Republican McCarthy achieved the presidency of the US House of Representatives after 15 votes and days of chaos in Congress

Republican Kevin McCarthy was finally elected speaker of the US House of Representatives early Saturday on the 15th ballot, preceded by a fight in which a congressman had to be physically removed and four days of unprecedented chaos. Legislature.

McCarthy was elected after making sweeping concessions to a group of right-wing hardliners, in a process that prompted analysts to express doubts about the GOP’s ability to govern.

The abstention of five “rogue” Republicans cleared the way shortly after midnight for the 57-year-old Californian to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives by a vote of 216-212, after four days of scathing chaos in the US Congress.

The congressman was able to be elected with fewer than half the votes of the House of Representatives only because six members of his party withheld their votes, did not endorse McCarthy as leader, but did not vote for another challenger.

On the previous ballot, the 14th ballot, just before midnight Friday, Rep. Matt Gaetz withheld his vote, sparking a fight in which Republican nominee Mike Rogers was shut out.

The Associated Press reported that McCarthy failed to win the House presidency on the 14th ballot, and ended Friday night losing one ticket amid tensions in a chaotic scene on the chamber floor.

According to that agency, even after two key Republicans who opposed him voted “present” to reduce the number of votes he would need, it wasn’t enough. McCarthy walked to the back of the House to confront Matt Gaetz, who was sitting with Lorraine Boebert and other lawmakers who didn’t want him for president. There was the pointing of fingers, the exchange of words and the handcuffing of a lawmaker as his colleagues looked on in disbelief.

Someone shouted “Keep civility!”

And all day Friday, McCarthy managed to change the sign of many of his opponents in the GOP vote on far-right ideology and rally under the umbrella of the Freedom Caucus.

According to Reuters, McCarthy’s victory on the 15th ballot ended the deepest congressional dysfunction in more than 160 years, but starkly illustrated the difficulties he would face in leading a narrow and deeply polarized majority.

To gain the support of the reluctant, the new speaker of the House of Representatives agreed to a demand that any lawmaker could ask for his dismissal at any time. This will greatly reduce the power you will have When trying to pass legislation on critical issues, such as government financing, addressing the country’s looming debt ceiling, and other crises that may arise.

A weaker-than-expected performance by Republicans in the November midterm elections left them with a narrow 222-212 majority in the House of Representatives, giving significant strength to right-wing hardliners who opposed McCarthy’s leadership.

Concessions made to win support from hardline Republicans, including sharp spending cuts and curbs on McCarthy’s leadership, could signal more unrest in the months ahead.Especially when Congress must approve a new increase in America’s borrowing authority by $31.4 trillion.

Over the past decade, Republicans have repeatedly shut down much of the government and pushed the world’s largest borrower to the brink of default in an effort to achieve deep spending cuts, often unsuccessfully.

Many hardliners have questioned McCarthy’s willingness to engage in such risky politics by negotiating with President Joe Biden, whose Democrats control the Senate.

They were angry in the past when Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell agreed to iron deals.

Hard-liners with far-right ideologies, who also include Freedom Caucus President Scott Perry and Chip Roy of Texas, said the concessions they received from McCarthy would make it easier to apply such tactics this year, or later. Otherwise, they will force McCarthy to vote once again on the leadership if it does not live up to their expectations.

“There are changes in the way we will spend and allocate money that will be historic,” said Rep. Scott Perry, chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

“We don’t want to pass clean debt ceilings and keep footing the bill without some compensatory effort to control spending when the Democrats control the White House and Senate,” he said.

McCarthy has accepted concessions that mean she will wield far less power than her Democratic predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, according to sources involved in the talks. That will make it difficult for him to agree to deals with Democrats in a divided Washington. Allowing one member to request a vote to remove a speaker would give hardliners extraordinary leverage.

He also offered influential committee seats to members of the group, lawmakers said, as well as spending restrictions with the aim of achieving a balanced budget within 10 years.

The agreement will limit spending for the next fiscal year to last year’s levels, which is a significant cut when inflation and population growth are taken into account.

That could face resistance from Republican centrists or those who have pushed for more military financing, especially as the United States is spending money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.

One Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, warned that concessions McCarthy made to win office could backfire on him.

Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to the extremists in his party Make it more likely that the MAGA House [por Make America Great Again, “Haz América grande otra vez”]controlled by the Republicans, cause a government shutdown or bankruptcy with disastrous consequences for our countrySchumer said in a statement.

McCarthy’s belated victory came the day after the second anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol, on January 6, 2021, when violent crowds stormed Congress in an attempt to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat.

The 14 failed votes this week marked the most votes for the presidency since 1859, in the turbulent years leading up to the Civil War.

McCarthy’s last run for president, in 2015, collapsed in the face of opposition from the right. Two former Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, left office after a struggle with colleagues on the right.

The job would give McCarthy the power to block Biden’s legislative agenda, force votes in favor of Republican priorities in the economy, energy and immigration, and advance investigations into the White House chief, his administration and his family.

(With information from Reuters, EFE and AP)