WASHINGTON — If it’s Friday ... the House speaker stalemate enters fourth day, with Kevin McCarthy losing 11-straight votes. ... McCarthy’s allies remain upbeat, per NBC’s Capitol Hill team: “If it takes ‘til tomorrow, it takes ‘til tomorrow; if it takes ‘til the 4th of July, it takes 'til the 4th of July. Kevin will be speaker,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa. ... And President Biden, from the White House, makes remarks on the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
But first: Here’s a thought experiment: What if this speaker stalemate in the U.S. House of Representatives was taking place exactly two years from now — on Jan. 6, 2025?
Or what if it happened two years ago — after House Republicans almost took control of the chamber in the 2020 elections?
Answer: Congress wouldn’t be able to fulfill its constitutional and legal duty to certify the Electoral College results from the most recent presidential contest.
It’s this possibility — on this second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — that really drives home why this congressional stalemate is more than a silly sideshow affecting only the House GOP’s reputation.
Without a speaker, there’s no functioning House, as NBC’s Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur write.
There are no active members of Congress (they are merely members-elect); there are no committees; there are no intel or security briefings; and there’s a real drag on constituent service.
“Let’s say, for example, you have a VA disability issue — the VA can’t address this right now,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told NBC’s Wong and Kapur. “When we get sworn in, I can do it, but right now we’re not allowed. We can call the agencies, but they’re not allowed to help us right now. So this hurts constituents nationwide.”
And — if this was exactly two years from now — there would be no certification of the Electoral College results.
Photo of the day: Remembering Jan. 6, 2021
Data Download: The number of the day is … 14
That’s how many of the 15 members-elect who voted for another speaker candidate other than Kevin McCarthy and served in Congress in 2021 voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021 (Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy is the only one who voted to certify that election).
The other five votes came from incoming freshmen. Four of those publicly cast doubt on the election, while 538 said that one, Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Brecheen, “fully denied” the legitimacy of the 2020 election to the outlet when asked.
Additionally, two of the lawmakers who voted against McCarthy — Reps. Scott Perry and Andy Biggs — had been subpoenaed by the committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Other numbers to know:
3: The number of people, including former President Donald Trump, being sued in a wrongful death lawsuit related to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died defending the Capitol on Jan. 6.
$10 million: How much corporations that paused support for lawmakers who objected to certifying the 2020 election results ended up donating to those lawmakers, per a Politico analysis.
1,075 minutes: How long (17 hours and 55 minutes) the House has spent voting on a speaker, per NBC News’ Julia Jester.
4: How many of the incoming House members backing former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid voted against McCarthy (10 voted for McCarthy).
36 hours: The length of the ceasefire that Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for in the war with Ukraine, a request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied saying Putin was trying to “use Christmas as a cover” to halt Ukrainian progress and fortify Russian position.
12: The number of people who President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal, including election workers and law enforcement, thanking them for their conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
30,000: The amount of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua who could be sent back to Mexico by the Biden administration as part of a new expansion of Title 42.
Eyes on 2024: Stabenow’s no-go shakes up Michigan’s Senate race
The Democrats’ 2024 Senate map was already going to be tough, and it got a little bit harder now that Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced Thursday she would not run for re-election.
Michigan is one of the five states President Biden won in 2020 by less than 4 percentage points where the Democrats currently have a seat up for re-election next year. And there are three more Democratic seats up in 2024 in states that Trump won.
While Democrats will now have to defend an open seat in Michigan, they’ll have no shortage of high-profile candidates who might run — including Reps. Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens and Debbie Dingell; Lt. Gov. Garlin Glichrist; Attorney General Dana Nessell; and others.
Republicans could have a crowded field, too. Rep.-elect John James, who lost Senate bids in 2018 and 2020 before winning his House seat in 2022, didn’t rule out a bid in brief comments to The Washington Examiner. Tudor Dixon, the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 2022, tweeted about the race too. And Dixon’s top primary rival, businessman Kevin Rinke, could also run.
Read more about Stabenow’s decision and the burgeoning field on NBCNews.com.
In other 2024 news:
Gallego makes more moves: Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is making high-profile hires as he considers a Senate bid, Politico reports.
Casey reveals prostate cancer diagnosis: Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who is up for re-election next year, announced he has prostate cancer but is having surgery and expects to make a full recovery.
Newsom marks second term: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is using today’s Jan. 6 anniversary as a backdrop to his inauguration for a second term.
Live free or run for president: Fresh off his latest inauguration, New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu told Fox News “a lot of folks” want him to run for president and took a swipe at Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by saying that while “we need to push back on woke policy,” that “going after private business is a whole different story.”
Facebook’s decision: Facebook is facing the end of its two-year deadline to decide whether to allow former President Donald Trump back on the platform, after banning Trump following the Jan. 6 riot at the capitol.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
President Joe Biden is expected to announce new military aid to Ukraine, which is expected to include equipment not sent in previous aid packages.
Mexican officials have captured Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and one of the country’s largest alleged fentanyl traffickers, the Washington Post reports.
South Carolina’s Supreme Court struck down a state law on Thursday that banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, per the Associated Press.
And Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who collapsed on the field at Monday night’s game, is awake, alert and communicating with his family, medical officials said Thursday.
