Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (Republican-California) bangs the Speaker鈥檚 gavel for the first time after being elected the next Speaker of the US House of Representatives in a late night 15th round of voting on the fourth day of the 118th Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, US, Jan. 7, 2023. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Reuters)
WASHINGTON 鈥� Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the US House of Representatives early on Saturday, after making extensive concessions to right-wing hardliners that raised questions about the party鈥檚 ability to govern.
The 57-year-old Californian suffered one final humiliation when Representative Matt Gaetz withheld his vote on the 14th ballot as midnight approached, prompting a scuffle in which fellow Republican Mike Rogers had to be physically pulled away.
McCarthy鈥檚 victory in the 15th ballot ended the deepest congressional dysfunction in over 160 years. But it sharply illustrated the difficulties he will face in leading a narrow and deeply polarized majority.
He won at last on a margin of 216-212. He was able to be elected with the votes of fewer than half the House members only because six in his own party withheld their votes 鈥� not backing McCarthy as the leader, but also not voting for another contender.
As he took the gavel for the first time, McCarthy represented the end of President Joe Biden鈥檚 Democrats鈥� hold on both chambers of Congress.
鈥淥ur system is built on checks and balances. It鈥檚 time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president鈥檚 policies,鈥� McCarthy said in his inaugural speech, which laid out a wide range of priorities from cutting spending to immigration, to fighting culture war battles.
McCarthy was elected only after agreeing to a demand by hardliners that any lawmaker be able call for his removal at any time. That will sharply cut the power he will hold when trying to pass legislation on critical issues including funding the government, addressing the nation鈥檚 looming debt ceiling, and other crises that may arise.
Republicans鈥� weaker-than-expected performance in November鈥檚 midterm elections left them with a narrow 222-212 majority, which has given outsized power to the right-wingers who opposed McCarthy鈥檚 leadership.
Those concessions, including sharp spending cuts and other curbs on McCarthy鈥檚 powers, could point to further turbulence in the months ahead, especially when Congress will need to sign off on a further increase of the United States鈥� $31.4 trillion borrowing authority.
Over the past decade, Republicans have repeatedly shut down much of the government and pushed the world鈥檚 largest borrower to the brink of default in efforts to extract steep spending cuts, usually without success.
Several of the hardliners have questioned McCarthy鈥檚 willingness to engage in such brinkmanship when negotiating with Biden, whose Democrats control the Senate. They have raged in the past when Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell agreed to compromise deals.
The hardliners, also including Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy of Texas, said concessions they extracted from McCarthy will make it easier to pursue such tactics 鈥� or force another vote on McCarthy鈥檚 leadership if he does not live up to their expectations.
鈥淵ou have changes in how we鈥檙e going to spend and allocate money that are going to be historic,鈥� said Perry.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want clean debt ceilings to just go through and just keep paying the bill without some counteracting effort to control spending when the Democrats control the White House and control the Senate.鈥�
One of those Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, warned that the concessions McCarthy made to 鈥渢he extremists鈥� in his party may come back to haunt him, and made it more likely that the Republican-controlled House will cause a government shutdown or default with 鈥渄evastating consequences.鈥�
In a sharp contrast to the battles among House Republicans, Biden and McConnell appeared together in Kentucky on Wednesday to highlight investments in infrastructure.
McCarthy鈥檚 belated victory came the day after the two-year anniversary of a Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, when a violent mob stormed Congress in an attempt to overturn then-President Donald Trump鈥檚 election loss.
This week鈥檚 14 failed votes marked the highest number of ballots for the speakership since 1859, in the turbulent years before the Civil war.
McCarthy鈥檚 last bid for speaker, in 2015, crumbled in the face of right-wing opposition. The two previous Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, left the job after conflict with right-wing colleagues.
McCarthy now holds the authority to block Biden鈥檚 legislative agenda, force votes for Republican priorities on the economy, energy, and immigration and move forward with investigations of Biden, his administration, and his family.
Concessions
But the concessions he agreed to mean that McCarthy will hold considerably less power than his predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. That will make it hard for him to agree to deals with Democrats in a divided Washington.
Allowing a single member to call for a vote to remove the speaker will give hardliners extraordinary leverage.
The agreement would cap spending for the next fiscal year at last year鈥檚 levels 鈥� amounting to a significant cut when inflation and population growth are taken into account.
That could meet resistance from more centrist Republicans or those who have pushed for greater military funding, particularly as the United States is spending billions of dollars to help Ukraine fend off a Russian assault.
Moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick said he was not worried that the House would effectively be run by hardliners.
鈥淚t鈥檚 aspirational,鈥� he told reporters. 鈥淲e still have our voting cards.鈥�