January 7, 2023 updates on Speaker Kevin McCarthy

Our live coverage has wrapped up for the day. You can read more on the chaotic race for the speakership here.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told CNN there was a positive side effect of the chaotic 15 rounds of voting for speakership this week: More bipartisan mingling on the House floor.

“I had more debate this week in Congress — more meaningful debate — more intermingling,” Burchett told CNN’s Jim Acosta Saturday, saying he was chatting with everyone from the prominent progressive lawmakers known as The Squad to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“It gave us time to interact,” Burchett continued. “We actually interacted more this week than we have in the last four years. And if anything, that relationship-building is where it was at.”

Burchett said he thought “a lot of those barriers dissolved, at least a little bit.”

“Maybe that’s what we need to get to where we’re at,” Burchett told Acosta.

President Joe Biden spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to congratulate him on winning the gavel in a call Saturday afternoon, according to the White House. 

The president also released a statement in the early hours of Saturday after McCarthy was elected House speaker in the 15th round of voting. 

Robert Garcia speaks at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus event welcoming new Latino members to Congress at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC on November 18, 2022.

A Superman comic is one of several sentimental items that will be underneath the Constitution when Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, takes his ceremonial oath.

But this isn’t just any comic — the copy of “Superman” #1 is an exceptionally rare comic, released in 1939, and belongs to the Library of Congress.

Garcia was officially sworn into office early Saturday morning alongside other House members. It is presently unclear when the ceremonial swearing in, at which Garcia will use the comic, will take place.

The comic will be joined by a photo of Garcia’s parents, who died of Covid-19, and his citizenship certificate, according to a Thursday tweet from Garcia.

In a statement emailed to CNN, Garcia said that comics are especially significant to him because they helped him learn English after coming to the US from Peru.

Superman is a poignant symbol for Garcia’s values, he said. The superhero represents “truth and justice, an immigrant that was different, was raised by good people that welcomed them,” he added in his statement. “If you look at Superman values, and caucus values, it’s about justice, it’s about honesty, it’s doing the right thing, standing up for people that need support.”

Read more.

Rep. Becca Balint, second from left, stands with newly-elected members of Congress for a class photo in November.

With Vermont Rep. Becca Balint being sworn into the House early Saturday, all 50 US states have now sent women to Congress. 

“I want all people to feel like they can have a place in government,” the Democrat told CNN in November, prior to winning an open-seat race for Vermont’s at-large district. “If my breaking these glass ceilings enables people to see themselves in those roles, that is really exciting to me.” 

Along with being Vermont’s first female member of Congress, Balint is also the first out LGBTQ person elected to Washington from the Green Mountain State. 

Vermont was left as the only state in the union never to have sent a woman to Congress after Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate in 2018. But rather than attributing that unwelcome distinction to any anti-female bias, Garrison Nelson, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Vermont, told CNN last year, “It’s a case of longevity that has prevented women from getting opportunities to serve in the Congress.” 

The state’s at-large House seat became vacant after Democratic incumbent Peter Welch — who was first elected in 2006 — decided on an ultimately successful Senate run to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who was himself first elected in 1974. 

Balint has joined the House Progressive Caucus, where she will serve as vice chair for new members. She previously told CNN that her congressional priorities will include taking action to address the housing crisis and finding more resources for mental health, especially in her home state. But “first and foremost” on her list, she said, is “the health of our democracy.”

Both Democrats and Republicans made strides in diversifying their congressional ranks in the November midterm elections, with several historic milestones reached and a record number of women elected.

Rep. Katherine Clark speaks during a news conference at the Capitol on January 5.

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark assumed her role as House minority whip in the early hours of Saturday morning, becoming the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the chamber.

Clark is only the second woman after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve in one of the top two party leadership positions in Congress. Pelosi’s stint as speaker ended earlier this month.

“I am humbled and honored to serve the American people as the @HouseDemocrats Whip for the 118th Congress,” added Clark, who ran unopposed.  

Clark joins a House Democratic leadership team that includes Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, who said in a statement that Clark’s “voice as Whip will be essential as our Caucus fights back against Republican extremism and delivers a legislative agenda that will help us take back the House in 2024.” 

Clark served as assistant speaker in the previous Congress, then the party’s No. 4 position in the House. She first joined leadership in 2019 as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

A firm supporter of President Joe Biden’s agenda, Clark is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. She is an advocate of gun reform, Medicare for All and raising the federal minimum wage. In 2016, Clark joined then-Georgia Rep. John Lewis and others in staging a sit-in on the House floor to protest the lack of votes on gun control legislation.

She was among several Democratic congresswomen arrested by US Capitol Police in July during an abortion rights protest in front of the Supreme Court. 

Clark’s ascension to a top House leadership position comes less than 10 years after she entered Congress representing Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold outside Boston. She won a special election in 2013 to succeed Democrat Ed Markey, following his election to the Senate, and has comfortably won reelection ever since. 

Prior to entering Congress, Clark served in the Massachusetts state House and Senate. She also worked in the state attorney general’s office as a policy director and served on the Melrose School Committee.

Rep. Monica De La Cruz speaks with CNN on Saturday.

Freshman Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who was sworn in early Saturday morning after Kevin McCarthy clinched the House speakership, said Americans saw the voting process “play out just as it should.”

The Texas Republican said that while “of course” lawmakers wanted to be sworn in on January 3, “you saw democracy play out over the last week and come to consensus in the wee hours of the morning, and now we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

“This is not a dictatorship where one person gets to decide everything for the entire conference. … So we saw it play out just as it should,” De La Cruz told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.

The 118th Congress features a record-setting number of women at 149. Overall, women of color will also break a record for their representation this year – within the House alone, there will be a record number of both Latinas and Black women serving.

De La Cruz is the first Republican and first woman to represent Texas’ 15th District.

“I am just so honored to represent my community,” she said.

A worker replaces a sign over McCarthy's office on Saturday.

Now that a House speaker has been selected following a days-long stalemate and members have finally been sworn in, the chamber can look toward picking back up business and organizing GOP-led committees.

Every new Congress must pass a new set of House rules, and doing so will be the top of the 118th Congress’ to-do list when the House reconvenes Monday.

With House Republicans’ majority, comes a newfound power to set the agenda — investigative and legislative.

Legislative agenda: House Republicans will be limited in their ability to pass bills through Congress with Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House — where the president can exercise veto power over legislation. Still, House Republicans will be able to push messaging bills that highlight their agenda.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy outlined his plans for power.

Those plans include:

There will also be some must-pass policy issues — like funding the government — that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together.

Read more about what Republicans plan to do with their new House majority here.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries speaks in the House chamber early Saturday morning.

Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress, addressing the 118th Congress for the first time in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Jeffries’ position was made official after the conclusion of a prolonged floor fight that culminated in Republican Kevin McCarthy becoming House speaker. While Republican quarrels prevented the election of a new speaker for days, ultimately going to 15 rounds of voting, Democrats displayed unwavering support for Jeffries, who consistently earned votes from all 212 members of his caucus as Republicans split their votes among multiple lawmakers.

Jeffries now leads the minority party in the House, succeeding California’s Nancy Pelosi, who served as speaker in the prior session of Congress when Democrats held the majority. In addition to being the first Black lawmaker to attain such a position, Jeffries is also the first person elected to lead House Democrats to be born after the end of World War II.

US Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, points at Kevin McCarthy after McCarthy confronted him over his "present" vote on the 14th ballot Friday.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz strode into House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s office on Monday night with a list of demands. Among them: The chairmanship of a key House Armed Services subcommittee.

McCarthy rejected the offer. That decision set in motion a chain of events that left Gaetz and McCarthy locked in open confrontation on the House floor late Friday night. Gaetz, McCarthy’s staunchest opponent, dramatically denied the California Republican the final vote he needed to become speaker – then Gaetz and the last holdouts abruptly changed course allowing McCarthy to win the speaker’s gavel on his 15th attempt.

Before the final vote, pandemonium erupted on the House floor after Gaetz waited until the very end of the 14th ballot to vote “present” when McCarthy needed one more “yes” vote. Stunned after believing he had the votes, McCarthy faced his most embarrassing defeat yet. His allies encircled Gaetz to try to find a way forward. McCarthy soon made a bee-line for discussion and started engaging Gaetz, too.

Nearby, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was trying to convince Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, another McCarthy holdout, to take her cell phone and speak to former President Donald Trump, who was on the line.

US Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, a Republican from Georgia, holds a phone with the initials "DT" on the screen on Friday night. Her spokesman confirmed it was former President Donald Trump on the phone.

Finally, the House clerk announced for the 14th time that no one had the votes to be speaker. Republicans moved to adjourn the chamber until Monday. As the vote timer counted down, 218 Republicans had voted yes, a majority that would have sent McCarthy home for the weekend and left the House in paralysis at the hands of Gaetz and his allies.

But with less than a minute left to go in the vote, Gaetz moved toward the front of the chamber, grabbing a red index card to change his vote on adjournment. Gaetz walked toward McCarthy, and the two briefly exchanged words. McCarthy then raised his hand and yelled out, “One more!” as he triumphantly walked toward the front of the chamber to change his vote too. It was the GOP leader’s final negotiation capping an emotional roller coaster over the course of four days as he was held hostage by a narrow faction of his conference. Dozens of Republicans followed McCarthy and Gaetz to defeat the adjournment measure, and McCarthy’s victory, at last, was at hand.

Read a full timeline of the tumultuous week here:

US Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in the House Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2023. - Kevin McCarthy lost out in the 14th round of voting in the race to be the next speaker of the US House of Representatives late Friday, amid extraordinary scenes of acrimonious Republican infighting. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article How McCarthy survived the House chaos to win the speaker's gavel | CNN Politics

Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy thanked former President Donald Trump for helping him get the votes, telling reporters: “I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence.”

McCarthy, who spoke with Rep. Matt Gaetz on the floor between the 14th and 15th ballot, told CNN’s Manu Raju: “At the end of the night, Matt got everybody there from the point that nobody voted against the other way, so it actually helped unite people.”

The new House speaker also thanked some of the core negotiators by name — Reps. Garret Graves, Patrick McHenry, Bruce Westerman, Scott Perry, Chip Roy and French Hill.

House drama: McCarthy said he is “1,000%” confident he will serve out his term, even with the new one-person threshold on the motion to vacate.

He also dismissed concerns that tonight’s drama on the floor is a taste of what is to come in the House over the next two years.

McCarthy swears in members of the House on Saturday.

Members of the 118th Congress were sworn in early Saturday morning after days of deadlock in the House speaker election that prevented them from assuming their roles.

The new Congress features a record-setting number of women and several history makers, from the House’s first Gen-Z lawmaker to the longest-serving woman in congressional history.

Newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was sworn in before the members, and now Congress can resume business.

The House is adjourned until 5 p.m. Monday.

The chamber is expected to vote on a House Rules package Monday.

President Joe Biden issued a statement congratulating Speaker-elect Kevin McCarthy on his win.

In his statement, the president said:

nhis first speech as House speaker, Kevin McCarthy told his colleagues, “Now the hard work begins.”

“What we do here today, next week, next month, next year, will set the tone for everything that follows,” he added.

McCarthy also used the remarks to “talk directly to the American people.”

CNN previously reported that McCarthy denied that Rep. Matt Gaetz was offered chairmanship of a subcommittee in exchange for his “present” vote on speaker that ultimately helped him secure victory.

“No one gets promised anything,” McCarthy said.

This year’s House speaker election was the longest contest in 164 years, since the Congress during which states began seceding from the Union to kick off the Civil War.

It will take a long time to break any more records. The 1859 speaker contest went to 44 ballots before Rep. William Pennington, a Republican from New Jersey, won the post. An anomaly, Pennington only served in one Congress, the one where he was speaker, and lost a bid for reelection. He’s one of just three speakers to be thrown out of office by voters.

The US House of 1859 was a very different place. Pennington’s Republicans had the most members, with 116. But they did not have a majority of the 238 total members. There were also 83 Democrats, 19 Opposition Party members, eight Anti-Lecompton Democrats, seven Independent Democrats and five members of the American Party.

In the following Congress, which started in 1861, after Southern states seceded, House membership went down from 238 to 183 and Republicans had a very strong majority.

Kevin McCarthy celebrates with the gavel after being elected speaker of the House of Representatives on Saturday, January 7.

Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker in the early hours of Saturday morning – a major victory for the California Republican that elevates him to a powerful position leading the GOP majority in the chamber and an outcome that followed days of painstaking negotiations and failed votes.

To secure the gavel, McCarthy and his allies worked to chip away at the opposition he faced from a bloc of hardline conservatives in what ultimately became the longest contest in 164 years.

Republicans can now turn their attention to their agenda after taking back control of the House. But the contentious, drawn-out fight over the speakership threatens to deepen divides between conservatives and moderates. The struggle McCarthy faced to lock down votes may serve as a preview of the kind of challenges he will face in trying to unite his conference in the future.

The deal-making McCarthy engaged in to win over critics also appears poised to leave him with a weaker hand to play in his new position of authority. McCarthy, though, has pushed back against that suggestion.

“I think at the end of the day we’re going to be more effective, more efficient and that definitely government is going to work,” he said Friday.

McCarthy picks up key support amid concessions: In a major shift, McCarthy and his allies successfully flipped more than a dozen GOP votes into his column Friday afternoon – the first sign of serious momentum in support of his speaker bid after a series of failed votes over the course of multiple days.

Here is a list of key concessions and promises McCarthy and his allies have made over the course of the negotiations, based on CNN reporting:

Read more about the vote here.