WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Republican Kevin McCarthy’s perilous quest to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives entered the fourth day on Friday, with a scale of congressional dysfunction not seen since before the U.S. Civil War.
This week’s 11 failed votes marked the highest number of ballots for the speakership since 1859. But McCarthy rejected a suggestion it meant he would be a weak leader if he succeeded. “Apparently, I like to make history,” he joked.
The California Republican faces a party rift between an overwhelming majority of House Republicans who support him and 20 hardline conservatives who continue to oppose him, even after McCarthy offered to curb his own clout.
The speaker’s gavel would give McCarthy the authority to block President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, force votes for Republican priorities on economy, energy and immigration, and move forward with investigations of Biden and his administration.
But the holdouts want a deal that would make it easier to oust the speaker and give them greater influence within the House Republican caucus and on congressional committees.
Some of his opponents also say they don’t trust him to mount the political brinkmanship necessary to contain the federal debt and impose spending cuts on Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Late on Wednesday, some Republicans held out hope of a deal on the direction of the party caucus that could persuade at least some of his opponents to yield.
Republicans won a slim 222-212 House majority in the November midterm elections, meaning McCarthy cannot afford to lose the support of more than four Republicans as Democrats united around their own candidate.
Some of McCarthy’s opponents showed no sign of yielding.
“This ends in one of two ways: either Kevin McCarthy withdraws from the race or we construct a straitjacket that he is unwilling to evade,” said Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, who voted for Trump for speaker.