Kevin McCarthy

Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he wants to "be the check and provide some balance" to President Joe Biden's policies.

"Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House," said Biden. "Congratulations to Kevin McCarthy and our GREAT Republican Party!" McCarthy's first job as speaker was to swear in the other 433 members of Congress, who had been in limbo as members-elect since Tuesday, when the 118th Congress first opened. "I don't think he should, anybody should doubt his influence," McCarthy said. "And now we need to finish strong for the American people." McCarthy claimed he will pass bills fixing "urgent" problems in the nation with an America-first approach. "No more ignoring this crisis of safety and sovereignty," he said. He highlighted immigration reform as a top priority, saying the Republican-controlled House will hold some of its first hearings of the year at the Southern border. He said the first legislation he plans to tackle will repeal funding for more than 87,000 new IRS agents. [Donald Trump](https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/) for his support and said he was crucial in securing the final votes McCarthy needed. - The U.S. McCarthy said the tense showdown on the House floor this week was proof that he is not someone who gives up easily.

Friday was the fourth day of voting for House speaker. Photographers captured tense moments in the House chamber as lawmakers negotiated.

Here's a peek at what the tense, drawn-out negotiations looked like on the final day, on and around the chamber floor. After a chaotic four days and 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker of the House, California Republican Kevin McCarthy finally emerged victorious early Saturday to convene a new Congress. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The top Republican already had to work with a tiny majority and an emboldened right flank. Concessions he made to win his speakership gave the rebels more ...

Dennis Hastert — to not put forward any legislation that does not have the support of a majority of the majority. But in the past couple of decades, Republican speakers have followed an unofficial but hard-and-fast rule — known as the Hastert rule for the former G.O.P. They would have an incentive to work with Democrats on bipartisan deals that could make it through the Senate and to President Biden’s desk. That could be particularly dangerous for spending bills and any legislation to raise the federal debt limit. That could make it exceedingly difficult to pass any appropriations measures, which need the approval of both chambers before they can go to the president’s desk. McCarthy that any measure to raise the cap on borrowing to finance the federal debt would be accompanied by fiscal reforms, including deep spending cuts, possibly including Social Security and Medicare. The speaker, on behalf of the majority, controls the House floor. [$1.7 trillion spending package](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/us/politics/house-passes-spending-bill.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-spending-bill&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc) that will keep the U.S. In effect, that would give the faction the ability to block any legislation it did not like from the floor, by banding together with Democrats on the panel who are all but certain to oppose most Republican bills. For the dissidents, that was the point. For the country, it could lead to some grim consequences. The top Republican already had to work with a tiny majority and an emboldened right flank.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene takes a selfie with Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. As Kevin McCarthy waited for the official tally, Representative ...

The new rules agreement for the 118th Congress, to which McCarthy acceded in order to win over the MAGA holdouts, and which will almost certainly be voted through on Monday, calls for the establishment of three new investigative subcommittees. (During the drama on Friday night, the Lear of Mar-a-Lago called several MAGA holdouts to ask them to support the beleaguered Californian.) But it doesn’t explain how the Republican Party has been reduced to this sorry state, or why McCarthy would still want the job of Speaker in these circumstances. Although Trump is not named explicitly, the added language would appear to give the new subcommittee license to look into, and perhaps hold up, the Justice Department’s investigations of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his post-Presidential mishandling of hundreds of classified documents. [Politico reported](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/07/gop-panel-criminal-investigations-00076890) that this reference appeared to have been added to the rules during last-minute negotiations between McCarthy and his ultra-right opponents. Earlier this week, Representative Ralph Norman, of South Carolina, who is a member of the Freedom Caucus, called on McCarthy to “shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling,” adding that this demand was “a non-negotiable item.” In this instance, it would be a mistake to focus exclusively on the MAGA crazies: months ago, McCarthy and Senator John Thune, of South Dakota, both made clear that they favored using the debt limit to force big cuts in spending. A repeat of the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis, in which the G.O.P.-led House of Representatives defied President Barack Obama, now seems likely, and it could be a lengthy one. Ultimately, perhaps, even the members of the Freedom Caucus won’t want to be held responsible for a financial crash that tanks their voters’ 401(k) plans and endangers the mighty dollar, especially at the start of another Presidential-election campaign. performance art, which will likely encompass passing legislation that has no chance of being enacted by the Democratic-controlled Senate and holding innumerable conspiracy-theory-stoking hearings into the Based on his own self-serving modus operandi, McCarthy doesn’t have much choice but to comply; if he is to get anything done over the next two years, he will need to retain the support of Greene and many other far-right extremists. This prospect is already raising alarms on Wall Street, where attention is focussing on the need to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a U.S. In return for backing McCarthy, Greene will likely receive new committee assignments and be treated, by Party leaders, as an important ally, despite the fact that just last month she said the January 6th insurrection would have succeeded if she and Steve Bannon had been in charge of it. In February, 2021, eleven House Republicans voted with the Democrats to strip Greene of her committee assignments.

Friday was the fourth day of voting for House speaker. Photographers captured tense moments in the House chamber as lawmakers negotiated.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption Bryan Steil, (R-Wis.), holds up the tally sheet in the House chamber after Rep. Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) offers a phone with the initials "DT" to Rep.-elect Matt Rosendale (R-MT). Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks as the House meets for the fourth day to elect a speaker. Republican members walk out of the chamber as Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., interrupts Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) is restrained after getting into an argument with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., talks to Rep. Rep. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images toggle caption House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy takes the oath of office after he was elected on the 15th ballot.

WASHINGTON — Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the US House of Representatives early on Saturday, after making extensive concessions to ...

But the concessions he agreed to mean that McCarthy will hold considerably less power than his predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, when a violent mob stormed Congress in an attempt to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s election loss. They have raged in the past when Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell agreed to compromise deals. McCarthy was elected only after agreeing to a demand by hardliners that any lawmaker be able call for his removal at any time. But it sharply illustrated the difficulties he will face in leading a narrow and deeply polarized majority. He won at last on a margin of 216-212.