Fogbow

Rep. Kevin McCarthy is currently huddled in the speaker’s ceremonial office, off the House floor, and was just joined by key negotiators: Rep. Byron Donalds, Rep. Tom Emmer and Rep. Chip Roy.

The three Republicans scrambled up to the second floor to meet McCarthy after a lengthy negotiating session in Emmer’s office with other lawmakers, where they were viewing an emerging written deal to break the stalemate over McCarthy’s speakership.

humblescribe wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 7:03 pm With all these rounds, does the House now have those shapely ring-card girls parading about with the round # on a large piece of painted plywood like boxing matches of old?

ring card.webp

He is also bitching and moaning a whole lot that Democratic Rep. Cori Bush said Republicans are using Byron Donalds as a "prop." He is North-Carolina-white-splaining to the Democrats how racist that is of Cori Bush to say that.

Just another white Republican from the south who sounds like he's doing an impression of a confederate Foghorn Leghorn with a dick stuck in his throat. It's kind of their thing.

Interesting about Feinstein. Any speculation about who Gov. Newsom might appoint?

Volkonski wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:36 pm I am concerned that McCarthy will give so much away to the gang of 20 that he won't be able to function as speaker. The moment he does something they don't like one of them will call for his ouster. That could become a frequent occurrence.

Suranis wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:48 pm Ya, I dont believe any "reporting" till I see votes. Its all speculation from the press, and people promising stuff and doing something else.

4 minutes ago
Emily Cochrane Reporting from the Capitol

Matt Gaetz tells us he has seen the emerging deal, but won’t support it. Why? “It results in Kevin McCarthy becoming the speaker,” he said.

Updated
Jan. 5, 2023, 8:40 p.m. ET 21 minutes ago
Catie Edmondson Reporting from the Capitol

Grasping for a Deal, McCarthy Offers Terms That Would Erode Speaker’s Power

WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy of California contorted himself on Thursday to try to win over right-wing holdouts as his battle to become speaker limped toward a fourth day, offering concessions that would substantially weaken his authority and empower a strident right flank.

After a humiliating three-day stretch of 11 consecutive defeats in an election that is now the most protracted such contest since 1859, Mr. McCarthy dispatched his emissaries to hammer out a deal with the ultraconservative rebels, including agreeing to conditions he had previously refused to countenance in a last-ditch effort to sway a critical mass of defectors.

They included allowing a single lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the speaker, a rule that would effectively codify a standing threat that Mr. McCarthy would be at the mercy of the right wing at all times, and could be removed instantly if he crossed them.

That concession and several others, which Mr. McCarthy hoped would win over a large bloc of dissidents, would diminish the speaker’s power considerably and make for an unwieldy environment in the House, where the slim Republican majority and a hard-right faction with an appetite for disarray had already promised to make it difficult to govern.

Some of the changes left little doubt that the House would struggle to carry out even its most basic duties in the coming two years, such as funding the government, including the military, or avoiding catastrophic federal debt default. Already, the struggle has ground the House to a halt just as Republicans were assuming their majority, preventing any lawmakers from being sworn in, rules from being adopted or legislative business from being conducted.

Lawmakers were losing their security clearances, and a House committee confirmed that, if no resolution were reached by next week, congressional aides working for committees could not be paid, since the House would lack authority to process payroll on Jan. 13, the next payroll deadline.

[ Update is much longer...]