The Second White House: How Repulsive Will the Repubs Get? Desperately Waiting for McCarthy to Win the Speaker’s Gap

CNN does not have a projection on whether the Republicans will win the House. But McCarthy is confident that he will win a majority of House GOP votes on Tuesday to lead his conference – and will earn in January the 218 votes necessary to hold the speaker’s gavel.

The Biden administration continues to rely on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule, known as Title 42, that allows border authorities to turn migrants away at the US-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2022, amid mass migration in the Western hemisphere, US border encounters topped 2 million, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy said. That doesn’t mean that something won’t be used at any other time.

McCarthy said he was supportive of the Ukranian people. I believe there must be accountability going forward. … You always need, not a blank check, but make sure the resources are going to where it is needed. It’s important that the Senate and Congress have the ability to debate it openly.

“How many members vote for someone else will show the strength (of the anti-McCarthy group),” Rep. Bob Good, a Virginia Republican who is a “hard no” on McCarthy, told CNN. I think the second ballot is going to include more candidates. Republicans are letting us know that they would like to be considered.

The elections are conducted in a way that is secret. McCarthy will need a simple majority in the internal GOP leadership elections to become speaker. McCarthy could not win enough votes to win the gavel of the house and so he is expected to lose.

Reply to the Comments on ‘Stay in Mexico, stop in the United States” by A.J. McCarthy

“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.

McCarthy stated that to help stem the flow of Fentanyl coming across the border, you should first attack China to stop the poison from Coming and give the resources that the border agents need.

Most bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.

“If you’re going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say you should change your behavior, so you just don’t keep raising and all the time?” He told me to say that. You should not say, “I’m going to let you keep spending money.” No household should do that.

McCarthy said that Republicans would raise the debt ceiling under Trump but that the amount of money spent by Democrats makes it harder than before.

When pressed on whether he’s willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, McCarthy insisted that wouldn’t happen: “People talk about risking it. You don’t risk a default.”

McCarthy wants to have the freshman from Georgia reinstated to her committee assignments, despite her being stripped by Democrats of her assignments last year for her inflammatory remarks.

McCarthy, who will have a direct say in what assignments are handed out, said “no.” Republican-led investigations in a majority will be a key role of the House Oversight Committee.

She is going to be on committees just like every other member. He said the committees would be looked at as we went through the steering committee. She can put through the committees she wants, just like every other member in our conference gets elected.

Greene is not the only member who has spouted conspiracy theories or incendiary rhetoric. There are fringe conspiracy theories being peddled about the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

How to set the tone for the next president: Sen. McCarthy says he’s not gonna complain about the crisis in the House, but he wants to make sure he does

“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. And it will start with the speaker as well.”

The congressman said that he has heard from many people in his district that they don’t want to continue with that leadership and that there needs to be a “frank conversation” about who they choose for the top job.

Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado said it was a “red line” for her, but not everyone in the Freedom Caucus is united on whether to make that a hard line.

Moderate lawmakers know that they can exert equal control over legislation and investigations, despite the fact that hardliners have laid out a lengthy list of demands for GOP leadership. And moderates want to flex their muscles starting with the speaker’s race, which they hope will set the tone for their new majority – even as they struggle to settle on their best options to counter conservative hardliners without causing the same chaos they’ve accused McCarthy’s critics of creating.

The Republican Governance Group, a band of centrist-leaning lawmakers, huddled with McCarthy on Wednesday in order to get a sense of where his head is at, according to lawmakers who attended. If it was to happen, they would vote for McCarthy on multiple ballots, even if it meant having his back. They passed out buttons with the name of Kevin on them in a nod to McCarthy.

CNN has yet to project who will have control of the House of Representatives, but as of Friday morning, they have projected that the Republicans will have over 200 seats.

Difficulty in Running for Congress: Why Rep. Mike McCarthy isn’t going to run for the Post-Presidential Office

The group wants to have a longer list of the rules changes they are seeking. McCarthy doesn’t seem to plan on postponing next week’s internal leadership elections.

When asked whether McCarthy should get credit for delivering the majority, Norman responded: “The taxpayers that voted the representatives in deserve the credit.”

One of the members has said that there was nothing McCarthy could do to earn his vote. According to Gaetz, McCarthy wasn’t his first choice to lead and he wasn’t even in my top 100.

“With a slim majority, we shouldn’t be starting the C team,” Gaetz said. To attract more people to our policies, we need to put our star players in a position to shine.

Across the Capitol, some House Republicans are questioning their leadership and their decisions to spend resources in deep blue territory in the late game, as well as their lack of a cohesive message on abortion.

A small, but vocal, group of GOP senators has been calling to delay their leadership elections so they can have a “family discussion” about why the GOP underperformed. And at least one Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has publicly vowed to oppose McConnell’s bid for GOP leader.

The California Republican can have his dream of being president if he gets the job because there’s not a strong alternative to his candidacy. GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, the former head of the Freedom Caucus, has launched a long-shot bid.

Rick Scott is among those who want the Senate leadership election to be pushed back because it does not make sense to have them this week.

“A lot of people have called me to see if I’ll run,” Scott said. Is it still necessary for us to win Georgia? I’m not going to take anything off the table.”

Why did the GOP lose? Why didn’t they win? The case of McConnell, Scott, Emmer, and Toomey

It is a stunning reversal of fortunes for the once-bullish GOP, with leaders now scrambling to quell the rebellions in their ranks and explain why the election did not go their way. The disappointing results have scrambled other leadership races, with Tom Emmer, the head of the House GOP’s campaign arm now facing a tougher time becoming the House GOP whip, a position that will only become available if Republicans capture the majority.

“They’ve been measuring the draperies, they’ve been putting forth an agenda. Nancy Pelosi said on CNN’s State of the Union that they have not won it yet. Depending on who was in the majority, there will be judgements made about the way we go forward in our own parties.

The finger pointing has already begun behind the scenes and will likely intensify as the House and Senate finally return to Washington this week.

Some of the blame has been laid on Trump for the failure of his candidates in Senate races that decided control of the Senate. McConnell’s group spent more money in Senate races than any other group and it wasn’t lost on the Kentucky Republican’s allies.

“There’s a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and big losses,” said retiring Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. If fealty to Trump is the primary criterion for selecting candidates, I think we’re not going to do very well.

McConnell and Scott have fought over strategy throughout the election season, with McConnell sounding the alarm about candidate quality and Scott taking a hands-off approach in the primaries.

Even though he would have little chance of succeeding, Scott didn’t rule out challenging McConnell for the top spot.

“Well, we’re still continuing to talk, but they have not moved,” McCarthy told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. The difficulty is that we are the only Republicans who have the power to stop the administration. We are going to be the only ones who can move forward. But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that you know we need to get done from the very beginning.”

“Basic political physics says you can’t appease the moderates and HFC all at the same time,” one senior Republican told CNN. “If you straddle that fence, you better hope it’s not barbed wire.”

It has not broken through despite a pro-McCarthy campaign by Trump. The conservative media has been attacking McCarthy. However, one notable Trump ally went on Steve Bannon’s podcast on Monday and expressed support for McCarthy: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called it a “bad strategy” and “risky” to challenge McCarthy given their likely razor-thin majority.

A separate GOP source said that Trump has been asking to see which Republicans have endorsed him in the media, in an effort to gain support for his third presidential bid. So far, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been the highest-ranking Republican to officially back Trump’s 2024 bid.

The Speaker nominee will be chosen by House Republicans this week, despite the fact that the speaker vote will take place next January at the start of Congress.

Pelosi was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday whether she would make a decision on running for leadership before the party’s leadership elections.

Republicans are scheduled to hold a candidate forum on Monday evening, followed by leadership elections on Tuesday, November 15, according to a copy of the schedule shared with CNN.

Whoever is elected to be the next chair of the House Democratic Caucus will be in charge of the rest of the leadership elections.

A candidate needs to win over a majority of those who will vote in order to be elected to a leadership position. Voting will begin again if more than two candidates run, and the candidate with the least votes will be eliminated in the first round. The process goes on until one candidate wins a majority.

Changing Emmer’s Sentiment to Large Majority: How a Whip Wins the Speaker’s Election

But if enough members of the Freedom Caucus withhold their support, it could imperil his speaker bid or force him to make deals to weaken the speakership, something he has long resisted.

Emmer told reporters that he still plans to run, but he didn’t know if a smaller majority would affect his bid. His pitch to members was very similar to McCarthy’s.

Jim Banks, a Trump ally and the head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, officially declared his candidacy for the whip position. The current deputy whip, Drew Ferguson of Georgia, is competing for the position because he believes that his experience on the whip’s team will allow him to excel in a slimmer majority, where the chief vote counting job is crucial for governing.

Of course. The California Democrat told Bash that people were campaigning and that was a beautiful thing. “And I’m not asking anyone for anything. My members are asking me to consider doing that. Let’s just get through the election.

Correspondence between the Freedom Caucus and the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy During a Midterm Election Reheating Effort

House majority leader, from Maryland, and House majority whip, from South Carolina, are currently held by Democrats. New York representative Hakeem Jeffries serves as the Democratic caucus chair while Massachusetts representative Karen Clark serves as assistant Speaker.

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, who currently serves as the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, has announced his run for caucus chair to replace Jeffries who is term limited.

The race to lead the party’s campaign arm, DCCC chair, is starting to take shape up after the current chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York lost his reelection.

Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas of California announced his race for the spot on Friday but others are being floated as well including Reps. Ami Bera and Sara Jacobs of California.

Several members of the Freedom Caucus met with McCarthy in his office Monday as they seek to extract concessions from him in exchange for their speaker votes.

Bob Good said that they have asked McCarthy to come up with a proposal for running the House.

While their main focus has been on rules changes that would empower individual members, that’s not the full scope of their issues.

He said that they want to see this place change dramatically, to reflect the will of the people, and to acknowledge how broken it is. It is incumbent on anyone that wants to lead to a vision and how they would change their portion of it.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is hoping to pass a crucial test on Tuesday in his campaign to become House speaker despite an underwhelming midterm election performance that launched a search among conservatives for a challenger.

Idaho GOP Representative Mike Simpson said he would support McCarthy for leader. “He’s done a good job,” said Simpson.

“It’s not only delaying that,” McCarthy said of recruiting GOP candidates. Being prepared to protect the majority and grow the majority is what it is.

Bob Good, a McCarthy critic, criticized McCarthy for not welcoming pro-Trump candidates when he won his primary and for aligning himself with the wrong people, according to a source in the room. McCarthy directed $2 million to Good for his race. The source said Good was cut off from speaking in order to move on to the next question.

Two people with knowledge of the discussion said that McCarthy’s allies tried to convince Henry to switch parties in order to get more votes. The idea was rejected by Cuellar. McCarthy’s spokesman said that if any of the conversations took place, the GOP leader would not be involved and this was not part of their strategy.

Still, McCarthy and Scalise appear to be in command of their leadership races, while the No. 3 House GOP position remains up for grabs, which would be the role of House majority whip, if Republicans win control of the chamber.

At the private forum, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the National Republican Congressional Committee chair, was pressed on his vote in support of a bill to codify same-sex marriage earlier this year, according to a source in the room. There are divisive social issues that shouldn’t be on the House floor.

McCarthy’s supporters are vowing to keep voting for him on multiple ballots, and GOP sources said there are early discussions about a floor strategy for that potential scenario, including whether to recess the House or let the votes keep rolling – no matter how long it takes.

“If a small group refuses to play ball and be part of the team, we will work across the aisle to find an agreeable Republican.” I hope we don’t get there.

It would be good if Kevin took his name out. One GOP lawmaker thinks that slayer would be the guy.

Scalise has repeatedly vowed to support McCarthy and refused to speculate on whether he would jump into the race if the GOP leader can’t get the votes.

“No, I’m not going to get into speculation,” Scalise told CNN. “Obviously, our focus is on getting it resolved by January 3. Kevin said that there has been a lot of conversations with members who have expressed concerns.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the conservative set to become the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, went even further, ruling out jumping into the race even though Gaetz and other hardliners have urged him to seek the speakership.

“I will vote for Andy for speaker, subject to what we’re discussing,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican after leaving a meeting in McCarthy’s office on Wednesday. He added, “All this is positive.” We’re having good change, regardless of what happens. And you’ll see more of it.”

A new group of seven Republican hardliners on Thursday gave a list of conditions to get their vote, but did not threaten to vote against McCarthy if their demands are not met.

But McCarthy still has additional levers he could pull. The powerful House Rules Committee, a panel that decides when and how bills are to be taken to the floor, is where hardliners want more representation. In one private meeting with a member of the House Freedom Caucus, McCarthy was urged to take a harder public stance on the coming policy issues for next year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

McCarthy’s position was opposed by a majority of the GOP when they voted against the idea during a closed door meeting last month. McCarthy refused to answer when asked by CNN if he would visit the issue.

“I think that’s one of the reasons that we didn’t see a red wave … the idea that people are sick and tired of the noise, and they’re sick and tired of the fighting,” Rep. David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said of the impact of a January 3 floor fight. “And I know I get that wherever I go in my district is, ‘why can’t you guys just get things done?’”

McCarthy delayed GOP committee chairmanships as he worked to lock down the speaker’s votes. There was a rumor that if Buchanan doesn’t win, he may retire early, which would make McCarthy’s math problem even harder. But Buchanan vehemently disputed the notion.

Some Democrats have said they would entertain the idea, including Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas who told CNN some of his GOP colleagues have approached him “informally” about it.

Joyce said some people had reached out to him about running, but didn’t want to do it. “At the end of the day, Kevin’s going to be the new speaker.”

New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the next House Democratic leader, said, “there are no behind-the-scenes conversations” that he has had with Republicans to put up an alternative candidate. But he refused to rule out a scenario where his caucus would help elect the next speaker if McCarthy couldn’t get the votes.

“Democrats are in the process of organizing the Democratic Conference,” Jeffries told CNN on Thursday. The Republican Conference is being organized by Republicans. On January 3, let us know what happens.

Some of the potential consensus picks that have been floated included retiring Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and John Katko of New York, who both voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the Capitol insurrection; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus; and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran lawmaker and incoming head of the House Rules Committee.

It would require agreement from all of the Democrats and some of the Republicans. He said he will be skiing, but wouldn’t be in Washington that day.

But Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman said this has happened before – nearly a decade ago in his state where minority Democrats in the Arkansas legislature joined forces with a handful of Republicans to elect a GOP speaker of their choice. Westerman made the case to his colleagues in a closed-door meeting.

The Boundary Crisis in Congress: A Call to Reply to the Correspondence from Washington D.C. Westerman about a Devastating Movement

Westerman said he was concerned about January 3 getting here and not being able to form a Congress, organize committees, and push policy objectives.

There is a discussion about changing House rules that is good for the party. But he added: “I’m not really excited about any type of destructive movement.”

Mr. McCarthy doesn’t share his plans with members of his leadership team who they think are paranoid, because he’s not sharing it with the public. He has been spotted with a lobbyist, Jeff Miller, in recent days around the Capitol and RNC headquarters.

Mr. Norman described his call with Mr. Trump as a private conversation. He said he was still undecided about whom he would support for speaker. Mr. Crane didn’t reply to any of the questions.

In order to win the gavel of the speaker, Nancy Pelosi had to get around a dozen votes that were short of what she needed. Ms. Pelosi, renowned for her ability to arm-twist and coax, won seven votes by agreeing to limit her tenure, picked up another eight by promising to implement rules aimed at fostering more bipartisan legislating, and won over her sole would-be challenger by creating a subcommittee chairmanship for her.

The Republican in California made pledges in order to appease the right flank of his party. He traveled to the southern border and called on Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, to resign or face potential impeachment proceedings. He promised Ms. Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments for making a series of violent and conspiratorial social media posts before she was elected, a plum spot on the Oversight Committee.

He has threatened to investigate the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, promising to hold public hearings scrutinizing the security breakdowns that occurred. He has been quietly meeting with ultraconservative lawmakers in an effort to win them over. On Monday he encouraged his members to vote against the spending bill because it would cause harm to the government.

The inflammatory comments of California congressman J.C. McCarthy and the implications for his year-end tussle over funding the government

Any party in American history would be uncertain of their power at any point during the 20th century because of the tiny GOP House majority taking over in January. And the ideological struggle being waged by pro-Donald Trump extremists inside the party would have made even a more comfortable majority volatile.

The California Republican is fighting a rear guard battle against members who want to make it easier to remove a speaker and he is appeasing Donald Trump and his followers to save his political power base.

Once an avuncular and smooth-talking GOP rising star, McCarthy has adopted some of the confrontational defiance of the “Make America Great Again” movement, seeming to seek out soundbite clashes with the press as badges of honor.

This is one reason why the current year-end tussle over whether to fund the government for a full year – a bipartisan framework agreement for which was announced Tuesday night – or for just a few months is so critical since it could dump a fiscal crisis on the lap of a weak and easily manipulated new speaker next month.

Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday about Greene’s latest inflammatory comments, McCarthy shrugged them off: “Oh, I think she said she was being facetious,” the possible future speaker answered. His attitude was not a surprise; it was consistent with his attempts to rewrite the history of the worst attack on US democracy in modern times, for which he briefly said Trump bore responsibility.

The same dynamic was at play when McCarthy declined to directly criticize the ex-president for meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes at a dinner also featuring Kanye West, the rapper now known as Ye, who has recently made a string of antisemitic remarks. In a histrionic performance at the White House after meeting Biden and other congressional leaders last month, the House Republican leader falsely claimed that Trump had condemned Fuentes four times, when he hadn’t done so once.

At the White House meeting, McCarthy indicated that he would be open to a large bill, according to CNN. Senate Republican leader McConnell worked on a measure Tuesday, which he said was “broadly appealing,” but McCarthy told his members he wasn’t a fan of it.

The split not only augurs likely future tensions between Republicans in the House and McConnell, it raises the possibility that it will become politically more difficult for some Republican senators to vote for a spending deal now – especially as conservative media has taken up McCarthy’s line.

According to several members who are involved in the conversations, an idea to kick members off committees was floated as frustration grew over the band of anti-Kevin McCarthy lawmakers.

The dynamic offers a preview of the tensions between the moderate and MAGA wings that are likely to spill over next year with a razor-thin House majority. Some House Republicans who identify as either centrist or part of the GOP’s so-called governing wing feel like they’re being taken seriously after many extremists candidates failed.

Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said people need to know we don’t need to double down on failed policies. The most successful were left of center and right of center in the midterms.

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the handful of Republican lawmakers to come out in firm opposition to McCarthy as speaker, also acknowledged the reality of a narrowly divided House.

“We are in a community of common fate,” he told CNN. “We have to acknowledge that the ship isn’t going anywhere if five people won’t row in that direction. And that’s true on impeachment, it’s true on the speakership vote, it’s true on the budget, it’s true on policy choices.”

“Some of the questions that remain unanswered is what other deals are going to be cut, you know, what guarantees, what concessions are going to be made?” “What do you mean?” Womack asked. “We got to be careful that we don’t give a lot of that leverage away.”

The House Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill: Melting the Tease: Rejoining with the Governing Committee, or What Happens When You’re Not Here

In a Wednesday conference-wide meeting, the latest of the series ahead of the new Congress, McCarthy held a forum to let his members continue debating potential rules changes and other concessions, even though there is still no resolution on the controversial motion to vacate the chair.

At this point many members are still preaching unity, calling the private deal-making part of the process, and emphasizing that the conference will come together when the new Congress begins January 3. To that end, the Republican Governance Group recently sent a letter urging their colleagues to unite behind McCarthy.

Mario said it shouldn’t be a surprise that Republicans were talking about different points of view.

Even though the negotiations are going on, members of competing groups have had time to have fun. All of Capitol Hill came together at a Christmas party hosted by Burchett in his office. There was a fountain with Mountain Dew, a plate of Cheez Whiz and Ritz crackers, as well as a skateboard by Gaetz’s wife.

The various warring groups agree on most things, according to Rep. Blake Moore, who identifies himself as part of the governing wing.

“I’ve said this over and over again: there is not this, like, enormous amount of drama,” Moore told CNN. The House Freedom Caucus and I agree on some things. And it’s an enormous amount.”

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday that five conservative hardliners have not budged in their opposition to his speaker’s bid, offering dire warnings that their hard-fought Republican majority could be derailed if they don’t bend.

McCarthy warned of dire consequences as five GOP members warned they could vote as a bloc on January 3.

“Remember, this is a presidential year, so you only have so many months to really get out there and govern,” McCarthy said. “And you want to hit the ground running. If you lose a quarter on a day you don’t start strong. So you don’t get really strong candidates. You don’t get more resources to be able to supply those candidates to get the message out.”