On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to choose its next Speaker of the House. Ninety percent of House Republicans, including all of the Congressional Republicans from Alabama, voted to make longtime House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy the Speaker, but that was still far short of the 218 votes needed to elect McCarthy Speaker. The 11:00 am CST Speaker of the House vote was followed by four more votes before the House adjourned until Friday. The four failed Speaker votes on Thursday, followed three votes on Wednesday and three on Tuesday, for a total of 11 failed Speaker elections to this point.
The small group of ultra-conservative Republicans in the House that oppose McCarthy are led by Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, and Bob Good. They insist that they can hold out indefinitely and will not be swayed by critics to soften their stand against McCarthy, whom they view as too moderate. Democrats, on the other hand, have voted unanimously for their new leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Congresswoman Terri Sewell has voted for Jeffries. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has told reporters that House Democrats will not help elect McCarthy.
Alabama’s Republican Congressmen Jerry Carl, Barry Moore, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Dale Strong, and Gary Palmer have all steadfastly supported McCarthy throughout this process.
“I am supporting Kevin McCarthy in the House the entire time,” said Barry Moore in a video statement on Facebook. “We have been working on trying to get a consensus on who the Speaker will be.”
“I have been with Kevin because I said I would be with Kevin,” Moore said. “I have told Kevin that he has my support.”
The House cannot conduct business until it has a Speaker in place, so essentially, the first, second, and third days of the 118th Congress accomplished nothing. House committee staff may not get paid if the House does not pass rules for the 118th Congress – something that it can’t do until after the House has a Speaker. According to a memo released Thursday, the deadline for passing the rules package is next Friday.
“Committees need to be aware that should a House Rules package not be adopted by end of business on January 13, no committee will be able to process payroll since the committee’s authority for the new Congress is not yet confirmed,” the memo said.
Without a Speaker of the House, House Republicans’ expansive agenda can’t move forward. New members, including Alabama’s Dale Strong, have been unable to even be sworn in. The incoming chairs for the Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Affairs committees are blocked from attending classified national security briefings until the rules are adopted for the 118th Congress, and committee chairs are formally appointed by the Speaker.
McCarthy’s inability to even get a vote of support from the squabbling members of his own caucus has called into question whether or not he will be able to effectively lead the majority party moving forward – even if he is chosen as the next Speaker of the House. McCarthy and his allies have shown no sign of bringing forward a new candidate. McCarthy was previously passed over for Speaker in 2015 after ultraconservatives objected. Congressman Paul Ryan was chosen as Speaker then.
This is the first time since 1923 that the Speaker of the House was not chosen on the first vote. There has not been this many failed votes on the Speaker since the Civil War. The House of Representatives will convene on Friday at 11:00 am CST to vote for a twelfth time.
“I guarantee this much – it will be better than Nancy Pelosi,” Moore said, acknowledging that he was not sure who would ultimately get the Speakership.
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