Republican lawmakers remained divided Thursday, voted 5 time for a Speaker of the House with no one getting the needed 218 votes to secure the spot. The House adjourns until Friday noon to continue the vote. California Republican Kevin McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes and still win the position, but about 20 have continued to vote against him and for a challenger. The Associated Press has the story:
House adjourns for 3rd day without electing Speaker
Newslooksks- WASHINGTON (AP)
House adjourns for 3rd day without a speaker as Republican clash over Kevin McCarthy drags on.
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. Lawmakers voted five times on Thursday, but Rep. Kevin McCarthy was unable to secure the votes to win the speakership. Members say negotiations are ongoing.
Kevin McCarthy and his conservative opponents have reached a tentative breakthrough after a days-long standoff, giving the California Republican’s speaker bid a needed momentum boost.
Conservatives say they still need to look over the details of the potential package of concessions, but it’s a sign of life for McCarthy, who has struggled to show public strength after three days of 11 speaker ballots that have seen him fail to flip any of his opponents.
Twenty Republicans have been routinely opposing McCarthy on the floor, leaving him more than a dozen votes short of where he needs to be to win the House’s top gavel. McCarthy will need to flip most of those votes without alienating centrists and institutionalists, who worry that he is giving away too much.
The possible deal comes after several hours of negotiations with McCarthy’s detractors and less than a day after the GOP leader made an offer that conceded to basically all of their demands — including making it easier to boot a speaker.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of McCarthy’s opponents, said that there was a deal “on paper,” but cautioned that it was a first step.
“It’s changes that we wanted. Now we’ve got a lot more that we want to get to. This is round one. It’s on paper. Which is a good thing,” Norman said.
Other McCarthy opponents acknowledged significant progress, but were cagey about whether they had reached a final proposal for both sides to sign off on.
“A lot of good work has been done today. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), asked if there was a deal, replied cryptically: “Very exciting.”
The sign of hope for McCarthy follows a third day of high-profile failed votes on the House floor.
