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2023 House vote for speaker

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Instagram: “Republicans are unfit to govern. …”
Republicans are unfit to govern. We saw that two years ago on January 6th, and we see it today on the House floor. We won’t stop fighting to hold the insurrectionists accountable, and for healing for everyone impacted.
The Democrats honored that anniversary, but the Republicans didn't. What's going on here?
Rhetorical question, right? Because the QOP is damn proud of their actions on Jan. 6.
 
Here's the Rogers incident.



After that, they were voting on an adjournment motion, that looked like it would pass, but McCarthy begged some more, and got Gaetz to agree to something because McCarthy then pulled out an Uno reverse card and changed his vote to nay and the motion failed. Though i don't understand how McCarthy could have promised him anything more without first getting the approval from his 200+ supporters. Though they have gone along with McCarthy this far, rewarding the terrorists.

Then they had a 15th ballot and all the first 5 of the remaining holdouts voted present which will be enough, only needed 3 of them to do so.

15 will be the 5th most rounds ever needed.

McCarthy now leads a caucus where nobody can respect him and any one member can call for a new vote and force us to do this all over again.

Can't wait for all the laptop investigations.
 
Jimmy Gomez on Instagram: “stay civil! #SpeakerVote #playbyplay”
AOC recalled that Matt Gaetz said earlier that day that Kevin McCarthy will never be House Speaker.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram: “Speaker’s Race Day 4”
Recorded during the intermission that day. She got into what KMC negotiated away to get votes from these holdouts, and that was a lot.

"Motion to vacate the chair" to subject the Speaker to a no-confidence vote - some motions require a lot of people to agree, like a motion to have a recorded vote and not just a voice vote, everybody voting "aye" saying it at the same time, and likewise with "nay". But the rebels want only one person necessary to file such a motion. That will make it easy for any one member to obstruct Congress with such a vote. That will make it hard for him to do anything.

Seems almost as bad as the  liberum veto of early modern Poland, where any one member of parliament could veto something. Jozef Manczins and Krystyna Sinemas in the pay of Poland's neighbors then helped bring down that nation, from extending into Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine to disappearing off the map. There is even an expression in Scandinavia and nearby,  Polish parliament (expression) - "Today, the expression is mostly used to describe an assembly that is too easy for minorities or individuals to disrupt and/or has too many parties present for meaningful and orderly debate and decision-making to take place."

They agreed on reaching a balanced budget in 10 years. But it won't be by cutting military spending, but instead, Social Security, Medicare, and stuff like healthcare, education, childcare. She finds it odd, because much of the R party's base is elderly people, people who use SS and MC.

As to chairing committees, that is dependent on seniority. Some of the rebels want to become committee chairpeople well ahead of all those others who have been waiting in line for those positions.

Then on reviving the "Holman rule", for instance, not allowing Federal money to go to Dr. Anthony Fauci or his position. So they could keep the Justice Dept. from investigating far-right organizations.  Holman rule

No Reps means no constituent services, for instance.
 
AOC then said that this drama llama reveals a lot about the divisions and dysfunction in the Congressional Republican Caucus. Like who in the R party likes KMC and who dislikes him. Also, a lot of issues don't fall onto the left-right dimensions very much. Like being anti-establishment. AOC agrees with some R's on excessive surveillance and warrantless searches.

She mentioned that debt defaulting and government shutdowns have become possible. She says about shutdowns that the people hurt the most are ordinary people, not Congressional multimillionaires.

Then how little the R party seems to have prepared for the speakership vote. KMC knew that he had a narrow margin, and he knew that he needed the vote of just about every House R with very little margin of error. Even though the assured votes fell short, he went ahead.

After describing the D party's base as very diverse, she went on to describe the R base as an ideological extreme that is funded by billionaires and a "massive, utterly massive" propaganda machine: Fox News. She describes Congresspeople going to see what Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity said, mostly TC. She says that CNN is run by conservatives and that MSNBC is not some left-wing version of Fox News, some socialist outlet. Then she noted how few black and Hispanic R's there are. A black one once praised KMC for increasing black R's 100%, but that was something like going from 2 to 4.

She then addresses the question of why not imitate this rebellious R's. Sure, one might get some victories, but at a big cost, of alienating fellow R's.

Then she says that if D's remain united, then they can go a long way by getting even a small number of R's on their side. Something like a mirror image of 2021 for the D party in the Senate.

She then discussed how Lauren Boebert barely won this year. Then claiming that the NYS D party was incompetent because it let R's win.

She also says that the Freedom Caucus is not dedicated to any policy issue, unlike progressives, who organize around Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. But the FC organizes around getting committee assignments, rules changes, and grievance. She also notes that activism must involve an outside strategy as well as an inside strategy.

Then how some people adjust their content to get a lot of clicks and views, by featuring lots of drama llama.

She notes that the next thing that the House is to vote on is its rules package. What will it contain?
 
Back to Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives - Votes

The fourteenth vote (#18, Jan 06, 2023, 11:07 PM): The previous non-voters all voted for Kevin McCarthy, and the anti-KMC voters split up:
  • Jim Jordan: Biggs AZ, Good VA
  • Andy Biggs: Crane AZ, Rosendale MT
  • "Present": Boebert CO, Gaetz FL

An adjournment vote (#19, an 06, 2023, 11:40 PM):
R: Y 155, N 67
D: N 212
Tot: Y 155, N 279

So this late-night session continued.

The fifteenth vote (#19, an 07, 2023, 12:34 AM): all six rebels -- Biggs AZ, Boebert CO, Crane AZ, Gaetz FL, Good VA, Rosendale MT -- voted "Present".

Kevin McCarthy got 216 votes, all R's, and Hakeem Jeffries got 212 votes, all D's.

The six rebels thus threw the election to KMC by voting Present, meaning that their votes would not be counted.
 
Susan Swain on Twitter: ".@cspan's #HouseSpeaker vote coverage is getting kudos. FYI: Our non-profit network doesn't get a dime of gov $. Sadly, we're not avail to all pay TV customers, importantly @YouTubeTV and @hulu. Please help convince them to add C-SPAN to their lineups by liking and retweeting." / Twitter

Jake Sherman on Twitter: "NEW -- If McCarthy wins the speakership, House Republicans plan to swear in members and pass the rules package TONIGHT" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I thought under this new GOP majority we were supposed to get 72 hours notice on legislation?
Or @RepMTG are you already folding on the principle of this “concession” from McCarthy in your very first vote? 😂" / Twitter

then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "(I’m not even opposed to 72 hours notice, either!)" / Twitter

I agree on giving plenty of advance. In some recent years, it was 24 hours or less, then it got bumped up to 48 hours.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost on Twitter: "Some of y’all are okay with this but had a fit when I got denied for an apartment. 🤦🏾‍♂️ (pic link)" / Twitter
Showing a brawl on the House floor - Watch: GOP Congressman Gets So Mad at Matt Gaetz Over Speaker Vote He Had to Be Dragged Off (Video)

Who was involved: Andrew Harnik on Twitter: "Rep. Hudson, R-N.C., left, pulls Rep. Rogers, R-Ala., as he confronts Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., during the 14th round of voting for speaker as the House meets for the fourth day to try and elect a speaker in Washington, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (@AP Photo/@andyharnik) (pic link)" / Twitter

MsMLJVotesBlue Is ready to fly to the MOON! ☮️ 🌻 on Twitter: "@MaxwellFrostFL Learn from Katie Porter! (pic link)" / Twitter
She was reading a book called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck" subtitled "A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life" by Mark Manson.

She seems very sensible.


Kevin McCarthy makes major concessions in House speaker bid - The Washington Post
In a major allowance to the hard-right Republicans, McCarthy offered to lower from five to one the number of members required to sponsor a resolution to force a vote on ousting the speaker — a change that the California Republican had previously said he would not accept.

McCarthy also expressed a willingness to place more members of the staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee, which debates legislation before it’s moved to the floor.

And he relented on allowing floor votes to institute term limits on members and to enact specific border policy legislation.
 
Checking on the activity at Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives

12:37:10 AM Roll call 20 - Election of the Speaker. Mr. McCarthy 216, Mr. Jeffries 212, and Present 6 (Roll no. 20). Mr. McCarthy was elected Speaker.

12:38:50 AM COMMITTEE TO ESCORT THE SPEAKER-ELECT - The Clerk appointed a Committee of Members-elect to escort the Speaker-elect into the Chamber and to the Chair.

12:56:10 AM The Speaker-elect was escorted into the Chamber by the Escort Committee and introduced by Representative-elect Jeffries, Democratic Leader, before assuming the Chair.

01:13:35 AM ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER-ELECT - The Speaker-elect addressed the House prior to taking the Oath of Office which will be administered by the Dean of the House, Representative-elect Harold Rogers, Kentucky.

01:38:36 AM ADMINISTRATION OF THE OATH OF OFFICE - The Dean of the House administered the Oath of Office to the Speaker-elect.

01:39:55 AM ADMINISTRATION OF THE OATH OF OFFICE - The Speaker administered the Oath of Office to the Members-elect of the 118th Congress.

Now they are all Representatives.
 
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Twitter: "That feeling when you finally get sworn-in for your third term in Congress. Centering the people always. 118th, let’s go. (pic link)" / Twitter
AOC held up three fingers, and she was with her fellow Class of 2018 members: Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.

Cori Bush on Twitter: "Sworn in to the 118th U.S. Congress just before 2 AM 🙃 (pic link)" / Twitter with Summer Lee, Ayanna Pressley, Delia Ramirez, Jamaal Bowman, and AOC

Republicans’ push of Byron Donalds for House speaker is shameless - "Trump-loving Republicans who oppose Kevin McCarthy set their sights on a Black congressman for House speaker and tried to give a lesson on Black history."
Referring to some R's nomination of Byron Donalds for Speaker.
 
Some Republicans Walked Out In Disgust During Rep. Matt Gaetz’s Floor Speech | HuffPost Latest News
In nominating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) again as an alternative to McCarthy, Gaetz took issue with McCarthy’s belief he had earned the position of speaker and said McCarthy would not have the votes he needed Friday, Saturday or “next week, next month, next year.”

“One must wonder, Madam Clerk, is this an exercise in vanity? For someone who has done the math, taken the counts, and is putting this institution through something that absolutely is avoidable?”
Then,
“They believe Mr. McCarthy has earned the position of speaker of the House because he raised half a billion dollars to get Republicans elected.”

At that point, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) stood up and began shouting at Gaetz that he was out of line. “That is not going to bring anyone” to Gaetz’s side, Bost shouted, waving a finger.

After Bost was gaveled down, Gaetz continued on, calling McCarthy “the LeBron James of special-interest fundraising in this town. There is nobody better.”

At that point, several Republicans began getting out of their seats and walking out of the chamber.
House Democrats Spent the Day Trolling Republicans With Popcorn - "There was not really much for Democratic members to do but hang tight and watch the GOP bicker and fail to elect a leader."

Robin Kelly on Twitter: "I’ve got my popcorn ready. 🍿 (pic link)" / Twitter

Jan Schakowsky on Twitter: "Happy first day of the 118th Congress! I can’t wait to continue my work on behalf of Illinois’ 9th Congressional District. It could be a long day, plus I want to celebrate my 35 new Democratic colleagues, so I brought Chicago’s best, @GarrettPopcorn, to share with everyone! (pic link)" / Twitter
With a bucket of popcorn

Ted Lieu on Twitter: "About to go to the House Floor. (pic link)" / Twitter
With a bag of popcorn

Grace Meng on Twitter: "I got my popcorn ready. (pic link)" / Twitter

Congressman Jamaal Bowman on Twitter: ".@GOPLeader doesn't have the votes! We're in a good mood. (pic link)" / Twitter

Delia Ramirez on Twitter: "I am excited to serve with my amazing colleagues in Congress! @RobertGarcia @Gabe_NM @SummerForPA @GregCasar @MaxwellFrostFL (pic link)" / Twitter

Rep. Tony Cárdenas on Twitter: "This baby was born on the first round of votes. He’s now 4 months old 👶🏻 (pic link)" / Twitter

Back to Jezebel.
Democrats repeatedly voted for Jeffries as Republicans duked it out. McCarthy, after three votes, was unable to get the consensus he needed to win the speakership, and the House adjourned until Wednesday morning—marking the first time in a century the chamber has failed to elect a speaker on its first vote.

Are Democrats being childish? Yes. Is it still funny that they brought popcorn to this clown show? Yes. Is it terrifying that Republicans are supposed to lead this massively important political body, but can’t even get their own shit together? Absolutely. The American political system contains multitudes.
 
Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives - After various bits of business,

01:52:00 AM Mr. Scalise moved that the House do now adjourn.

01:52:08 AM On motion to adjourn Agreed to by voice vote.

(Me) I'm not surprised. They all need their sleep, I'm sure.

01:52:09 AM Since the rules of the 118th Congress had not yet been adopted, the Chair announced the rights of Members to introduce bills, and the authority of the Speaker to refer them, would be delayed and that submitted bills would be held until adoption of the rules. At that time, they would be referred as expeditiously as possible to the appropriate committee and the bills which were not referred and did not appear in the Record as of that day would be included in the next day's Record and printed with a date as of the time that the rules were adopted.

(Me) They'll also have to decide on committee assignments.

01:52:11 AM The House adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on January 9, 2023.

(Me) At long last.
 
During the voting for Speaker,

Al Drago on Twitter: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, holds her smart phone with former US President Donald Trump on the line, as Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Republican from Montana, waves it off during a meeting of the 118th Congress in the House Chamber on Friday.
#SpeakerVote
(pic link)" / Twitter



"Rules Package" was trending on Twitter, and I checked.

Symone D. Sanders-Townsend on Twitter: "After all of this, Republicans don’t have the votes to pass their rules package tonight so they will adjourn until Monday. After all the arm twisting, the pontificating, they do not have the votes of their caucus. This is is the House of Reps for the next 2 years folks!" / Twitter

Robert A George on Twitter: "Kevin McCarthy has been elected Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress.
After swearing in of members, House will adjourn because, um, McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to pass the Rules package." / Twitter

then
Annika Brockschmidt on Twitter: "And the chaos begins. McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to pass the Rules Package" / Twitter
:D

Jake Sherman on Twitter: "HOUSE REPUBLICANS have pushed the consideration of the rules package to next week." / Twitter

Complete with more drama llama, I'm sure.

Sahil Kapur on Twitter: "House Republican rules package:
—1 member can force vote to overthrow Speaker
—changes PAYGO to CUTGO
—constrains debt limit end-runs
—3/5ths vote to raises tax rates
—allows 2-min votes
—72-hrs for bills
—dynamic scoring
—EdLabor —> Education & Workforce
—new COVID select cmte" / Twitter

The text of their rules package: untitled - BILLS-118hresPIH-118th-rules-of-the-house-of-reps-V3.pdf

Rep. Ro Khanna on Twitter: "Republicans’ draft rules package includes a cynical attempt to kill Congressional unions, weaken the office of Congressional ethics, and institute reckless fiscal policies that will hurt the working class. We must oppose it." / Twitter
 
He just had to publicly kiss Trump's ass after winning.

I suppose that is the price of political success.
 
If one member can demand a vote to oust the Speaker, what’s to prevent Dems from hobbling the ‘pugs by demanding a vote to remove the speaker whenever they don’t like what’s happening? Constantly, if necessary?
 
If one member can demand a vote to oust the Speaker, what’s to prevent Dems from hobbling the ‘pugs by demanding a vote to remove the speaker whenever they don’t like what’s happening? Constantly, if necessary?
Nothing.

But a) there are more efficient means of gumming up the works if one is so inclined and b) it does not seem to have been a problem in the past (the "new" rule simply reverts to the way it was prior to Pelosi's assumption of the Speakership...)
 
If one member can demand a vote to oust the Speaker, what’s to prevent Dems from hobbling the ‘pugs by demanding a vote to remove the speaker whenever they don’t like what’s happening? Constantly, if necessary?
Those pesky unintended consequences.
 
What's going on here?

Picture a world where a failed businessman, but successful on television led an insurrection comprised of Antler Guy and people smearing feces on the walls. Then, a year later, the Jewish Space Laser Lady became too mainstream. And the Gas Mask Guy blocked the government for several days. What's going on? We have achieved Idiocracy.
 
If one member can demand a vote to oust the Speaker, what’s to prevent Dems from hobbling the ‘pugs by demanding a vote to remove the speaker whenever they don’t like what’s happening? Constantly, if necessary?
The huge difference is that if Democrat A does so, the Speaker flips him off, and the GOP puts Speaker back in. The only question is can the Dems do it repeatedly.

If the GOP Anal Wart (FL) does so with a coalition of just 5 or so other members, the House can be dragged down to a halt... again. And if it is over legislation that the Dems don't support, why would they step in to help? And again, can they keep repeating the request. We know the Anal Wart has no pride and would do that.
 
If one member can demand a vote to oust the Speaker, what’s to prevent Dems from hobbling the ‘pugs by demanding a vote to remove the speaker whenever they don’t like what’s happening? Constantly, if necessary?
Nothing.

But a) there are more efficient means of gumming up the works if one is so inclined and b) it does not seem to have been a problem in the past (the "new" rule simply reverts to the way it was prior to Pelosi's assumption of the Speakership...)

Was it? One of the Democrats who addressed the Chair said that the rule change was made by the R speaker before Pelosi.
 
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