Republicans still stuck over House Speaker
McCarthy wheeling and dealing for final votes
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for January 6, 2023:
Thursday highlights from my spot in the press gallery.
Donald Trump loses another election.
Deadlock hamstrings Congressional offices.
SPEAKER. After eleven ballots over three days - there is still no Speaker of the House. Republicans will try again today to break the deadlock, which has delayed the GOP agenda, stopped members from being sworn in, and drastically slowed the start of the 118th Congress. It's the most votes for Speaker since a 44-ballot tussle just before the Civil War.
NUMBERS. In five different votes on Thursday, the numbers basically stayed the same. All 212 Democrats voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). 201 Republicans voted for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, while 21 other Republicans continued to defy McCarthy.
TALKS. McCarthy's lieutenants hope to win a rules and procedural deal as soon as today with one group of GOP rebels. "The devil is in the details, and we’ll take our time to ensure it’s right," said Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).
FOCUS. Despite the impasse, McCarthy has not panicked. "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," he said. As for a deal with GOP holdouts - "I'm not putting any timeline on it. I just think we've got some progress going on."
MY READ. McCarthy isn’t ready to quit. But there are still about 5-7 Republicans who may be much harder to win over.
ONE VOTE. McCarthy will be short at least one vote today, as Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) flew home to Colorado for a previously scheduled medical procedure. It was not immediately clear how soon he would return to Capitol Hill. There may be other GOP absences this weekend. The House convenes at 12 noon.
IMPASSE. The situation surprised some observers. "I didn’t expect the McCarthy faction to hold together as well as they have," said Josh Huder, a Congressional expert at Georgetown University. Huder suggested it might show “intense disdain for the Freedom Caucus.”
DISDAIN. From the GOP comments I've heard this week - that is definitely driving a number of Republicans. “It’s 20 versus 200,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who has repeatedly said McCarthy should not give in. "This is a fight for the soul and the character of our party right now."
DETAILS. But to many, the concessions being made by McCarthy make it look like he is ready to give the Freedom Caucus just about any procedural changes they want - in order to gain power.
RULES. The basics of a deal with conservatives involve more amendments on the House floor, tighter controls on spending, more key committee slots, and no limits on motions to boot out a Speaker at any time.
FROM THE GALLERIES. House members waded through five votes for Speaker on Thursday, as they camped out on the floor for eight hours. Most of the talks about a deal were going on elsewhere - but I still managed to see a lot of interesting things. from our press perch above the House floor. My kids snagged the screenshot of me below from the Instagram story of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
MCCARTHY. For the first time, we saw McCarthy engage with one of the GOP holdouts - as he spoke for an extended time with Rep.-Elect Andy Ogles of Tennessee. Watching through my binoculars, it was clear the two men had a firm but respectful conversation. But it didn't change Ogles' vote - as yet.
BUCKEYE. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) again spent a lot of time working on McCarthy opponents. From afar, the body language of Jordan's conversation with Rep.-Elect Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) did not seem productive.
GATOR. Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) did some lobbying with Rep.-Elect Eli Crane of Arizona, who has made very clear that he's in Congress to force change. And it didn't look Cammack got very far with him, either.
HELLO. This might sound stupid, but one thing this deadlock has done is give lawmakers the chance to meet. “I’ve taken the opportunity to go introduce myself to a lot of new members of Congress,” said Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV).
FACES. It’s also been a crash course for me and my colleagues. I recognize a lot more newbies today than I did on Monday afternoon.
REGULAR ORDER. This week shows you what a crazy time it’s going to be on Capitol Hill. Give your friends the gift of straight news, or sign up for your own subscription - and support independent journalism in the halls of Congress.
GOP AGENDA. The original plan this week for Republicans was to start the new Congress by passing a series of bills to fulfill a variety of GOP campaign promises. There were supposed to be votes on domestic energy production, repealing new money for the IRS - and more. But that's all on hold.
GRUMBLING. "Joe Biden is grateful for every day that the Republican Majority is distracted," said Rep. John Rose (R-TN), as he vowed to support McCarthy for Speaker. "This fiasco is exactly what Democrats and our global adversaries are counting on," said Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL).
SECURITY. Three top House Republicans said their key committees can't do their work right now because of the impasse. "The Biden Administration is going unchecked and there is no oversight of the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, or the intelligence community."
NOT SWORN IN. Because all 434 members of the House are not official as yet - that's now causing problems on Capitol Hill. "Congressional offices like mine aren't able to help our constituents," said Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL), who compared GOP holdouts to 'terrorists.'
NOT OFFICIAL. What is the problem? A number of lawmakers said that various agencies are refusing to help them - because they aren't members of Congress officially. "My team cannot receive vital information from federal agencies related to constituent casework," said Rep. Young Kim (R-CA).
FRUSTRATION. "IRS won’t help my constituents victimized by identity theft, saying Members of Congress haven’t been sworn in yet," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) tweeted. "I cannot assist my fellow Veterans with VA claims, help seniors get their Social Security," added Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN).
TRUMP. One of the few vote-switchers on Thursday was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who voted for Donald Trump, and then later officially nominated the former President for Speaker. "There were great moments of bipartisanship under the Trump Presidency," said Gaetz, who was jeered during his speech on the House floor.
FLORIDA MAN. While Gaetz enthusiastically said it was time to, "Make the House of Representatives Great Again," no one else thought it was a good idea. Trump won only a single vote - from Gaetz. Democrats wisecracked that they enjoyed watching McCarthy and Trump lose the same election.
TWO YEARS. Democrats noted the move came a day before the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. "After hearing Gaetz nominate the man who tried to overthrow Congress," said Rep.-Elect Sydney Kamlager (D-CA), "I've decided the Republican Party needs therapy."
VIVA DE LA SANTOS. Maybe the luckiest person in all of Congress is Rep.-Elect George Santos (R-NY), as the inability of Republicans to elect a Speaker has taken the spotlight off of his arrival on Capitol Hill.
MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. If I would have told you that Santos and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) would be hanging out, you would have accused me of clickbait. But that's what happened Thursday on the House floor.
MVP. In an interview with Spectrum News, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) teed off on Santos. "He gets the award for 'Most Valuable Liar' that's ever probably attempted to serve in Congress," as Comer called for an ethics probe.
ETHICS. Of course the ironic part about that suggestion from Comer is since there is no Speaker - there is no House Ethics Committee as yet. The Speaker appoints the members of that panel.
MICHIGAN. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced Thursday that she would not run for reelection in 2024, setting up an open seat fight in an election year which is already a difficult one for Democrats. "I have decided to pass the torch," said Stabenow, who was first elected to the Senate in 2000.
SENATE. While it won't be easy to defend an open seat, Michigan Democrats are on a definite upswing in recent years. They swept into power in the state legislature for the first time since the 1980's; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is seen as a rising star nationally, and they have a deep bench in the state.
TWO. Stabenow's decision means two Senators have already opted against returning after the 2024 elections. Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) decided to run for Governor instead of another term in the Senate.
JANUARY 6. Today marks two years since supporters of Donald Trump attacked police and ransacked the Capitol building - all in an effort to illegally keep Trump in power. It was an awful day in our history, and what made it even worse was the effort by many Republicans to whitewash and downplay what actually happened that day.
CEREMONIES. With the House and Senate divided, there is no official event on Capitol Hill today to mark the second anniversary of that attack. Instead, that will fall to the White House, as President Biden will award presidential medals to police officers, elections workers, and several state officials.
LAWSUIT. A day before Jan. 6, lawyers for the estate of police officer Brian Sicknick - who died after suffering injuries in the attack - filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking damages against Donald Trump and the two men who attacked Sicknick.
INVESTIGATION. The change in control of the House has ended the work of the committee that investigated Jan. 6 - as Republicans quickly took down the panel's website. But Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chaired the probe - has simply migrated all of that information to his Congressional page.
TRUMP TAXES. A week ago today, Democrats in Congress released the details of six years of tax returns from former President Donald Trump. While there was a lot of attention at first - the matter quickly disappeared from the headlines, which makes you wonder why Trump fought so hard to keep the information secret.
QUESTIONS. But the review showed that the IRS certainly needs to give us some answers - about why they treated Trump differently, not following IRS rules which require audits on a President’s taxes. That's my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
NEW LAWS. Even though the 118th Congress is underway, President Biden is still signing bills into law from the 117th Congress, which ended on Tuesday morning. Mr. Biden on Thursday approved 35 non-controversial measures passed in the waning hours of the session.
LAST FRONTIER. The plans include a bill naming a volcano and several federal buildings after the late Rep. Don Young of Alaska. You can see a full list of the bills signed on Thursday at this link.
MUSE OF HISTORY. January 6, 1836. On this date, the Senate engaged in an extended debate over something simple - fully opening the Senate galleries to the public. The Senate voted 35-7 to restrict one part of the galleries only to men who were accompanied by a lady. "It might be that some few strangers here would not be sufficiently acquainted in Washington to get ladies to accompany them," observed Sen. Thomas Benton of Missouri. The Register noted that by lady - Benton 'meant each respectable female in the United States.'
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House convenes at 12 noon.
The Senate next has votes on January 23.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
In my first draft about the Jordan-Luna chat, I compared the body language to 'a bad blind date.' But I took that out, worried it would be seen as sexist in some way that I certainly did not intend. But that's what it looked like to me. They looked like a couple who were not hitting it off, so to speak.
A friend just texted to say that the photo of me with the binoculars made it on CNN earlier today. Pretty funny.