Republicans postponed the election of the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives to Wednesday, citing the internal deadlock in the election of Kevin McCarthy, a situation unheard of in the past 100 years.
Kevin McCarthy lost three times this Tuesday to lead the lower house of the US Congress.
The Chamber of Representatives has decided to postpone the vote for the election of the new president until 12 noon on Wednesday (5 p.m. in Lisbon), the agency Efe reported.
On the third ballot, the leader of the Republican bench again missed the 218 needed to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House, despite his party having a parliamentary majority.
Twenty Republicans voted for Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio in a clear challenge to their leader, while Democratic minority candidate Hakeem Jeffries of New York won his political party’s 212 votes.
For example, the right wing of the Republican Party is blocking the election of the new leader of the House of Representatives, who can only take office once a new president has been elected.
On the first two ballots, McCarthy had just 203 votes.
On all three ballots, McCarthy tried to win support from fellow Republicans of the more conservative faction, who refused to vote, but it was never clear how he could avoid becoming the first candidate for Majority Party leader in the house in the past 100 years has not been able to win the vote.
The Republican had promised a “fight” for as long as it takes to overcome right-wing colleagues who refuse to vote.
It took 218 of the 435 votes in the House of Representatives to lead the House of Representatives.
With only 222 seats, the Republican Party could afford to lose a handful of votes and still get Kevin McCarthy elected in the first round.
However, opposition from ultracons close to Trump ruined plans for Republicans, who will have to submit to new votes, with an unpredictable outcome.
Ultraconservative congressmen criticized McCarthy for not negotiating with them a reform of the debating rules or the names to run congressional committees in the new legislature.
McCarthy, a California legislator and leader of the Republican ranks since 2014, had already foreseen that he would not have the necessary 218 votes and that there would be “a battle in the chamber.”
Source: DN
