House Republicans picked Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for speaker on Wednesday, but it’s unclear if he can lock down the votes needed to win the gavel following Kevin McCarthy’s abrupt ouster.

As of now, Scalise, who currently serves as House majority leader, lacks the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker in a floor vote and multiple Republicans have not committed to supporting him, signaling the potential for a drawn-out fight for the gavel. It’s not yet clear when the House will hold a speaker vote.

Until a speaker is elected, the House remains effectively paralyzed following McCarthy’s removal, an unprecedented situation that has taken on new urgency amid Israel’s war against Hamas. Raising the stakes further, the longer it takes Republicans to elect a new speaker, the less time lawmakers will have to try to avert a government shutdown with a funding deadline looming in mid-November.

Scalise won out over Rep. Jim Jordan in a closed-door vote by the House GOP conference to pick their speaker nominee on Wednesday.

Source: House GOP picks Steve Scalise as speaker nominee, but unclear if he can get the votes to win gavel | CNN Politics

Now-former speaker confirms he will not run again as Republicans plan to hold a vote for a new speaker next Wednesday.

Source: Kevin McCarthy ousted as US House speaker by hard-right Republicans

The deal hammered out between Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy isn’t perfect. It could have been much worse.

By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor

The House voted on Wednesday night to pass the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the bill codifying the deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to raise the debt ceiling. The final vote — 314 — 117, with Democrats providing the majority of the votes in favor — highlighted just how much the final agreement changed versus when the GOP passed its “Limit, Save, Grow Act” in April.

With just days before a June 5 deadline that would have left the U.S. unable to pay its bills, there’s been no time to spare in actually getting the deal through Congress. Tellingly, the vote reflects the fact that the deal is bipartisan in the sense that it’s gotten votes from both parties, not that it is a win for both parties equally. Likewise, it is a compromise in that only some Americans will have their lives impacted for the worse. The alternative was either a massive hole Republicans tried to cut into the social safety net with their original bill, or widespread economic chaos a default would have caused.

In all, though, it is clear that the bill could have been much worse. The Republican priorities it contains have been significantly pared back and there are a few Democratic priorities that were unexpectedly worked into the deal. 

First, the deal raises the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025.

The bill includes federal spending caps for the next two fiscal years.

The bill further rescinds about $28 billion in unspent Covid relief funds.

Politics aside, the bill as passed is one based on a principle that government should do the least harm possible while benefitting the most. In this case, a decision was made to only hurt some people rather than allow a debt default that would have hurt everybody. Of course, the “some” isn’t ever the wealthy, whose tax rates were never at risk of rising thanks to Republicans shielding them. Predictably, the burden falls on the poor and needy, who are expected to be grateful they get any help at all.

Source: Opinion | The good, the bad, and the ugly of the debt ceiling de

DeSantis takes to twitter with musk for president announcement

The Twitter launch of Ron DeSantis’s 2024 bid for the White House was struck by early tech issues with the sound repeatedly dropping out.

The Twitter Spaces event crashed several times on Wednesday evening, with Twitter owner Elon Musk saying the servers appeared to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people trying to listen.

Source: Elon Musk’s Twitter Spaces crashes ruining Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign launch – live

He’s constructed a political force field against failures and scandals that would have felled any other politician.

Over the last month or so, Trump has gotten indicted while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has passed a truly historic raft of conservative reforms — and Trump has gained, while DeSantis has lost ground.

DeSantis’ winning hasn’t proved nearly as valuable as Trump’s losing (assuming one thinks that getting indicted on felony charges —any felony charges — is a bad thing).

How is that possible?

Trump has constructed an impenetrable political force field. In his own telling, he’s strong and a fierce fighter at the same time that he’s a victim — because his adversaries are out to get him since he’s so strong and such a fierce fighter.

Source: Opinion | Why Trump Can’t Lose

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States, defense officials said on Thursday, a discovery that risks adding further strain to tense US-China relations.

Source: Pentagon tracking suspected Chinese spy balloon over the US | CNN Politics

A former retired executive from Hempfield announced this week he will seek election as Westmoreland County commissioner. John Ventre, 65, said he will run in this year’s Republican primary and is targeting first-time incumbent Doug Chew as his chief opponent this spring.

Source: Hempfield man announces second bid for Westmoreland commissioner

Josh Shapiro has become the 48th governor of Pennsylvania at the inaugural ceremony at the state Capitol.

Austin Davis, a McKeesport native, was sworn in as the first Black man to serve as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor in a ceremony in the state Senate chamber.

Shapiro, 49, takes over in the nation’s fifth-most populous state with more experience in state government than any of his recent predecessors, including six years as Pennsylvania’s attorney general.

He took the oath from Chief Justice Debra Todd on a cold winter day, with lawmakers, ex-governors, members of Congress and several thousand others looking on.

“I am humbled to stand before you today as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor,” Shapiro said at the start of his remarks from the podium. “Along the winding road that has led to this moment, I have been grounded in my faith and family.”

Shapiro succeeds term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and is the first governor of Pennsylvania since 1966 to be elected to succeed a member of his own party.

Source: Josh Shapiro takes office as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor

As House Republicans officially take over Congress and clamor to investigate the Biden administration, a new line of attack fell squarely into their laps: classified documents recovered from one of President Joe Biden’s private offices when he served as vice president.

“President Biden has been very critical of President Trump mistakenly taking classified documents to the residence or wherever and now it seems he may have done the same,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a key lawmaker in leading investigations in the 118th Congress, said Tuesday. “How ironic.”

The news of Biden’s possession of classified documents and the prompt Republican response that followed came as Congress voted Tuesday to establish a panel engineered to investigate the “weaponization” of the federal government, adding to an already growing list of oversight priorities House Republicans have laid out now that they have committee control and subpoena power. The party-line vote was 221-211.

Source: Biden’s classified documents issue adds to House Republicans’ growing list of investigations | CNN Politics

After suffering yet another stinging defeat on Wednesday, in which he lost a sixth round of voting for House speaker, Kevin McCarthy proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes — including agreeing to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Source: First on CNN: McCarthy proposes key concessions after House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker | CNN Politics

The Republican leader failed to gain the speaker’s post in another three straight votes, and the House adjourned until 8 p.m. The empty speaker’s position means that the House is at a standstill. Without sworn members, it is unable to perform oversight, pass bills or set up constituent services.

Source: McCarthy loses speaker vote for the sixth time

Latest headlines:

• Sources say House Republicans discuss ‘nuclear option’: Lower vote threshold to be speaker
• House adjourns until 8 p.m.
• McCarthy loses speaker vote for the sixth time
• McCarthy says: ‘We’re gonna break … then go meet’
• Boebert calls on McCarthy to withdraw
• Who is Byron Donalds, latest protest nominee against McCarthy?

All eyes will be on the nearly two dozen conservatives who prevented Rep. Kevin McCarthy from winning the speaker’s gavel and are rallying behind conservative Rep. Jim Jordan.

By Scott Wong

WASHINGTON — Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his conservative detractors will square off for a second consecutive day as lawmakers prepare to resume voting Wednesday to pick the next House speaker.

A group of 20 far-right rebels banded together Tuesday and blocked McCarthy from winning the 218 needed votes.

Three separate votes were held, and each time McCarthy, R-Calif., a veteran member of GOP leadership, fell short. It was the first time in 100 years that the speaker vote has gone to multiple ballots.

“This is about saving the country and getting somebody that’s going to cut and get us on a financial path of solvency,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., one of the so-called Never Kevins who voted against McCarthy. “I’ll sit here for six more months — it doesn’t matter.”

But McCarthy has won the support of 202 Republicans — more than 90% of the 222-member GOP Conference — and the number of his detractors has stayed relatively steady. His allies vow to hold roll call votes until the opposition caves.

Source: McCarthy enters Day Two of uncertainty as House resumes speaker votes

Long Island Rep.-elect George Santos came clean to The Post on Monday, admitting that he lied on the campaign trail about his education and work experience — but insisting that the controversy won’t deter him from serving out his two-year term in Congress.

“I am not a criminal,” Santos said at one point during his exclusive interview. “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

Santos’ professional biography was called into question earlier this month after the New York Times reported that he misrepresented a number of claims, including where he attended college and his alleged employment history with high-profile Wall Street firms.

“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos said Monday.

Santos confessed he had “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, chalking that fib up to a “poor choice of words.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2022/12/26/rep-elect-george-santos-admits-fabricating-key-details-of-his-bio/

The Senate voted on Thursday evening to pass a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week with funding currently set to expire on Friday at midnight.

Source: Senate passes stopgap bill to avert shutdown at end of the week | CNN Politics

Despite the Georgia runoff results, a split Congress means both Democrats and Republicans will have trouble passing legislation in January.

Warnock winning also puts Democrats in a better position in the next Senate election when the map will favor Republicans, former President Barack Obama said during a campaign stop last week.

Schumer, whose caucus held onto all incumbent seats and picked up Pennsylvania, was gleeful during a Wednesday morning press conference as he cheered the new 51-49 majority. .

“It’s going to be a lot quicker, swifter and easier,” Schumer said, noting that this year marks the first time since 1934 that each Senate incumbent of the party in power won their race.

Source: What we know about the next Senate and the balance of power now that Georgia’s runoff is over

Kevin McCarthy has indicated that he would reinstate Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar on committees

“I mean beyond unpunished, Kevin McCarthy has made a very clear statement – has stated that he intends to reward some of the most racist members of Congress that we have served in recent years,” she told The Independent.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has been subjected to numerous death threats and verbal harassment since she won her primary election in 2018 against House Democratic Caucus chairman Joe Crowley. She has specifically become a subject of right-wing anger and vitriol. In addition, her campaign regularly spends fees as large as $5,000 a month for security consulting since members have to pay for their own security.

In addition, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed concern.

“I’m worried about a lot of things in terms of the danger to our country, the danger to us personally. The danger to our democracy, I think it’s going to be a very difficult time,” she told The Independent.

Source: AOC says Kevin McCarthy ‘intends to reward’ some of the most racist Republicans