House of Representatives Speaker chaos

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McCarthy loses speaker vote for the sixth time
McCarthy, for the sixth time in two days, has failed to get enough votes to become the next speaker of the House.

The vote count for this round was unchanged from the previous two rounds:

House adjourns until 8 p.m.
With the Republican conference still divided between a pro-McCarthy majority and 20 anti-McCarthy members, the House has chosen to adjourn until 8 p.m.

The motion from Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., was adopted by voice vote, though Democrats appeared staunchly opposed to the break -- but did not call for a recorded vote.

Shortly before adjournment, McCarthy told reporters "we're gonna break in a little then go meet" when asked what was next after the sixth failed vote.

Sources say House Republicans discuss 'nuclear option': Lower vote threshold to be speaker
As McCarthy's quest to become speaker of the House continues to fall short, some of his allies are exploring a radical idea: lowering the threshold needed to be elected.

Under current House rules, a candidate needs an outright majority of all members voting to be elected speaker. With 433 members voting so far -- and one member voting "present," which doesn't affect the total -- that means McCarthy has repeatedly fallen far short of the 217 currently needed to win a majority.

The rules, however, can be changed: With a simple majority vote, the House could decide to allow a speaker to be elected with a plurality, or whoever has the most votes when no one has a majority. This has happened before, but very rarely.

It's called the "nuclear option" because it would force anti-McCarthy voters to face a stark choice: vote for him or watch Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries get elected instead. After all, Jeffries has received 212 votes in every single round so far and the most McCarthy has received has been 203.

But would those 20 renegade Republicans continue to vote against McCarthy if doing so would result in electing a Democrat as speaker? Advocates of the option say the change would call the critics' bluff and force them to vote for McCarthy or take the blame for ceding control of the House to Democrats.

According to two McCarthy allies in the House, the idea is being discussed among House Republicans. They believe Democrats would support the rules change.

House narrowly agrees to adjourn 'til Thursday after another day of failed votes
The motion to adjourn that was introduced shortly after the House returned from its Wednesday afternoon break passed by a narrow 216-214 vote. The chamber will return at noon on Thursday, presumably for more speaker votes.

Republicans had pushed for the adjournment, while Democrats and four Republicans opposed it, with some Democrats shouting for the clerk to stop the vote while the "no" votes were ahead.

The move to end for the night came after McCarthy held a closed-door meeting with detractors trying to block him from winning the speaker's gavel. The meeting yielded no deal, but McCarthy said progress was made.

The vote to adjourn marked the climax of a second day of historic failed speaker votes -- the first time in a century it has taken more than one round to pick a speaker.

McCarthy sounds undeterred: 'We talk until we get this done'
Leaving the chamber after it adjourned for the night on Wednesday, McCarthy -- surrounded by a phalanx of security and a mob of reporters -- initially joked and razzed a reporter he’s known for more than a decade. He seemingly celebrated a razor-thin GOP vote to adjourn the chamber after another day of unsuccessful attempts to elect him speaker.

He also said “continual votes," like they been having since Tuesday, are unproductive, instead touting the evening’s closed-door talks as the way forward.

Another reporter asked, “What happens between now and noon tomorrow [when the House returns]?”

“We talk until we get this done,” McCarthy said.

Bresnahan asked if there would be votes tomorrow, to which McCarthy replied: “People know where everybody’s at. These votes don’t really change at all. So I mean, that’s fine. I think these discussions help that. I think from this aspect of seeing the vote here -- people want to spend their time discussing than being on the floor.”

A reporter asked if McCarthy has asked Byron Donalds, a GOP protest candidate, to drop out. McCarthy said, “No. No.”

McCarthy makes new offer to defectors amid speakership showdown
There is now an offer on the table from McCarthy to the small but influential group of hard-line conservatives opposing his bid for speaker, sources familiar with discussions told ABC News.

The Republican leader, who has now notched six successive losses for speaker, has proposed a new round of key concessions that includes making it easier for members to remove him as speaker.

McCarthy's offer, if approved by the full GOP conference on the floor in the rules package, would make it so a single member from either party could trigger an up-or-down simple majority vote on whether to oust the speaker. This is down from the threshold of five members McCarthy initially agreed to.

It’s unclear if the offer will make a difference, as some hard-line conservatives are digging in against McCarthy.

He’s also offered to put more members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee and votes on legislation his opponents have been pushing for, including term limits for members of Congress and border security.

The group of conservative rebels who’ve opposed him are meeting this morning to consider the offer and plot their strategy going forward

It's bizarre that not even McCarthy is "conservative enough."

Pelosi tells ABC speakership battle ‘undermines’ the House
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called out Republicans for putting the business of the House on hold.

"It is a shame for the country,” Pelosi told ABC News as the chamber reconvened Thursday. “This is a great institution. And really, I wish they voted [to] elect the speaker on the first vote because we have important work to do. And this undermines that. We’ll see."

McCarthy loses 7th round, Gaetz votes for Trump
McCarthy on Thursday lost another election for speaker, failing to pick up any votes despite making new concessions to the conservative GOP rebels opposing his bid.

McCarthy received 201 votes in the seventh round -- the same number he received in the three votes held on Wednesday.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., again saw the most support with 212 votes from the Democratic caucus. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., received 19 votes as the GOP's protest nominee against McCarthy.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a leading opponent of McCarthy, voted for Donald Trump for House speaker.
One lawmaker, Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz, voted present.

McCarthy losses continue to pile up
McCarthy lost in the ninth round of voting, as he continues to remain stagnant with an insufficient amount of support.

Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries again netted 212 votes as his entire caucus rallied around him. The GOP alternatives to McCarthy -- Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Kevin Hern, R-Okla. -- earned 17 votes and three votes, respectively.

McCarthy lost one vote from prior rounds as supporter Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., did not vote though it was unclear why.

Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz again voted present.

For the first time since 1859, before the Civil War, at least a 10th round of voting is needed to elect a speaker of the House.

Movement possible between McCarthy, critics -- but real obstacles remain
With the speaker vote already at 10 historic rounds and counting, there are some early signs of movement toward a potential deal on a rules package between McCarthy and some of his detractors currently blocking him from the gavel.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a top McCarthy ally, said off the House floor to “stay tuned” and that the public should “see some movement in the next 24 hours or so” toward a potential deal regarding a rules package. That has been a sticking point for many of the McCarthy holdouts who want rules that would shrink the overall power of the speaker -- and, in this view, increase the influence of other members and change the priorities of the GOP.

Fitzpatrick added, however, that, “We're gonna be missing some numbers for medical issues and whatnot” on Friday.

That is another complicated issue facing McCarthy that may push the speaker vote to next week, given at least four members voting for McCarthy have to leave town for medical issues and family matters, according to sources.

Meanwhile, some of the most vocal McCarthy opponents have gone silent when asked for updates on progress -- often a sign on Capitol Hill that a deal could be in the works.

McCarthy loses 10th round of voting
In a repeat of the previous nine rounds since Tuesday, McCarthy on Thursday lost the 10th round of voting, extending his streak of defeats as his party failed to choose a speaker.

McCarthy won 200 votes, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York won 212. Thirteen Republicans voted for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a protest candidate against McCarthy, and seven more voted for Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who is backing McCarthy himself despite this.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., again voted "present."

These tallies were essentially unchanged from every other round of voting.

McCarthy critics insist impasse is healthy
Several critics of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy are insisting that their opposition is sparking healthy debate on the floor.

"I think it's incredibly healthy, actually, for the American people to see that we're on the floor," said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who has sought to block McCarthy's path to the speakership and nominated Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., to hold the gavel.

Several more junior lawmakers lamented the lack of debate on legislation on the House floor and said the conversations over the speakership marked a drastic uptick in the amount of discussion in the chamber.

"We have had more discussion and debate over the last three days than I have participated in on this floor for the last two years," said Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who also nominated Donalds. "And it's healthy. It absolutely promotes the collegiality that everyone is striving to obtain."

McCarthy loses 11th round of voting
McCarthy on Thursday night lost the 11th round of voting for House speaker, with little proven progress despite rumors of a coming agreement with his critics.

The House has voted to adjourn until Friday
The House has voted to adjourn until noon on Friday — without a clear decision on a speaker. The House cannot continue any business or swear in new members without filling the speaker role.

Members say negotiations are ongoing.

The House’s inability to select a speaker is impacting US national security, Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staffers say, as members who can’t yet be sworn in are being locked out of classified briefings and the Biden administration is effectively operating without House oversight.

At a minimum, House members are not staying informed of day-to-day national security developments because they cannot receive a security clearance until they are sworn in. But at its most extreme, the impasse also means that the current Congress is not in a position to either authorize or stop a war, staffers and experts told CNN.

“I’m a member of the House (Intelligence) Committee. I’m on the Armed Services Committee, and I can’t meet in the (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) to conduct essential business” Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican, said in a press conference on Wednesday, referring to the place that is used by military and national security officials to process sensitive and classified information. He added that he was denied entry to a meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley because he does not yet have a security clearance.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also said he is concerned about the national security implications of the impasse on Thursday afternoon, as McCarthy failed in a seventh vote.

“It’s bad. It’s really bad,” Fitzpatrick said. “I don’t have access to the SCIF right now, because I’m not sworn in. I can’t get my China briefing, my Ukraine briefing, my Iran briefing.”

Fitzpatrick added, “A third of our government’s offline right now. It’s very dangerous.”

Not only are those members barred from briefings, the key national security committees they would normally sit on cannot even be formed yet – including the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees, which oversee the intelligence community and the Pentagon, respectively.

In a small but revealing detail, the House Armed Services and GOP Foreign Affairs Committee websites were still offline as of Thursday.

“The committees don’t technically exist in this Congress until they convene, vote on the rules of the committee and basically vote themselves into existence,” said former House Armed Services Committee staffer Jonathan Lord, who now serves as director of the Middle East Security program at the Center for a New American Security. “So all of the oversight work that those committees do on a day-to-day basis can’t officially go on.”

The White House told agencies and departments earlier this week that the administration would continue its work with Congress as usual, people familiar with the matter said, and there have been some informal briefings for still-cleared staffers even amid the uncertainty of the speakership race. In a strange twist, however, if the information is classified, those staffers cannot then brief their bosses on the intelligence since they don’t yet have a security clearance.

On a more formal level, if the State Department wanted to officially notify the House Foreign Affairs Committee of a foreign military sale, for example, “there technically isn’t a committee yet to receive it,” Lord said.

The world is taking notice, too. One Western diplomat called it “a s*** show.”

Honest to God this is what we wrote yesterday” in a cable to their capital, the diplomat said. They said there is agreement from their capital on that assessment.

This diplomat said they’re “concerned because it has implications for how the House can address pressing issues around the world and the United States’ bilateral relations with its global partners.

Another foreign diplomat said they “are just waiting to see what happens,” noting that “this is an exceptional situation but the US is not the only Western country with political deadlocks.”

“What I’m personally looking at is the policy concessions (prospective House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy has to make, and if they are going to affect US role in the world,” the diplomat told CNN.

More drastically, if the president were to enter US forces into hostilities, the War Powers Act requires that he notify Congress within 48 hours, and the Congress then has 60 days to determine its legality. But as it stands now, Congress would not be in a position to either immediately stop or authorize that use of force. “That is something that the Congress can not determine its current state,” Lord said.

A congressional staffer echoed those concerns to CNN.

“​Nothing can happen until leadership is decided, then committee chair elections happen,” this person said. “Then, after that, they select members for committees and subcommittee chairs. Only after that can anything substantive – like hearings, legislation or member-level briefings – happen. Otherwise it is all still on hold. Soon, it will be a national security issue. Committees like Armed Services and Intelligence are also affected, and it is concerning to us all.”

Some believe the concerns are overblown – at least for now. Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is now a CNN senior political commentator, told “CNN This Morning” that while the situation is “serious,” he does not believe that “a few days of not finding a speaker is really the end of the world.”

“Because keep in mind there are governments, like parliaments, that go months without forming a government,” he said.

But Kinzinger noted that more broadly, the situation is hugely problematic because the House in its current form exists for “only one reason – to elect a Speaker … that includes things like coming in and getting briefings, having discussions about the next round of aid to Ukraine. A few days we can handle. Even a few weeks we can handle. If this thing goes on, it starts to have dangerous impacts.”