That's got to have BOTH sides of the aisle seriously considering the proposition.
Also, today's motto for the renegades bargaining must be: Cheaper by the dozen.
And that's a long, long time
Whatever the hell happened to the separation of church and state? They open these things with prayer. We're giving up on the founding. And freedom from religion.
They're opening this 12th vote with a complaint from Republican Elise Stefanik that there's not a quorum present. WTF? The 118th Congress will go down in history as incapable of governing in any measure. McCarthy's there. Jeffries is there. And since it's Stefanik asking for a count, I'm assuming it's the Republicans who are missing.
Republicans are telling reporters there's been no deal made to change the vote.
By count two hundred seventy five members are present. A quorum is present. Hopefully all the Dems are there, because the speaker only has to get the majority of votes present.
Gaetz and Boebert are nothing more than attention whores. Gaetz has voted for at least five different people, and nominated two different ones. Today it was Jim Jordan, who is voting for McCarthy every time. Boebert's nominating speeches are on the level of a fifth grader running for class president. Today in her nomination of Hern, she proclaimed that she receives texts every day from people who are complaining about the rising price of groceries, and then she said, Hern will work to balance the budget. What does one have to do with the other? That's right. Nothing.
Into the Ds there have been four times when the Republican side has stood up and cheered loudly. I'm guessing that's for holdouts who have changed their votes to McCarthy.* Alas, for him, once again, only part way through the Gs he has lost five votes, which racks up another loss.
I'm embarrassed FOR him.
Byron Donalds quit voting for himself. To be fair, he wasn't nominated this time. But I hope he got some concession from McCarthy last night in advance.
Apparently the missing Republicans showed up. McCarthy is still four short (CSPAN says 3), but he made enough concessions last night and this morning to finally beat Jeffries.
Maybe 13th time is a charm.
*Aaron Rupar has a list of those flippers:
Roy, Self, Spartz, Burchett, Perry, Norman, Luna, Bishop, Brecheen, Cloud, Clyde, Donalds, Gosar (I'm missing one.)
UPDATE 1:04pm: OK, here we go again. #13
Interestingly, no Republic nominated anyone other than McCarthy this round.
And another cheer goes up on the GOP side when Harris flips to McCarthy. That takes the renegades down to 6: Biggs (Arizona), Boebert (Colarado), Gaetz (Florida), Crane (Arizona), Good (Virginia), and Rosendale (Montana)
Ahhhh, the deal included debt ceiling issues - the crazies want to shut down the government by refusing to increase the ceiling. I'll believe it when I see it.
The Gaetz Gang will have a heyday if they don't get this concession after caving.
Donalds has missed the first go at voting in this 13th ballot. Is he coming back, or is he off being humiliated?
One of the Democrats, Rep David Trone (Maryland), missed the 12th ballot for a 7am surgery, but was back in the chamber for this one with his arm in a sling, wearing his hospital socks and slippers. He got a rousing ovation from his colleagues when he cast his vote for Jeffries.
And with Rosendale's vote for Jordan, there goes McCarthy's last chance at winning on a 13th ballot.
CSPAN is reporting they're trying to get some absent Republicans to come back to the Capitol to vote. Maybe THEY can get some committee assignments. If your allies aren't even there for you...
Meanwhile, the US Government is hostage to the MAGA extremists. Again. Perfect day for it: January 6.
Christ.
UPDATE 2:38pm:
At a total of 212 Democrats, there aren't enough of them to stop a motion to adjourn until 10pm. I presume that's because McCarthy has gotten some of the absent Republicans to return by then. At least he's told some reporters he has "counted" and is certain he'll have enough votes to win the gavel then. I may not be up to see.
But if he does make it, good. Then they can get down to the important stuff of impeaching Fauci and exposing Hunter Biden (re-exposing, I guess).
UPDATE:
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