The Republicans postponed until Wednesday the election of the leader in the House of Representatives of the US Congress, before the internal impasse in the election of Kevin McCarthy, an unprecedented situation in the last 100 years.
Kevin McCarthy lost three times this Tuesday in the elections to preside over the lower house of the US Congress.
The House of Representatives decided to postpone the vote to elect the new president until 12:00 p.m. this Wednesday (5:00 p.m. in Lisbon), the Efe news agency reported.
In the third round, the leader of the Republican caucus lost again the 218 necessary to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the new speaker of the House, despite the fact that her party has a parliamentary majority.
Twenty Republicans voted for Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio in a clear challenge to their leader, while minority Democratic candidate Hakeem Jeffries of New York won his political party’s 212 votes.
In this way, the right wing of the Republican Party is blocking the election of the new leader of the House of Representatives, who cannot start working until a new president is elected.
On the first two ballots, McCarthy got just 203 votes.
On all three ballots, McCarthy tried to win the support of his fellow Republicans from the more conservative faction, who refused to cast their ballots, but it was never clear how he could avoid becoming the first candidate for House majority party leader in last 100 years of not being able to win the vote.
The Republican had promised a “battle” for as long as it takes to defeat fellow right-wingers who refuse to cast their ballots.
It took 218 votes out of 435 in the House of Representatives to lead the lower house.
With only 222 seats, the GOP could afford to lose a handful of votes and still get Kevin McCarthy elected in the first round.
However, the opposition of the ultra-conservatives close to Trump scuttled the Republican plans, which will have to be submitted to new votes, with an unpredictable result.
Ultraconservative congressmen criticized McCarthy for not having negotiated with them a reform to the debate rules or the names to head the congressional commissions in the new legislature.
McCarthy, a California legislator and leader of the Republican ranks since 2014, had already announced that he did not have the necessary 218 votes and that there would be “a battle in the chamber.”
Source: TSF
