US: House Republicans flailed through a long second day of fruitless balloting Wednesday, unable to either elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority.
Yet McCarthy not only wasn’t giving up, he was sounding optimistic after calling off a night-time session.
“No deal yet,” he said as he left a lengthy closed-door meeting with key holdouts. “But a lot of progress.”
No progress at all was evident though the day of vote-after-vote-after vote. For a fourth, fifth and sixth time, Republicans tried to elevate McCarthy into the top job as the House plunged deeper into disarray. But the votes were producing almost the same outcome, 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support him, and leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to win the gavel.
In fact, McCarthy saw his support slip to 201, as one fellow Republican switched to vote simply present.
McCarthy, the California Republican, vowed to keep fighting despite the grueling spectacle, unlike any in modern times, that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. Animated private discussions broke out on the chamber floor between McCarthy supporters and detractors searching for an endgame.
It was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House Speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote, but McCarthy appeared undeterred. Instead, he vowed to fight to the finish. The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House.
- INDIA TODAY
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