January 3, 2023 Latest on the new Congress and House speaker vote

Rep. Ralph Norman, one of at least five lawmakers against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's speakership, announced in a closed-door meeting of Republican lawmakers that he will be voting for GOP Rep. Andy Biggs on the first ballot, a source tells CNN. 

Norman did not say what he would do after the first ballot, the source added.

If Republicans had won the House by a bigger margin, McCarthy wouldn't be in this position, Norman added.

Remember: This GOP meeting is happening ahead of the high-stakes House speaker vote, and CNN has reported that it is getting heated, with McCarthy, his supporters and opponents exchanging arguments.

McCarthy is facing a longshot challenge in the race from Biggs. McCarthy has defeated the Arizona congressman before – by a resounding vote of 188 to 31 in November when the House Republican conference voted for McCarthy to be its leader.

No other House business can be done until the speaker vote is finished, including swearing-in of the rest of the members. Until the speaker’s vote is decided, the clerk of the House is in charge of the chamber. 

At noon on Tuesday, the Clerk of the House – Cheryl Johnson — will gavel in the 118th Congress. They’ll do a prayer and the pledge, and then she will announce the certifications of the election of the 118th Congress have been received. 

Then they will have a quorum call. This is the first vote of the Congress. It’s a roll call vote. Members will vote present, they have to be in the chamber.

Then she will announce the vacancy of Virginia’s 4th Congressional District due to the death of Don McEachin.

The next order of business is the election of the House speaker. Democrats will place their party leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ name into nomination, and Republicans are expected to place Kevin McCarthy’s name. Rep. Andy Biggs is also expected to garner several votes in the first round. 

Then they’ll call the roll. Each member, when their name is called, will state the name of the person they are voting for. Can be one of the names in nomination, their own name, someone else’s name, or present, which is not a vote at all. 

The tellers will tally up the votes. The winner must have a majority of those voting for a person. Present votes subtract from that total, thus lowering the threshold for a majority of votes.

If no one amasses a majority of votes cast, it goes to a second ballot, and on and on. If it goes to multiple ballots, other candidates may have their names put in for nomination. 

If McCarthy doesn’t get the votes on the first ballot, there is the option to make a motion to adjourn, but it would take 218 votes to do that and Democrats are likely not inclined to help Republicans out in any way.

Historic context: There is no playbook for what the chamber will do if the speaker isn’t elected on the first ballot. The 1923 vote was decided on the ninth ballot, where they kept voting until a speaker was decided. The 1869 speaker vote lasted through 60 ballots over two months. This Congress may recess the chamber or they could continue voting. 

A closed-door meeting among Republican lawmakers ahead of the vote for House speaker is heating up.

As GOP leader Kevin McCarthy entered the room, he received a standing ovation from most people before he went over the rules package, sources tell CNN.

McCarthy raised his voice in the meeting as he animatedly teed off on his opponents, detailed all the concessions he has made and said that it hasn’t been good enough, two sources said.

A source called it a fiery speech and said McCarthy made clear he would negotiate no more. Another source told CNN that McCarthy took his opponents "to the woodshed like I've never seen.”

McCarthy said opponents came to him with “personal asks” on Monday night, such as committee assignments and special assignments. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert yelled “bullsh*t” in response to his speech, according to a source.  

GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, a McCarthy ally and incoming Chair of the House Armed Services, said in the meeting that anyone who votes against McCarthy won't get a committee, two sources tell CNN.  

CNN previously reported this was a threat McCarthy allies were considering.

As an aide left the meeting, a CNN reporter was able to observe through the open door that GOP members packed the room, listening quietly. Maybe a dozen members were waiting to speak on the microphone that stood in the center hallway.

Rep. Chip Roy addressed Rogers' comments at the open microphone and was upset, a source said. He got into a heated back and forth with the GOP leader, with McCarthy teeing off on Roy, yet acknowledging he won’t have the votes on first ballot, and then Roy responding: “All you’re doing is guaranteeing the vote.” 

The conference cheered on McCarthy as he took his detractors head on.

Rep. Ryan Zinke spoke up in favor of McCarthy, saying: "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."

GOP Rep. Scott Perry got in a heated back-and-forth with McCarthy, even raising their voices in the closed door meeting, multiple sources tell CNN. 

Perry accused McCarthy of not having a track record on spending bills. McCarthy asked Perry what is left for him to give, and questioned what he is still fighting for the sources added.

CNN's Manu Raju reports the latest from Capitol Hill:

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House Minority Leader, told reporters he does not expect any absences among Democrats and he is not aware of any of his members planning to vote “present” — two scenarios that would have lowered the threshold Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy needs to become speaker.

Jeffries declined to say whether Democrats would help McCarthy in any way or support a motion to adjourn Tuesday’s proceedings.

“We're focused right now on making sure that every single Democrat is present and voting, and I hope to be able to earn everyone's vote,” Jefferies said Monday ahead of the convening of the new Congress. 

He did reflect on the uncertainty of the moment. 

Remember: McCarthy does not technically need 218 votes to become speaker. A majority of those present and voting is required to get the speakership, which is usually 218 lawmakers. But if enough people skip the vote or vote “present,” the number of votes required for a majority can drop.

When the new Congress assembles Tuesday, it will establish a quorum, and then its first action will be a roll call vote to elect a new speaker. Not until after this election does the House get down to business.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy has the support of a majority of Republicans to be the GOP leader but has so far not secured enough votes to become House speaker.

When House members require multiple ballots, or votes, to elect their speaker, that is referred to as a “floor fight.”

In the 200-plus years since the first two-year Congress met in 1789, such floor fights have occurred just 14 times, according to the House historian.

All but one of those multi-ballot speaker elections took place before the Civil War as the two-party system was evolving. Back then, floor fights were routine.

A floor fight has only taken place once since the Civil War, exactly 100 years ago, when it took nine ballots for Rep. Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts to be elected speaker in 1923.

The epic record for a floor fight: In 1855 and 1856, it took 133 separate votes for Rep. Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts to be elected, again by a plurality and not a majority.

The process stretched over more than a month and included a sort of inquisition on the House floor of the three contenders. They answered questions about their view of the expansion of slavery. Read more from the House historian’s website.

It’s also interesting to read about Banks; his official House biography notes he was elected to office as a Republican, an independent, a member of the America Party and as a Democrat.

There is some mystery in the process: Politico notes it’s been so long that the exact procedure if no one has a majority is a smidge unclear. A Congressional Research Service brief on electing the speaker simply says that if no one gets a majority, the vote is repeated.

Way back in 1849, the House had been in session so long without being able to elect a speaker – 19 days – that members voted to elect their speaker with a plurality rather than a majority. Members ultimately confirmed the plurality election with a majority vote.

It doesn’t always require 218 votes: A majority of those present and voting is required to get the speakership, which is usually 218 lawmakers. But if enough people skip the vote or vote “present,” the number of votes required for a majority can drop.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy walked into the party’s conference meeting Tuesday morning ahead of the speaker’s race.

When asked what his goals were in meeting with his conference, McCarthy said, “Explain what we went through. We went out to the American public with a commitment to American to fight for them, not for a few members to fight for own personal. This is about the country and it will have to show the difference.”

McCarthy is facing a make-or-break moment on Tuesday, as he seeks to lock down the support necessary to become the next speaker.

Ahead of the meeting, GOP Rep. Ralph Norman predicts more than 15 no votes on McCarthy on the first ballot, and said he is personally still a no vote “on the first” ballot but declined to say what will happen after that or if there is anything McCarthy can do to earn his vote at this point.  

And Rep. Scott Perry said he made an offer to McCarthy last night that he claimed could get McCarthy to 218 votes, but McCarthy rejected it. 

“Does he want to get to 218 or doesn’t he?” Perry said.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, has been floated as a potential candidate for speaker if GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is unable to secure the 218 votes needed to clinch the gavel.

CNN reported Monday that Scalise has made clear he backs McCarthy for the top job and GOP sources say he has rejected pleas by hardliners to mount a challenge to the California Republican. It remains unclear whether Scalise could even capture the support to win the speakership if McCarthy falters.

Still, Scalise is widely expected to run for the job should McCarthy drop out of the race.

Scalise, who most recently was House minority whip, has long been a deputy to McCarthy and is poised to inherit his former role of majority leader once the new Congress is seated.

A New Orleans native, Scalise was a computer systems engineer before he was elected to serve as a state representative from 1995 until 2007 and as a state senator briefly afterward. He was elected to the House in a special election in May 2008 after Bobby Jindal was elected Louisiana governor and resigned from the House seat. He has cruised to reelection in his conservative district every election cycle since.

In 2014, just as he was about to become the House whip for Republicans, Scalise faced intense blowback for having given a speech in 2002 to a White supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Scalise apologized and said in a statement that speaking to the group “was a mistake I regret, and I emphatically oppose the divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold.”

Scalise was shot in the hip by a gunman who opened fire as congressional Republicans were practicing for an annual charity baseball game in June 2017. After months-long recovery process, he spoke at the Capitol Hill on Sept. 28, 2017, saying the said the incident "strengthened my faith in God."

CNN’s Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox contributed to this report.

GOP Rep.-elect George Santos of New York is scheduled to be sworn in to Congress on Tuesday as he faces mounting scrutiny and condemnation over lies about his biography and amid an investigation by federal prosecutors into his finances.

Law enforcement officials in Brazil will reinstate fraud charges against Santos as he officially assumes his role in the US House Tuesday under a cloud of suspicion over his dubious resume, the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor's office told CNN.

It was first reported by The New York Times Monday.

Prosecutors said they will seek a “formal response” from Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they were unable to find him for nearly a decade.

Authorities, having verified Santos’ location, will make a formal request to the US Justice Department to notify him of the charges, Maristela Pereira, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, told CNN. The prosecutor’s office told CNN the request will be filed upon reopening on Jan. 6.

CNN previously confirmed that Santos was charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court in 2011, according to case records from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. However, court records from 2013 state that the charge was archived after court summons went unanswered and they were unable to locate Santos.

In the US, some Democrats have called on Santos to step aside after he admitted to fabricating parts of his resume, including his work experience and education. A few Republicans have also rebuked Santos, and at least one of his fellow incoming House Republicans from New York called for him to face an ethics investigation.

Santos faces questions about other key parts of his biography – including a claim that has been contradicted that his grandparents survived the Holocaust – and over loans totaling more than $700,000 that he made to his 2022 campaign. The federal probe into his finances, which CNN reported on last week, is being undertaken by the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.

Read more here.

Marcia Reverdosa contributed reporting to this post.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is hoping all’s well that ends well when it comes to becoming speaker of the chamber. The current minority leader and former majority leader may have thought he’d have the speakership locked up by now, but, ahead of the new Congress that begins on Tuesday, he doesn’t.

McCarthy’s problems in securing the top spot in the House are more easily understood when you realize the hand he’s been dealt. He has a historically small majority for a potential first-time speaker, and McCarthy, himself, is historically unpopular compared with other House members who have tried to become speaker.

McCarthy’s Republican Party secured only 222 seats in the 2022 midterms, leaving him little room for error to get to 218 votes – the number needed to achieve the speakership assuming all members vote. McCarthy can only afford to lose the support of four Republicans, and the list of GOP lawmakers who’ve said they will vote against him is longer than that.

A historic problem: No potential first-time House speaker has had such a small majority since Democrat John Nance Garner in 1931. The only first-time speaker in recent times who comes close to McCarthy’s current situation is former Illinois Rep. Dennis Hastert, whose Republican Party entered 1999 with 223 seats. Hastert had the advantage of being a compromise choice after Newt Gingrich stepped down after the 1998 midterms and his would-be successor Bob Livingston resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair.

Indeed, all other potential first-time House speakers in the last 90 years had at least 230 seats in their majority. Speakers whose party held fewer seats than that all had the power of incumbency (i.e., having been elected to the position at least once before).

Remember that McCarthy has been close to the speakership before. He was next in line to become speaker when Republican John Boehner resigned in 2015. But the California Republican couldn’t get his caucus to rally around him enough to win a majority of House votes, and Paul Ryan went on to become speaker instead.

Read the full analysis here.