Freedom Caucus nominated Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as an alternative they hope can gather support. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy got no closer to securing the 218 votes he needs to become the next House speaker in the second round of voting on the House floor Tuesday. The first round of votes similarly had 19 Republicans vote for a candidate other than McCarthy. Jordan won 19 votes for speaker in the second round, and Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus hope to expand that number in the third round and show other GOP lawmakers that support can be built around someone other than McCarthy, R-Calif.