Silke Jasso
President Joe Biden offered his congratulations to Republican representative Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy was elected House Speaker after 15 consecutive rounds of voting. Shortly after his election, Biden stated, “Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House. The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now.”
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“As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well,” he continued. “Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.”
Kevin McCarthy Elected House Speaker
McCarthy succeeded Nancy Pelosi as Speaker and was initially picked as a GOP nominee back in November 2022. He continued to not secure enough votes 14 times, despite the Republican Party having a majority in the house. He faced opposition from several members of the Republican party who didn’t foresee him pushing their desired agendas forward. After the first roll call, McCarthy earned 203 votes as 19 Republicans voted off script and Democrats unanimously voted for Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The roll call was repeated again until McCarthy took the majority and Republicans voting in opposition to him fell from 21 to single digits. “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up,” McCarthy said after the final vote. “I will never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our Commitment to America.”
Earlier this week Biden had called the whole situation embarrassing. The fight over the Speaker … that’s not my problem,” he stated. “I just think it’s a little embarrassing that it’s taking so long. The rest of the world is looking,” Biden added.
Biden wasn’t the only one who commented on the whole situation, on a social media site, truth social, former President Donald Trump also weighed in. He urged Republicans not to, “”TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.”
“VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL.”
