McCarthy Attempts To Cut A Deal While Dissenters Nominate Trump, Hern For House Speaker

The House of Representatives has yet to pick a speaker over the span of three days and 11-straight voting sessions — each one growing more contentious.

"We need a businessman," shouted Virginia Rep. Bob Good in his formal nomination of Rep. Kevin Hern on Thursday evening. "Make the House of Representatives great again," Matt Gaetz of Florida proclaimed in his nomination of former President Donald Trump.

The suggestions appeared to vex those on both the left and right sides of the chamber, with Trump getting the least number of votes (one out of 432 from Gaetz), underscoring his dwindling support within the GOP.

See Also: McCarthy Concessions A Dud As Donalds — And Trump? — Get House Speaker Votes

What Happened: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy held 200 votes as of Thursday evening, unable to secure the necessary 218 votes needed to become speaker of the House of Representatives.

After 11 failed ballot initiatives, the GOP leader is reportedly hustling to cut a deal with his dissenters, otherwise, he's in "serious trouble," per Punchbowl News.

🚨 NEWS: HOUSE REPUBLICANS pushing to elect a speaker tonight, per sources involved in the talks

DEAL IS CUT -- either it moves people, or McCarthy is in serious trouble

LAWMAKERS reviewing. House could recess to allow discussionhttps://t.co/jox0hviGKk

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 6, 2023

Despite McCarthy's efforts, his opponents remained opposed to his appointment.

Here's what we know about the concessions he's trying to make:

• Allowing just one House member to call a vote to oust the speaker (previously, there needed to be five).
• Granting two seats on the powerful House Rules committee to the House Freedom Caucus — the farthest-right bloc within the House Republican Conference.
• Term limits on members of Congress: House members to three terms and senators to two terms.

McCarthy’s offers were expected to attract new support but multiple media outlets are reporting that they won't be enough to secure the necessary 218 votes he needs to be the speaker.

Why It Matters: The longer the voting session goes, the longer the third branch of the U.S. government remains on hiatus.

The stakes are high. So long as a House speaker isn't elected, no new appointments can be made, no budget decisions can be made and legislature can't move forward.

Only seven times has it taken more than nine times to elect a House speaker. None of those times occurred in the previous 100 years.

Adding fuel to the fire is Gaetz, who voted for Trump, despite the former President's ongoing legal issues, his failure to pay taxes as well as his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.  

Hern, meanwhile, has received scrutiny in his own right for not disclosing stock trades while serving in Congress.

What's Next: This is a developing story, as Republican lawmakers intend to make a decision tonight on who to elect as the next speaker of the House.

There was a motion to adjourn, but the majority of chamber members voted "no."

UPDATE: The House voted to adjourn until noon EST, Friday, Jan. 6.

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