Category Archives: House of Representatives

New House speaker McCarthy faces threat of moderate revolt over rules

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Crucial rules package vote serves as yet another barometer of how dysfunctional Republicans’ tiny majority could be

Kevin McCarthy, the newly elected Republican House speaker, was facing a rocky first full day in charge of the House of Representatives on Monday with the fresh threat of a challenge to his hard-won authority – this time from moderate party members, not the hard-right fringe.

The House was set to vote on Monday evening on a crucial rules package governing business in the lower chamber in the 118th Congress, which kicked off last week with California congressman McCarthy needing a historic 15 rounds of voting to clinch the speakership.

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After chaotic week, McCarthy faces new battle as House votes on rules package

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Some Republicans indicate they may withhold support unless details of concessions made to hard-right lawmakers are unveiled

After five days of chaos and 15 rounds of floor votes, newly elected Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy is set to face an instant challenge on Monday as the House votes on a new rules package.

A handful of establishment Republicans indicated on Sunday they may withhold their support for the rules unless more details of concessions made to ultraconservative lawmakers during a week of torrid negotiations are unveiled.

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‘One more embarrassment’: McCarthy debacle wearily received in California home town

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Bakersfield, in California’s unfashionable Central Valley, has been thrown back into focus by the sorry saga in Congress

Kevin McCarthy’s home town – the hardscrabble city of Bakersfield, in California’s Central Valley – has experienced plenty of bruised feelings over the past week, but not necessarily because people have felt the pain of their congressman’s tortured path to the House speakership.

Many have bristled at being under a national spotlight during what even Fox News has described as a political clown show. Local Republicans appeared increasingly defensive as McCarthy fell short in vote after vote – before finally prevailing in the early hours of Saturday morning. Democrats, meanwhile, expressed growing concern that McCarthy had been taken captive by his party’s far-right wing and, especially, by apologists for the violent insurrection at the US Capitol two years ago.

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McCarthy clinches speaker’s gavel at 15th attempt as Republicans in disarray

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With a wafer-thin majority, and few powers, Nancy Pelosi’s successor looks set to be one of the weakest speakers in history

He had nothing to lose but his dignity. Congressman Kevin McCarthy knew the job he had always craved was within his grasp. All he needed was the vote of a 40-year-old Florida man under investigation over sex trafficking allegations.

McCarthy walked over and begged Matt Gaetz to make him speaker of the US House of Representatives. Gaetz stared, pointed a finger and refused. Fellow Republican Mike Rogers stormed towards Gaetz and had to be forcibly restrained.

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Kevin McCarthy wins House speaker bid after gruelling, 15-vote saga

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The California Republican was able to woo his hard-right detractors after a week of negotiations and concessions

The Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was elected as speaker of the US House of Representatives in a dramatic late-night vote, after quelling a days-long revolt from a bloc of far-right conservatives to finally capture the gavel on a historic 15th attempt.

McCarthy’s ascension to speaker came after 14 defeats and a string of concessions to ultraconservative lawmakers that would significantly weaken his power while strengthening their influence over the party’s new House majority. After winning over most of the holdouts earlier on Friday, McCarthy withstood a surprise defeat on the 14th ballot later that evening and finally clinched the gavel on the next round with the slimmest majority, just 216 votes, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

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Kevin McCarthy narrowly loses 14th House speaker vote in stunning setback

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Republicans had placed their hopes in a deal with far-right detractors, but Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert thwarted that plan

In a stunning setback, Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to persuade the remaining bloc of far-right holdouts in his party to back him for speaker during a late-night vote on Friday – his 14th attempt in four days – leaving the embattled leader one vote shy of clinching the gavel.

Walking onto the chamber floor, McCarthy appeared confident that the vote would be his last. But the Republican’s optimism soured when it became clear that he had once again failed to reach the threshold needed to break the impasse that has paralyzed the start of the new Congress.

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Republican McCarthy says he finally has enough votes to win House speaker – as it happened

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House party leader says he’s confident he has the votes after losing 13 straight rounds

It’s just after noon and the House is reconvening now to pick up the already tortuous quest to seat a speaker. But two Republicans at least won’t be there.

Congressman-elect Wesley Hunt of Texas is heading home to be with his premature newborn son.

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Republican Kevin McCarthy falls short on 10th ballot for House speaker – live

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As president Joe Biden prepares to deliver remarks at the US-Mexico border, some of the topics on his agenda include addressing border enforcement operations, as well as the record numbers of migrants escaping gang violence.

According to administration officials, Biden plans to ask Congress to fund his request for Department of Homeland Security resources and pass immigration reforms, PBS NewsHour’s White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.

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Kevin McCarthy loses 10th round in bid for House speaker as stalemate drags on

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The impasse over choosing a House speaker continued as McCarthy fell short of votes held up by his detractors

The 118th Congress made history again on Thursday, as House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed to win the speakership for the 10th time. The protracted stalemate marks the first time since 1859 that the House has required more than nine ballots to determine a new speaker.

McCarthy entered the third day of voting with fresh momentum for his candidacy, amid reports that he had made significant concessions to his roughly 20 detractors within the Republican conference.

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House without a speaker as McCarthy fails to secure majority in six rounds of voting – as it happened

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US Capitol police officer Michael Fanone, who testified to the January 6 committee, visited McCarthy’s office today to highlight McCarthy’s failure to secure his House speaker vote.

While posing outside of McCarthy’s office, Fanone said he visited McCarthy to “rub it in”, referring to McCarthy’s election failure.

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House adjourns as speakership evades McCarthy even after sixth vote

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Republicans push back deadline of electing new speaker to noon on Thursday, after six failed votes in two days

The House remained paralyzed on Wednesday, after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed for the sixth time to capture the speaker’s gavel as his critics stood firm in their opposition to his candidacy. After the House adjourned for a few hours, McCarthy and his allies went into negotiations with the Republican holdouts without a clear path forward to end the standoff, then pushed back a seventh vote on the House leadership until Thursday.

The House held a total of three inconclusive votes in the speakership election on Wednesday, mirroring the three votes held a day earlier. Across all six ballots, no speaker candidate successfully captured the 218 votes expected to be needed for a victory. The stalemate marked the first time in a century that a House speaker was not chosen in the initial vote. After the sixth vote on Wednesday evening, the House moved to adjourn until at least 8pm ET, giving Republicans more time to reach a solution, then pushed back the deadline again, voting to adjourn until noon the following day.

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George Santos scandal: Democratic predecessor calls him a ‘con man’

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Tom Suozzi, Santos’s forerunner for New York’s third district, says the Republican winner should be ‘removed by Congress’

The Democrat who vacated the US House seat won by the controversial Republican George Santos said on Tuesday Congress was letting in “a con man”.

Tom Suozzi won New York’s third district, which covers parts of Long Island and Queens, in 2016, but stepped down in 2022 in order to run for governor. Santos lost to Suozzi in 2020 but beat Robert Zimmerman for the vacant seat.

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House adjourns after Kevin McCarthy falls short in three rounds of voting for speaker – as it happened

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Leader of slim Republican majority has been negotiating to secure backing of hardliners but voting could go to multiple rounds

A crescendo of bipartisan outrage will accompany the swearing in due today of George Santos, one of the Republican party’s most controversial new Congress members, who has admitted large parts of his biography are a fantasy.

The New York politician, caught in lies over his family background, education and work history, is facing calls to step down from several senior figures within his own party before he even sets foot on the floor of the chamber.

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McCarthy faces long battle for House speaker after he falls short on third vote

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House adjourned until noon tomorrow as McCarthy becomes the first nominee for speaker in 100 years to fail to win the first vote

In a historic delay, the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, was on Tuesday facing a protracted battle to secure the speaker’s gavel after failing to win the first three votes on the opening day of the new Congress.

A fourth vote – and perhaps more, into the night – was avoided when the House adjourned, by voice vote, until noon on Wednesday.

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George Santos: Brazil reactivates fraud case against fabulist congressman-elect

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Republican is accused of using stolen checkbook and fake name at shop outside Rio de Janeiro in 2008

As the fabulist New York Republican representative-elect George Santos prepares to be sworn in on Tuesday, Brazilian prosecutors say they are reopening a criminal fraud case against him.

Santos, who faces federal and state investigations involving possible criminal activity related to his two congressional campaigns, is accused of using a stolen checkbook and fake name at a clothing shop outside Rio de Janeiro in 2008, the New York Times reported on Monday citing court documents.

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House of lies: outrage as Republicans prepare to swear in fantasist Santos

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New York politician who admitted making up large much of his life story is facing calls for him to quit, even from within his own party

A crescendo of bipartisan outrage will accompany the swearing in on Tuesday of George Santos, one of the Republican party’s most controversial new Congress members who has admitted large parts of his biography are a fantasy.

The New York politician, caught in lies over his family background, education and work history, is facing calls to step down from several senior figures within his own party before he even sets foot on the floor of the chamber.

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Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid in balance as effort to placate hardliners flops

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Republican ‘Never Kevins’ say series of concessions to rightwingers are ‘insufficient’ to secure support

The final hurdle to Republican Kevin McCarthy’s years-long quest to secure the speaker’s gavel grew even more formidable on Monday as a sizable group of House colleagues from his own party said they were not yet ready to support him.

The nine Republican rebels made the announcement after the California congressman made a series of concessions on Sunday to try to shore up the support of conservative hardliners ahead of Republicans assuming control of the US lower chamber on Tuesday.

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Trump tax returns: key takeaways from the records release

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The former president had a bank account in China, failed to donate in 2020 and claims Democrats ‘weaponized’ his taxes

In one of its last acts under Democratic control, the House of Representatives on Friday released six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, dating to 2015, the year he announced his presidential bid.

The thousands of pages of returns were the subject of a prolonged legal battle after Trump broke precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for, and then occupying, the White House.

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Trump says tax returns release will ‘lead to horrible things for so many people’ – as it happened

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More elections news from Arizona, a swing state where pro-Trump Republicans have of late caused a lot of trouble with claims of electoral fraud in races in which they were beaten.

On Thursday, in a recount triggered by the closeness of the first count, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Kris Mayes, was declared the winner for a second time, beating the Republican candidate, Abe Hamadeh.

“Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.

‘They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,’ Barr said. ‘They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.’

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‘Do you have no shame?’: Tulsi Gabbard grills congressman-elect George Santos

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Adding to his woes, prosecutor in part of Santos’ legislative district launching investigation into his ‘nothing short of stunning’ claims

Republican congressman-elect George Santos is under fire on multiple fronts – including in a blistering interview with Tulsi Gabbard and an investigation by Long Island prosecutors – after admitting to lying about his heritage, education and professional pedigree.

Late Wednesday, Santos also faced questions on social media over contradictory tweets on the timing of his mother’s death. One post on his account suggested she died in the September 11 attacks in New York, another said she died in 2016. The tweets appear to have been sent from his official Twitter account.

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