WASHINGTON — Northwest lawmakers expressed frustration Thursday as House Republicans failed for the third straight day to pick a speaker to lead their new majority in the chamber despite leading candidate Kevin McCarthy making major concessions to a small group of GOP holdouts who continued to oppose him.
The House adjourned Thursday night after McCarthy, a Californian who has served as House GOP leader since 2019, lost an 11th consecutive vote. With the Democratic minority united behind their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, 20 Republicans have been able to block McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Despite McCarthy reportedly agreeing to rule changes that would empower rank-and-file lawmakers at his own expense, none of the holdouts changed their votes.
As the voting dragged on, lawmakers from both parties said the impasse hurt Republicans at what could have been a triumphant moment for the party after it regained control of the House in November’s elections.
“I don’t think this looks good for Republicans,” said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho Falls. “Because our base out there and voters in general are going, ‘We elected you guys to the majority and you can’t even get this done? What the hell have we done?’ “
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, said she has urged the holdouts “not make it about personalities, but about actually governing and functioning as a majority.”
“It’s unfortunate for the Republicans, because it’s delaying our ability to get started, to do the work that we were elected to do,” she said.
Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana is one of the 20 Republicans who have opposed McCarthy, voting for a handful of different candidates since voting began Tuesday while pushing for procedural changes that would allow for more open debate, among other things. In a speech to nominate a GOP alternative, Rosendale said the public opposition to the candidate most Republicans chose in a closed-door meeting in November was good for the House.
“We have had more discussion and debate over the last three days than I have participated in on this floor for the last two years,” he said. “And it’s healthy. It absolutely promotes the collegiality that everyone is striving to obtain.”
Rep. Russ Fulcher, a Republican who represents North Idaho, is a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus and supports McCarthy, unlike some of the group’s other members. He said they had already secured important concessions from McCarthy and should claim victory.
“We are light-years ahead of where we were, just because of the tentative changes in the rules,” Fulcher said. “That’s probably the most frustrating thing for me. Can’t we just take the win?”
On the eve of the second anniversary of an attack on the Capitol by an uncompromising right-wing mob, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, said McCarthy had brought the dysfunction upon himself by choosing to embrace former President Donald Trump and his far-right supporters after Jan. 6, 2021.
“McCarthy’s supporters have made the argument that it’s just terrible that a small group of people is holding the House hostage,” Smith said. “But please remember that very few people have done as much as Kevin McCarthy has done to empower that group of hostage-takers. He could have stood up to them a long time ago. Instead, he chose to support them.”
Before the final vote Thursday night, Politico and several other outlets reported that McCarthy had offered to meet one of the holdouts’ key demands, changing House rules to let any single member trigger a snap vote to oust the speaker. But as McCarthy gives in to demands from the far-right group, he can’t concede so much that he loses the support of moderates and in his party.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, is a member of the Appropriations Committee and said some of the changes the far-right members are demanding could allow an impractical number of amendments to bills that already take a long time to craft and refine.
“Logistically, you’ve got to find a balance,” he said. “I’ve tried to tell them, ‘Guys, you’ve got to learn how to declare victory here. You have actually gotten a lot of what you wanted.’ “
Rep.-elect Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, a Democrat who represents southwest Washington, is one of 75 House freshmen who can’t be sworn in as members until a speaker is chosen. Rather than start the legislative and oversight work she was elected to do, she has spent three days waiting for the House clerk to call her name, responding 11 times to vote in an exercise that has begun to resemble a theater of the absurd.
“I didn’t come to Congress to answer to my name,” Gluesenkamp Pérez said, frustrated that the House had wasted precious time for “one man’s ego.”
“This dysfunction is part and parcel of why people are losing faith in the ability to govern,” she said. “I think it’s a mistake to think that this is only affecting Republicans or the Freedom Caucus. I think it’s hurting all of democracy, and we have a responsibility to get these things ironed out.”
As the futile votes repeated, one question inevitably emerged: If not McCarthy, who could be speaker? Despite their staunch opposition, the GOP holdouts have not put forward a clear alternative, voting for several lawmakers perceived to have no real chance of winning. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., even nominated Trump, who technically qualifies because the Constitution doesn’t require the speaker to be a member of the House.
“There’s no backup plan,” Fulcher said. “And I don’t necessarily think it’s wise to pull the pin on a grenade before you know where the shrapnel’s going to go.”
Fulcher said he believes that while some of the holdouts could be swayed by McCarthy’s concessions, many of them just don’t like the longtime member of GOP leadership, who has earned a reputation for changing his position to appease different factions within the party.
“I think it’s boiled down to a personality clash, and in my opinion, that’s exactly what you don’t want to rely on when it comes to electing leadership,” he said.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, is considered one of the most viable alternative candidates, but he has stood by McCarthy. Even if others are pining for the speaker’s gavel, Fulcher said, he doesn’t expect any other Republicans to raise their hands unless McCarthy bows out.
Another factor is that few members actually want to take on the notoriously difficult job of speaker, which has ended the congressional careers of the two previous Republicans to hold the position, John Boehner of Ohio and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Fulcher said Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, another name often mentioned as a potential speaker, is understandably leery about the idea.
“Nobody wants to be the speaker, really,” Fulcher said. “I mean, it’s a crappy job. Let’s face it.”
The House will reconvene Friday and is expected to continue voting until a speaker is chosen. The process hasn’t taken this long since 1855, when antebellum divisions contributed to the delay.
