than the country. . i appreciate your time. dateline white house picks up with nicole right now. it s 4:00 in new york and yes, it s groundhog day, the crisis in the house of representatives and the united states of america is in its third day. there still no speaker of the house of representatives which means there are no members of the house of representatives. that despite and evening of negations. kevin mccarthy has lost eight votes to be speaker and is on track right now to lose the ninth vote. that s despite making a series of unbelievable concessions, things that were off the table sunday night and into monday, to the holdouts in his car gets caucus, a major allowance to the hard right republicans, he said he would lower the number from 5 to 1. he said he previously not accept that. congress and matt gaetz, he nominated donald trump for the speakership and described the power to remove the speaker as anyone, anywhere, anytime, raising questions about whether anybod
live coverage. and aim jake tapper in washington. the united states still without a house speaker this hour and there is no sign that republicans are going to be able to settle on one any time soon. kevin mccarthy is going to come up short a fourth time. that s the vote we re watching right now. the hard-line opposition of about 20 rebels backing congressman byron donalds of florida this go-around. this vote is playing out as we re seeing quite an interesting split screen moment on the left side of your screen. you see senator senator minority leader mitch mcconnell at an event in kentucky with president biden there talking about the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was only passed because of democrats and republicans working together and now you see on the screen a place where bipartisanship is not happening, in fact, barely partisanship when it comes to republicans. cnn is tracking everything as it happens vote by vote. let s start with lauren fox. kevin mccarthy s a
jeffries. my first vote for speaker of the house was for byron donalds. today i am rising to nominate byron donalds for speaker of the house of representatives. now, here we are and for the first time in history there have been two black americans placed into the nomination for speaker of the house. [applause] john: standoff ratcheting up tensions and raising fears of a longer term rift among republicans as the gop leadership remains on hold. sandra: congressman elect donalds will be joining us in a moment, byron donalds is watching for the final vote cast on the float and then hop in front of the camera and join us live. john: first we go to chad pergram live on capitol hill. chad, looks like groundhog day today. well, right now the one thing we know is that they are not going to elect a speaker of the house on this roll call vote. the first vote of the day, the fourth overall in the past two days and kevin mccarthy has not been able to get an outright majority of
the speaker: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? i ask unanimous consent that the gentlewoman from texas, the honorable myra flores, be permitted to take the oath of office this evening. her certificate of election has just arrived, not arrived, but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard to her election. the speaker: without objection. will representative elect flores and the members of the texas delegation present themselves in the well. all members will rise and the representative elect will please raise her right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god
Tonight, the House Of Representatives is entering week three without a speaker. Eight candidates are now vying for the job, after one dropped out in the last hour. And right now, as we speak, republicans are meeting Behind Closed Doors to figure out some kind of a path forward before an internal vote tomorrow. Gotta hold your breath. After all the reports of screaming and cursing, some physical altercations in previous meetings, you cant really imagine whats going on in that room right now. Were gonna talk to some people who do know in just a moment. But if you are wondering out there why this matters and why we are still talking about this circus, well, the thing is, nothing can happen in congress. No new money for israel, no new money for humanitarian efforts in gaza, nothing without a speaker. Now is the time when we really actually need government to function. And you will never guess who is involved in all of this dysfunction Behind The Scenes, or maybe you will get. Look, Donald