needed to be the speaker for a fourth consecutive time. florida republican byron donalds appear to have received just enough support to prevent kevin mccarthy from getting to 218. so what happens now? the house remaining paralyzed this hour. no committees, no legislation, elected members can t even be sworn in. they don t even know if they are getting paid at this point after they have tried and failed again four times to elect a speaker. it s a level of dysfunction unseen in modern political history. so let s bring in an incredible panel. senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. yamiche alcindor is our washington correspondent. doug high is a republican strategist for the rnc. peter baker is chief white house correspondent for the new york times and an msnbc political analyst. steve kornacki is at the big board. garrett, tell us what s happening this second and what should we make of it? we re watching kevin mccarthy on his way going 0 for 4. byron donalds, the l
not been the charm for kevin mccarthy. you see the tally on the screen. we are waiting any minute for this vote to officially be closed, and then the question is what happens next? do they try for time number six? where unless something has dramatically changed and we don t think it has, mccarthy will probably lose again. do they try to take a break? what are the concessions that are happening behind the scenes? we have the best team in the biz, here to answer the questions to the best of their abilities including capitol hill correspondent ali vitali and political director and moderator of meet the press, chuck todd, nbc news colleague, and steve kornacki is posted at the big board and former chief communications adviser to former speaker paul ryan and msnbc political analyst brendan buck is with us, too. if you re looking at this saying, okay, i ve been watching this coverage for six hours. what has changed? what is different? what is going to change the moment? here is w
the tellers agree that the total number of votes cast is 434 of which the honorable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212. [ cheers and applause ] the honorable kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 203. [ cheers and applause ]. the honorable jim jordan of the state of ohio has received 19. no person having received the majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? madam clerk, i rise to nominate kevin mccarthy for the position of speaker of the house. the gentleman is recognized. [ applause ] thank you, madam clerk. we all came here to get things done, to get big things done, the solve the problems. and i hope when we get through today that all of the members on both sides of the aisle will join together with us to solve the problems, to address inflation that is crushing middle class families, to get control over spending will
the gavel. this morning, he was not able to bring along a handful of far right lawmakers who oppose his nomination and are demanding more big power concessions from him as the price for going forward. we may have a battle on the floor. but the battle is for the conference and the country. that s fine with me. i don t see how a few people maybe it s 5, maybe it s 20 sit because they want a gravel that they can t earn. that s not what the constituents voted them for. this as house democrats united behind hakeem jeffries, with a new younger ship team holding business cards to play as the republicans dissolve into chaos. why is choosing a speaker important? the house cannot form committees or do work on any legislation until there is a presiding officer. it s been a century since it has taken more than one roll call vote to fill the position. at this hour, we don t know how many votes it will take to elect the next speaker or how long it will drag out and da minute dimi
Mr. Speaker mr. Speaker, you may agree with this, but we are back here 22 days into this republican manufactured chaos and House Republicans have brought us to the exact same position that we were back then. All of the infighting, all of the disarray, just to end up where we were three weeks ago. These past few weeks we have been left wondering if republicans were truly intent on solving our issues, reopening the house of representatives and rallying around someone to lead this chamber, or has this been about Something Else . Has this been about a focus of House Republicans to find the person who can pass their extreme litmus test to oppose marriage equality, enact a nationwide abortion ban without exceptions, gut Social Security and medicare, and support overturning a free and fair election. Its a fair question. Its a fair question. [ applause ] nowhere nowhere in that Candidate Questionnaire is it about growing the middle class, helping our communities, keeping the cost of Health Car