Freshly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pledged to usher in a new era for the House of Representatives after a grueling four-day election that took 15 ballots.
McCarthy said his position heading into the 118th Congress is strong despite major concessions to 20 conservative opponents blocking his path to the gavel.
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“My father always told me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy said, repeating a phrase he used throughout the speaker’s race in a speech that began around 1:15 a.m. Saturday morning.
He began with a tongue-in-cheek warning for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), saying that he, too, received 100% of his party’s votes two years before, prompting laughs.
McCarthy laid out his priorities for the new Congress, announcing that the first hearings under GOP control would address the crisis at the southern border and plans to repeal the authorization of thousands of new IRS agents. He pledged to scrutinize the origins of COVID-19, organize a select committee to investigate China, and hold the “swamp accountable” over a political agenda that he said has corrupted the FBI.
McCarthy finally won the position he’s chased for a decade when all of the final six detractors changed their votes to “present.” Fourteen of the initial 20 holdouts supported him on Friday after they came to an agreement with him over the rules package. Throughout the process, McCarthy projected confidence that the process would end with him as speaker.
“I hope one thing is clear after this: I never give up,” he concluded.
His concessions include lowering the threshold of members needed to bring forward a motion to “vacate the chair,” meaning a majority has to vote to keep the speaker in office.
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Following the speech, members were sworn in, though one item of business — a vote on the rules package —was delayed until Monday.
The House reconvened at 10 p.m. Friday night after taking a six-hour break at the conclusion of the 12th and 13th ballots, in which McCarthy gained the 14 votes. The six lawmakers who voted against him on the 14th ballot were Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Bob Good (R-VA), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT).
