Speaker Kevin McCarthy seems to have accepted the GOP-led House will not be able to push through 12 spending bills before the end of the fiscal year, and will instead need to pass a resolution to keep government funding at its current levels temporarily. 

Congress has until September 30 to pass legislation to fund the government through fiscal year 2024 – but the House does not return from recess until September 11. 

The speaker told his rank-and-file members on a press call Monday that a short term CR, or continuing resolution, was the most likely path forward – prompting immediate opposition from a number of Republicans who would rather not see the process drawn out. 

A continuing resolution would extend current spending levels – which were set under Democrats in last year’s 117th Congress – and buy more time for Congress to hash out its differences. 

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he and McCarthy had met ‘a few weeks back’ and agreed to pursue a CR. 

‘I thought that was a good sign,’ Schumer told Morning Joe on Wednesday. ‘We are working together to avoid that shutdown in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, but the House, McCarthy is going to have the dilemma of dealing with these hard right people who are just totally destructive and angry.’ 

McCarthy has promised to push through 12 separate funding bills, which set spending levels for each agency separately, rather than an over-arching ‘omnibus’ bill. 

Under an omnibus, members are often forced to choose between voting for provisions they don’t agree with or holding up funding for the government and forcing a shutdown. 

But some conservatives say Congress should not punt its disagreements down the road. 

‘I am a NO on any Continuing Resolution that only kicks the can down the road,’ moderate GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘Lock Congress in a room until we pass a conservative budget void of excess financial waste.’ 

Conservative Rep. Chip Roy, Texas, came out forcefully against a continuing resolution. 

‘Under no circumstances will I support a ‘continuing resolution’ to fund the government at the bloated, corrupt 2023 levels,’ he said in a statement. ‘This is especially true if it were to stupidly expire in December.’ 

He also suggested Congress should have worked through the August recess to get spending bills done. 

‘I might – might – support a short series of 24 hour ‘CR’s’ to create maximum pain for Congress to do its damned job, which – by the way – we could be doing in Washington right now.’

McCarthy could pass short-term continuing resolution with the help of Democrats, but the pushback from conservatives again prompts the question of how McCarthy will navigate the spending battle and secure budget cuts for fiscal year 2024 without angering the rightward flank. 

Even before the final vote on a short term CR, McCarthy would need the support of almost all Republicans for a procedural vote on the rule for the CR. Democrats typically do not assist the GOP speaker with passing the rule on a bill, even if they do vote for the final bill.  

‘McCarthy has been allegedly talking about, ‘Well, we’ll do a three-month CR into December.’ That’s exactly the playbook to try to get it done and to roll us,’ Roy said in a Spaces conversation on X on Monday. ‘So we’re going to have to throw everything we have in fighting that heading into September.’ 

If the House did a longer-term CR to stretch into the new year, an automatic one percent across-the-board cut would kick in beginning January 1. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said a short-term deal followed by one percent cuts could be preferable to Democrats. 

‘Joe Biden’s going to get 100% of what he wants, followed by 99% of what he wants,’ he said in a Spaces conversation on X Monday night. 

Some of the conservative demands include immediately cutting funding to agencies tied up in Donald Trump’s legal woes. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, said he would not vote for a CR that doesn’t ‘smash’ the Department of Justice’s budget. 

‘I WILL NOT vote for any continuing resolution that doesn’t smash Biden’s DOJ into a million pieces,’ Jackson wrote on X. ‘The DOJ has very rapidly become the enemy of the American people, and if nothing is done soon, our rights will be GONE. We MUST defund it!!’ 

Roy, meanwhile, has said he would not vote for a stopgap or full-year spending bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without policy changes. 

Last week, fourteen other House Republicans from Texas signed on to a letter from Roy promising to oppose DHS funding without major changes. 

McCarthy did not appear to be on board with holding up funding for DHS ahead of the August recess. ‘I want my border secure. I’m going to fund my border,’ McCarthy said. 

Further complicating matters is Ukraine funding. 

President Biden requested $40 billion in supplemental funding, including some $24 billion for Ukraine last week. The House’s right-wing members balked at the request – 12 of them wrote a letter to the White House expressing their outrage. 

‘Americans are tired of funding endless wars and want policies that not only help restore fiscal sanity in Washington, but also put America and American citizens first,’ the lawmakers wrote. 

The White House requested the supplemental aid ‘as part of a potential short-term continuing resolution for the first quarter of FY 2024,’ though it’s not clear if leadership would pair Ukraine aid with the spending bill.

Last month, 89 House Republicans voted for an amendment to strip $300 million in aid for Ukraine from the Pentagon’s yearly spending bill. 

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s office rejects claim GOP asked Texas Democrat to SWITCH parties to help increase the House majority – with control still in the balance

• House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is currently trying to gin up support for his House Speakership bid if Republicans retake the chamber
• It comes amid a rebellion from some members in his caucus over the lack of a promised ‘red wave’ in the midterm elections last week 
• Control of the House is still up in the air as of Monday evening, with Republicans holding 212 seats in the new Congress and Democrats so far with 204
• The Wall Street Journal reported that McCarthy’s circle has been courting Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar with committee assignment promises
• Cuellar has reportedly rejected all offers he’s received
• The Texas legislator’s spokesman declined to go into his private conversations but specified that Cuellar is a ‘lifelong Democrat’ 
• McCarthy’s spokesman has dismissed the reports as ‘fan fiction’
• ‘This is McCarthy trying to flip a lifelong Democrat because of the Republicans’ poor midterm results,’ a person familiar told DailyMail.com

By Elizabeth Elkind, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 17:58 EDT, 14 November 2022 | Updated: 19:45 EDT, 14 November 2022

Opposition to Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House Speaker is growing after nine Republican members wrote a stinging letter warning how electing him would be more of the status quo ‘dysfunction’ in the lower chamber. 

The group said that McCarthy had 14 years in House GOP leadership, and lamented that his election could mean a ‘continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures.’

On Sunday, McCarthy held a private conference call with Republicans in an attempt to garner support for his speakership vote on Tuesday, January 3, which is when the new Congress takes office.

While McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes if he wants to clinch the Speakership, the call appeared to worsen his outlook from five dissenters last week to 14 total just 24 hours before the vote. 

The Republicans who pledged to vote against McCarthy are Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Chip Roy of Texas, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andy Harris of Maryland and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, along with Representative-elects Andy Nogales of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Eli Crane of Arizona.

On New Year’s Eve McCarthy wrote a letter entitled ‘Restoring the People’s House and Ending Business as Usual,’ where he admitted to dysfunction in the House of Representatives and pledged to make it right.

‘For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure,’ the nine GOP members wrote in their letter.

They added that his ‘statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd.’

‘At this state, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient. This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo – not a continuation of past and ongoing, Republican failures,’ the letter stated. 

‘McCarthy’s statement also continues to propose to restrict the availability of the traditional motion to vacate the chair as a means of holding leadership accountable to its promises; we have from the beginning made clear that we will not accept following Nancy Pelosi’s example by insulating leadership in this way,’ the nine House GOP members said in their letter on Sunday. 

‘We also note that the statement fails completely to address the issue of leadership working to defeat conservatives in open primaries. The progress made thus far has been helpful and should guide our thinking going forward.’ 

Members of the House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative group in the House, led the calls for a shake-up in leadership. Rep. Andy Biggs, a former chairman of the caucus, had launched a bid against McCarthy within the party to be the nominee for Speakership, but was defeated in a secret ballot.

Biggs of Arizona, along with Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Rosendale of Montana were all part of the initial ‘Never Kevin’ lawmakers publicly expressing their plans to vote against McCarthy in the January 3 elections.

While Perry is vice chair of the Freedom Caucus, the current chairman and co-founder of the caucus, Representative Jim Jordan, is an ally of McCarthy.

He could be the only person who can get through to the detractors.

In recent weeks, Jordan has gone to bat for McCarthy by arguing on several right-leaning media outlet interviews that the current GOP Leader deserves the gavel.

The five original ‘Never Kevin’ lawmakers have organized to prevent McCarthy from garnering the 218 votes needed to take the gavel from outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

They have also vowed not to be picked off individually by McCarthy and said they would discuss any concessions he offers.

McCarthy announced on the private call Sunday evening that he would give into one of the top demands from detractors, which is shrinking the threshold needed to vote out the Speaker in exchange for his ascent to the position.

Under the current rules, only a member of the House leadership can initiate a motion to remove the Speaker, but McCarthy’s proposal would allow any House member to force a vote to remove the Speaker at any time.

Currently, only members of House leadership are able to do so, under rules implemented by Pelosi.

The letter is proof that those who oppose his speakership don’t think this concession from McCarthy is enough.

When asked if McCarthy has what it takes to be Speaker, Democratic House Leader Steny Hoyer said on Sunday: ‘We’ll see.’

He added that if McCarthy wins the election, it’s proof that he’s able to at least put in the work against adversity.

‘He obviously – if he gets 218 votes – has the ability to put together the votes to be the leader of the Party,’ Hoyer told CNN. ‘And he will then be tested as to whether or not he can lead.’

‘But, you know, he’s worked pretty hard at it. He got close to the Holy Grail, and he had to step back. He didn’t give up, he kept going. And it appears to me that he will be the Speaker.’

McCarthy’s efforts to nab the gavel at the start of the new Congress comes seven years after his last failed bid to become Speaker. 

To secure the speakership, McCarthy needs at least 218 votes, but with the Republican Party’s slim majority in the House with 222 seats, any additional defections could jeopardize his chances. 

During his meeting with fellow GOP members, he acknowledged how rank-and-file members would be able to call for the speaker’s removal, although it is unclear how many members would need to sign on to the motion. 

Earlier on Sunday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he would be surprised if Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy weren’t elected by his party to become the next Speaker – but stopped short of saying whether he’s up to the task.

‘I would be surprised if he doesn’t [win],’ Representative Hoyer insisted to CNN‘s State of the Union on Sunday morning. ‘My expectation – he’ll be Speaker.’

The new Congress will convene on Tuesday, January 3 and will see Republicans take back a majority in the lower chamber – but not in the Senate.

House Republicans are holding closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday morning, where embattled Leader Kevin McCarthy made his last-ditch appeal for the Speaker’s gavel.

The meeting was heated, with CNN reporting that McCarthy remained defiant in the face of his critics, declaring: ‘God dammit, we are going to win.’

He reportedly told them he’s ‘earned’ the right to be Speaker. 

One of his detractors, Rep. Lauren Boebert, reportedly yelled ‘bulls***’ in response to his claims that critics came to him in search of a compromise.

But McCarthy’s support within the room remained strong as well. A source familiar with the meeting told DailyMail.com that he had received three standing ovations before the meeting even ended. 

Rep. Don Bacon, a moderate Republican who previously said he’d be open to working with Democrats to find an alternative Speaker if the McCarthy rebellion succeeded, told DailyMail.com after the meeting, ‘I think we’re not gonna get there after today.’ 

He said McCarthy ‘did a great job’ in his appeal for the gavel. 

However, not all hearts and minds were changed. Congressman Matt Rosendale, one of the five lawmakers who committed to voting against McCarthy, indicated to DailyMail.com that his opinion remains the same.

Another member of the so-called ‘Never Kevin’ coalition, Rep. Andy Biggs, said he did not believe McCarthy’s spirited argument moved the needle.

 ‘I think it’s the status quo,’ he said leaving the meeting.

The 118th Congress is set to begin at noon Tuesday but as of this morning, the House of Representatives‘ majority party is still divided over who will lead the chamber for the next two years. 

Republicans’ public disputes over McCarthy‘s bid for the Speakership has already set their newfound power off to a bumpy start.

Firebrand GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the leaders of McCarthy’s opposition, ignored DailyMail.com’s questions on who he’d prefer as Speaker instead while on his way into the morning meeting. He repeated several times that he’s still a ‘no’ vote. 

‘Kevin McCarthy is part of the problem. He’s not part of the solution,’ said Rep. Bob Good.

Rep. Byron Donalds, who supports McCarthy, said he would be open to another candidate if the GOP Leader failed on the first ballot. 

But other allies are standing firm, a source familiar with the meeting told DailyMail.com

Newly returning Rep. Ryan Zinke, a former Trump administration official, told members behind closed doors: ‘I’ll use the words of Teddy Roosevelt. You’re either with us or against us. The stakes are too high. I’m with you, Kevin.’

Fellow GOP Rep. Michael Guest said at the meeting, according to DailyMail.com’s source, ‘I’m one of many members here who will stand there for many votes, as many days, as many weeks as it takes to make you Speaker. You have earned our friendship, support, and vote.’

Rep. Mike Rogers reportedly threatened that McCarthy’s critics could lose their committee assignments, something that irritated House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, according to Politico. 

Roy reportedly sad the GOP had a ‘cultural problem’ and was shouting profanity before even getting the microphone to speak.

Rep. Scott Perry, chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, released a scathing statement just hours before McCarthy’s morning meeting that accused the California Republican of making empty promises ‘at the 11th hour.’

‘We’ve worked in good faith for months to change the status quo. At nearly every turn, we’ve been sidelined or resisted by McCarthy, and any perceived progress has often been vague or contained loopholes that further amplified concerns as to the sincerity of promises being made,’ Perry wrote.

‘Kevin McCarthy had an opportunity to be Speaker of the House. He rejected it.’  

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw called opposition to McCarthy ‘unbelievably petty’ during an appearance on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning.

‘This is about showmanship; this is about notoriety. It has nothing to do with the conservative agenda,’ Crenshaw said. 

Speaking to reporters after the morning meeting, the Texas Republican called McCarthy’s critics ‘charlatans.’

He told DailyMail.com that he would vote for McCarthy as many times as it took until he becomes Speaker. 

The GOP have 222 seats in the new Congress and McCarthy is expected to need 218 votes, so he can only afford to lose four members to win the gavel. 

Voting is done in rounds until a majority consensus is reached. Conservatives are expected to derail McCarthy in the first round by putting forward GOP Rep. Andy Biggs, who is unlikely to clinch most of the vote but would take enough away from McCarthy to sabotage him.

His critics have not yet said who they intend to nominate instead, but multiple reports have suggested they’re eyeing McCarthy’s No. 2, newly minted House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. 

So far there are a total of 14 members of his caucus who have at least strongly suggested they’re voting against him.

The disarray culminated in a Monday evening meeting between McCarthy, his allies and some of his critics including Reps. Matt Gaetz and Perry.

At around 5pm ET, Republican lawmakers were seen entering the House Speaker’s chamber. McCarthy’s staff moved furniture into that office earlier in the day in an apparent show of confidence – though it’s reportedly standard protocol to make the move so early.

Gaetz told reporters the meeting was ‘brief and productive’ but insisted he was still opposing McCarthy, according to a video taken by NBC News’ Haley Talbot.

He’s one of five House Republicans who vowed to vote against the GOP Leader under any circumstance.

McCarthy’s allies, however, like incoming House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, expressed confidence after leaving the meeting. 

‘He’s going to be speaker,’ Emmer told reporters, according to CBS News.

McCarthy and his supporters have spent weeks trying to convince his critics, mainly conservatives to his right, to fall in line behind the California Republican. But they want concessions that moderates in the party – and until recently, McCarthy himself – have been unwilling to give. 

In a Sunday letter to colleagues, McCarthy announced several key concessions including a motion to vacate the chair with a five-vote threshold in exchange for conference-wide support.

Under the current proposed rules, it would allow any five House Republicans to call for a vote for a new Speaker. Moderates argued that it would fuel instability within the conference, comparing it to hanging a sword of Damocles over the party leader’s head.

But later that night, a group of nine additional current and incoming House Republicans signed a letter calling McCarthy’s announcement of concessions ‘almost impossibly late.’ 

Promising to further fuel the chaos, however, moderate Republican Rep. Don Bacon suggested Monday night that such a mutiny would not go over easy.

According to CBS, Bacon told reporters that he’s considering nominating an outgoing member of the current Congress for Speaker if the five ‘Never Kevin’ Republicans put up Scalise to McCarthy.

Bacon wrote an op-ed in the Daily Caller on Monday calling McCarthy’s leadership ‘superb’ but reasserting that he was willing to work with Democrats for an alternative should the anti-McCarthy rebellion succeed. 

‘Much has been made of me saying I would work with moderate Democrats to elect a more moderate speaker,’ Bacon wrote.

‘But my actual words were that if the five refused to coalesce around what the vast majority of the conference wants, I’m willing to work across the aisle to find an agreeable Republican.’

McCarthy has had a wide spectrum of surrogates trying to persuade the holdouts over the last several weeks, from traditional conservatives like Gingrich to Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – allies of many of McCarthy’s biggest detractors. 

But their strategy to pressure detractors to conform, and warning that a worse alternative was on the horizon, appeared to do little to move the needle. 

Greene wrote on Twitter after reportedly also meeting with McCarthy on Monday night: ‘Unreal that people claiming to be America First are negotiating for “Me First” positions when it comes to the Speaker’s gavel.

‘The base deserves the truth. They would be as sickened as I am,’ the far-right Georgia lawmaker said.

But Rep. Andy Biggs, one of the five original ‘Never Kevin’ Republicans, tweeted after 8pm ET on Monday: ‘Even after the McCarthy Machine’s attempts to whip votes and smear my name for several weeks, McCarthy is still well short of the 218 threshold.

‘Our party still requires new leadership and I will continue to oppose McCarthy for House Speaker,’ Biggs said.

The House of Representatives has moved to adjourn on Wednesday night, with Republicans still divided over who the new Speaker will be.

New and old members have yet to be sworn in for a second day in a row in a situation that is unprecedented in modern US political history. 

The chamber floor devolved into chaos soon after members returned from a brief break, as Democrats and Republicans attempted to out-scream each other during a voice vote on whether to call it a night. 

Embattled House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters earlier in the evening that he wanted to end today’s session to allow for more negotiations after 20 members of his caucus derailed his bid for the gavel.

But Democrats appeared ready to stay on the floor and drag McCarthy’s potential political demise out in public. 

House Democrats’ new No. 3 Rep. Pete Aguilar called for individual votes to be cast after the voice vote proved inconclusive, and it came down to the wire.

All eyes were on the Republican McCarthy critics to see if they would join Democrats in dragging out the night. 

At one point, DailyMail.com observed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in an intense conversation with conservatives like Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar.

But in the end, she was one of the Democrats hollering for the House clerk to allow more time for their members to race onto the floor and cast their votes. 

In the end, the move to adjourn narrowly won out – to the tune of claps from the GOP side. 

Just five Republicans voted with the Democrats to keep the night going: Reps. Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz and Bob Good.

It came after six rounds of voting – three on Tuesday and three on Wednesday – where the GOP failed to coalesce around a new leader. It’s setting their new House majority off to a rocky start. 

The chamber briefly adjourned earlier on Wednesday afternoon until later the same evening, with McCarthy holding a crisis meeting in incoming Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office in between.

Many of McCarthy’s detractors who emerged from the meeting were hesitant to give details about it, with GOP Rep. Ralph Norman only telling reporters they ‘listened’ to the flailing GOP Leader’s pitch.

Conservative Rep. Scott Perry, another McCarthy critic, called the meeting ‘productive’ but said there was still ‘a lot to be done.’

But Gaetz and Boebert had not been moved. Gaetz emerged from the meeting telling reporters McCarthy was dealing ‘in bad faith’ and both said they remained firm ‘no’ votes.

McCarthy told reporters when he emerged that he did not believe further votes on Wednesday night were ‘productive.’

‘I don’t think a vote tonight does any difference but I think a vote in the future will,’ he said, adding that he felt no ill will toward his detractors. 

It has been almost 48 hours since Kevin McCarthy was first nominated by his party, yet  the rebels in his party branded the ‘Taliban 20′ have ensured that the Speaker chair is still empty in farcical scenes that President Joe Biden has said are an ’embarrassment’ on the world stage. 

McCarthy has so far failed to secure the 218 votes needed to officially take the gavel from Nancy Pelosi in each of the six rounds that have been dominated by infighting and disarray.

When nominating Florida Rep. Byron Donalds as an alternative to McCarthy, Boebert urged Donald Trump to call the Leader and tell him to withdraw.

The ex-president reaffirmed his endorsement for McCarthy earlier the same morning. 

Florida GOP Rep. Kat Cammack said it was clear Democrats were relishing in Republican division by the ‘popcorn, blankets and alcohol’ they were bringing to votes as she made her pitch for McCarthy’s sixth Speaker bid. 

Cammack acknowledged the ‘Groundhog Day’ feeling on the House floor as she nominated McCarthy for Speaker for the sixth ballot. 

‘They want us to fight each other — that much has been made clear by the popcorn, and blankets, and alcohol that is coming over there,’ Cammack said. 

Democrats erupted over the remark, shouting at the House Clerk to strike it from the record. ‘Take down her words!’ some shouted, as others demanded an apology. 

‘If only! If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now,’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. 

Democrats posted photos on Twitter of tins of popcorn they were bringing to the cloakroom as they watched chaos unfold among their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Over the course of six ballots, McCarthy has gone from losing 19 to losing 21 Republican votes. He can only lose four to win the speaker’s bid.  

The chamber became rowdier as votes dragged on. Later in Cammack’s address she asked her colleagues, ‘Are we the party of Reagan?’ Democrats shouted back in unison ‘NO!’ 

Later, Perry took to the microphone to nominate Donalds for Speaker a third time. ‘This is not about personalities!’ he insisted to Democratic guffaws. 

He went into a lengthy diatribe on how the first black U.S. lawmakers were Republicans and the GOP was the party of Lincoln as a Democrat shouted, ‘Who are you nominating!’  

Boebert said her ‘favorite president’ Donald Trump should call GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and tell him ‘it’s time to withdraw’ after the House failed to make the California Republican its Speaker despite five rounds of voting. 

The Colorado Republican noted that Trump had been calling McCarthy’s opposition and telling them to change their vote. 

‘I think it actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw,’ she said at the start of the fifth vote. 

On the fourth ballot McCarthy lost yet another vote, with 20 Republicans voting against him and one voting present. On the fifth ballot there was no movement, with the exact same vote count as the fourth.  

While McCarthy needs a majority of the House votes to become Speaker – he doesn’t yet even have a plurality – Jeffries got 212 votes on the fourth and fifth rounds, McCarthy received 201. 

Twenty Republicans voted for Donalds, including the Florida Republican himself.

One Republican, Rep. Victoria Spartz, switched her vote from McCarthy to ‘present’ on the second and third rounds Wednesday.

She said in a statement she switched her vote to present because she wanted the conference to step back and deliberate. 

‘We have to deliberate further as a Republican conference until we have enough votes and stop wasting everyone’s time,’ the Indiana Republican said. 

Spartz said she’s ‘still supporting’ McCarthy and refused to answer reporters’ questions on whether she supported a new candidate is needed.  

The stinging loss came after Trump issued a last-minute warning on Truth Social imploring Republicans not to let a ‘great triumph’ turn into an ’embarrassing defeat’ by failing to vote McCarthy Speaker. 

Donalds told reporters  he does not even want to be speaker – he just thinks McCarthy needs to re-evaluate. 

‘Like, actually not, I really never came here to try to be leadership,’ he said. 

Donalds told DailyMail.com he spoke with Trump this morning, but he paid no mind to the former president’s warnings. 

‘The members are going to decide this process. And you know, that’s, that’s no disrespect at all to President Trump. That’s just the reality of the House,’ he. said. 

One the second and third ballot the anti-McCarthy faction had united behind Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is supportive of McCarthy, but now his name seems to be taken out of the running. On the first ballot, most had voted for Rep. Andy Biggs. 

Ahead of the vote Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a staunch McCarthy defector, was seen huddling with Jordan on the House floor. 

Donalds voted for himself in the race after voting for McCarthy in the first two ballots. On the third ballot of Tuesday he voted for Jordan, saying he realized McCarthy did not have the votes and needed to reevaluate. 

Nineteen Republicans voted against the California Republican in the first two ballots on Tuesday and 20 did so on a third ballot. The House voted to adjourn as it became clear no progress was being made. 

Rep. Mike Gallagher nominated McCarthy with a staunch defense of the Republican leader and a few jokes about needing popcorn to make it through the day’s chaos. ‘Gallagher for Speaker!’ Rep. Matt Gaetz shouted as Gallagher got a standing ovation during his speech.  

Roy received a standing ovation even from Democrats as he nominated Donalds for Speaker, noting it was the first time two black candidates had been nominated for Speaker in history. 

After the vote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a McCarthy defender, took another shot at the ‘rebel’ faction of her party.  

‘We are on day 2 and the same Never Kevin group is now on their 3rd Speaker candidate. People are truly beginning to realize they have no plan, and they are sick and tired of ‘trust the plan’ that’s a complete secret and never produces results.’ 

As it becomes more clear the impasse is unlikely to break anytime soon, some have suggested McCarthy allies will soon try to negotiate a deal with Democrats. 

Even Rep. Alexandira Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested to MSNBC McCarthy could try to do a deal with Democrats.  

‘If he chooses to approach the Democratic Caucus, then that would be a negotiation, in and of itself, for a potential coalition government. But, again, this is very much an unprecedented time.’ 

AOC also questioned whether a deal could include Democratic committee chairs and reiterated in an Instagram post that McCarthy should open talks across the aisle in order to secure the vote.

‘If this goes on, and on, and on, and the Republican Party has no Speaker nominee, something has got to give,’ she said. 

McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes and become Speaker, if all Democrats vote for Jeffries. But if a number of Democrats switch their vote to ‘present’ he could win with fewer than 218 votes.  

McCarthy-allied Rep. Mike Rogers also suggested the GOP leader may have to do a deal with Democrats if the faction against him does not cave soon. 

‘There’s a whole host of things that would be beneficial to them in the minority, that a lot of us would find more palatable than dealing with a couple of amendments or something like that,’ Rogers said. ‘This very malleable, the universe of things that that are negotiable. And that’s a real Avenue.’ 

He likened the anti-McCarthy GOP faction to ‘terrorists.’  

‘You don’t negotiate with terrorists, whether they’re Islamic terrorists … or these people with, basically political gun. Kevin, you don’t negotiate those kinds of either legislative terrorists who have no problem killing the hostage,’ Rogers said.  

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, seemed less keen on the idea. 

‘I haven’t heard any offers or anything,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘I just don’t know what they can offer that would be appealing to make Kevin McCarthy the Speaker.’

Rep. Ro Khanna said on Fox News he would consider voting for the ‘right Republican,’ with conditions, involving the debt ceiling and subpoena power.

‘I would consider the right Republican someone I could trust Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Gallagher, who actually spoke eloquently on the floor, David Joyce, but there needs to be two conditions,’ he said. 

A provision in the new debt deal compromise to expand work requirements for food benefit recipients that Republican leaders are cheering would actually put 78,000 additional people on the public assistance program over a five year period.

The reason, according to an analysis released Tuesday night by the Congressional Budget office, is that a series of waivers and exceptions included in the language would outweigh the people getting kicked off the benefit through the expanded work requirement.

‘I have renamed this bill the sleight of hand spending bill,’ complained Texas Rep. Keith Self, who singled out the provision for criticism. 

‘We’ve been very proud of the work requirements. In this bill we have temporary work requirements, but we’ve added permanent new exceptions.’

The CBO outlined the reasons in its analysis of the debt deal, which is speeding toward a floor vote set for Wednesday evening. 

Under current law, able-bodied adults under 50 face work or job training requirements of 80 hours per month to get benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

The bill gradually raises the age to 54, which would push people off the program.

But the deal also includes new exceptions that Democratic negotiators pushed for. These would apply to people experiencing homelessness, veterans, and those 18-24 who were in foster care at age 18.

The changes would result in $2.1 billion in additional spending over a decade, according to CBO.

During the 2025–2030 period, when the group of people up to the age of 54 would be subject to the work requirement and the new exclusions were in effect, approximately 78,000 people would gain benefits in an average month, on net (an increase of about 0.2 percent in the total number of people receiving SNAP benefits),’ according to the analysis.

That is due to ‘offsetting effects’: the raised age for work requirements would reduce spending by $6.5 billion, but the new exclusions would increase spending by $6.8 billion.  

Some of the exemptions would be for people under 50, which would bring the total direct spending increase to an estimated $1.8 billion.

Republicans backing the deal negotiated by leadership pushed back on congressional scorekeepers Tuesday night. ‘The simple answer is the CBO got [it] wrong,’ said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a Kevin McCarthy ally.

But White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, who helped negotiate the deal, predicted earlier Tuesday that the changes would offset.

‘We believe those who are off of those requirements, because of those exemptions, will be about the same number as those who are phased in on age,’ she told reporters at the White House Tuesday.

‘And you have to remember this: This entire SNAP change is sunset in 2030 to give Congress a chance to see how the new exemptions work and how the new ages work. And they can opine on a future farm bill if these changes have made a difference in the SNAP program,’ she said, referencing the legislation that authorizes the program.

She predicted the numbers would be ‘a wash’ in terms of who goes on and those who come off the program. 

Former Trump OMB director Russ Vought, who has been savaging the deal on Twitter even as many House Republicans embrace it wrote: ‘The gang can’t shoot straight, folks. Work requirements are supposed to save money.’

Also bashing the trade-off were Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), both members of the conservative Freedom Caucus.