What you need to know
- The House adjourned Wednesday after it failed to elect a speaker for the second day in a row as hard-liners in the Republican caucus continued their refusal to back Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California for the job.
- On a fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of voting earlier in the day, McCarthy came up short of 218 votes, the number he most likely needs to secure the job.
- The House held three votes Tuesday that deadlocked.
- Democrats have continued to vote unanimously for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
- The last time a speaker election went to multiple ballots was in 1923.
McCarthy says discussions are 'going well and continuing'
After the House adjourned for a second day without a speaker, McCarthy said Republicans continue to talk about finding a way forward.
McCarthy told reporters that having enough Republicans coalesce around adjourning for the night signaled "the discussions are going well and continuing, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.”
Asked about his plans for when the House reconvenes at noon Thursday, McCarthy said: "We just keep talking, that’s all. We talk until we get this done."
McCarthy argued that repeated roll call votes — six in total over two days for the speakership — weren't productive and that lawmakers preferred to spend more time discussing than voting on the floor.
“I don’t think having continual votes is productive," he said. "We’ve gone through that. People know where everybody’s at. You see the votes don’t really change at all."
Anti-McCarthy lawmaker says, 'I've just lost a lot of trust'
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who has opposed McCarthy, said after the vote to adjourn that progress may be made but that he’s still opposed to McCarthy.
“Well, I guess we’re going to find out tomorrow. There were some more meetings that took place tonight that I wasn’t a part of, and I guess we’ll find out.”
Asked whether he was open to voting for McCarthy, Rosendale said, “Well, I’ve just lost a lot of trust.”
These are the 4 Republicans who voted against the motion to adjourn
Four Republicans voted with Democrats against the motion to adjourn proceedings until Thursday.
They included some of McCarthy's biggest critics: Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Andy Biggs of Arizona. Rep.-elect Eli Crane, a freshman from Arizona, also joined the group.
House votes to adjourn for second day without agreeing on a speaker
The House voted to adjourn for the day on Wednesday evening, the second day in a row lawmakers left without selecting a speaker.
After six votes over two days, the House remains deadlocked as McCarthy’s bid to lead the chamber continues to falter.
The House is voting to adjourn until tomorrow
McCarthy’s allies are pushing to break for the day and vote again on the speaker tomorrow. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., raised a motion to adjourn, and the House is now voting on it.
Democrats are encouraging their members to vote against the motion, trying to force Republicans to continue voting in the speaker's race today. That means McCarthy's allies will need the support of 218 Republicans to successfully delay.
House session resumes
At 8 p.m., the House returned to session.
House Democrats advised to oppose letting Republicans adjourn
House Democrats have been given a formal notice to oppose a Republican effort to adjourn the chamber tonight without taking another vote for speaker.
McCarthy told reporters that he doesn't want to take additional votes Wednesday while negotiations continue.
McCarthy says he doesn't want more votes tonight as talks continue
Shortly before the House was set to reconvene at 8 p.m., McCarthy told reporters that he didn't think it would be productive to hold more votes Wednesday.
"I think it’s probably best to let people work through some more," he said as House members continued to negotiate the future of Republican leadership. "I don't think a vote tonight does any different, but a vote in the future will."
McCarthy allies agree to stay out of some GOP primaries in exchange for conservative group's support in speaker's race
A key Republican super PAC aligned with McCarthy has agreed not to pick sides in some competitive House GOP primary races as part of a deal to secure McCarthy the support of an influential conservative group heading into the next vote for speaker.
The McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund and the conservative Club for Growth confirmed the deal Wednesday evening — CLF won't spend money in "any open-seat primaries in safe Republican districts" or give money for its allies to do so, CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement. He added that the group will still back incumbents and spend in races that "affect the Majority."
That last caveat makes the promise a bit unclear, as some races in deep red districts have the potential to become competitive depending on who wins the GOP primary. But the deal will be a relief to some conservatives who have bristled at McCarthy's allies' trying to help preferred candidates through GOP primaries in safe Republican districts, where those primaries effectively decide who will come to Congress.
Club for Growth President David McIntosh celebrated the deal in a statement, saying it "fulfills a major concern." He added that "assuming these principles are met, Club for Growth will support Kevin McCarthy for Speaker.”
House Republicans warn speaker's race is starting to affect national security planning on Capitol Hill
Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and other House Republicans who work on military and intelligence matters said the protracted speaker's race is starting to affect national security planning, because some security clearances are contingent on lawmakers' being sworn in.
Gallagher and other members of the House Republican caucus who are military veterans — and firmly in McCarthy’s camp in his bid for speaker — said at a news conference Wednesday that they would usually use the sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, to receive daily briefs about threats around the world but that they no longer have access. Gallagher also said the drawn-out election for speaker has prevented him from meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the facility.
“I’m informed by House Security that, technically, I don’t have a clearance," Gallagher said. "I’m a member of the Intel Committee, I’m on the Armed Services Committee, and I can’t meet in the SCIF to conduct essential business.”
Rep.-elect Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said: "We’re trying to make sure that we can do the people’s will, and a minority of our party has decided that they want to continue with this obstructionism. And it’s actually becoming detrimental to our nation."
The prolonged speaker's vote also means that the “gang of eight,” of a bipartisan group of four House members and four senators involved in top national security matters, is now limited to the four senators: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N.Y.; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va.; and Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla.