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GOP leader Kevin McCarthy lost key votes to Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday, once again falling short of the necessary votes to be named speaker of the House of Representatives.
McCarthy's latest loss comes at a time when his far-right opponents continue to blast his record and cozy relationship with Silicon Valley. Over the years, McCarthy has received generous donations from funds tied to big-tech companies and executives, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META).
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This is just one of many grievances raised by lead Republican dissenter Rep. Matt Gaetz, who continues to use whatever fodder he can to derail the House Speaker election process, including his nominating former President Donald Trump to the position.
See Also: McCarthy's Concessions To Gaetz, Other Dissenters Are A Dud
What Happened: Jan. 6 marks two years since the Capitol Insurrection, when Trump incited thousands of his supporters to storm Congress.
The attack on the Capitol shut down Congress. Today, one branch of the U.S. government is essentially on hiatus again. This time, it's a group of far-right Republicans who are dragging out the House Speaker election — making it the longest speaker election since 1859.
McCarthy, for four-straight days and more than a dozen voting sessions, continues to haggle with a steadfast group of House members opposing his candidacy, even after major concessions were offered (he can only afford to lose four votes).
Gaetz maintained his defiance on Friday, calling McCarty's bid "an exercise in vanity."
Gaetz, who nominated Jordan, called McCarthy the "Lebron James of special interest fundraising" and blamed the GOP leader for bad-mouthing him to the press.
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"He went out to the media and said 'See? they just want jobs for themselves," Gaetz said, referring to his demands to be appointed to the House Rules Committee, which considers all bills and schedules their consideration on the floor of the House.
Why It Matters: Until a House Speaker is elected, no new House members can be sworn in.
But as of Friday, Gaetz is losing steam as McCarthy's concessions seem to have won over fellow Republican holdouts, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna; Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Rep. Chip Roy of Texas; Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana; and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.
Donalds was originally floated as an alternative to McCarthy, and won support from some 20 Republican House members in previous ballots.
Gaetz has called out McCarthy for this business dealings before. "McCarthy has been called 'Big Tech’s best friend,' and you could tell by the Twitter Files that I’m their worst enemy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Gaetz said back in December.
Corporate interests seeping into politics is nothing new.
Hern, who continued to gather votes on Friday, is just one of several Congress members who made questionable stock trades in the past. He also sits on several committees related to energy prices and energy independence and bought oil pipeline stocks last year.
Items like these have led to a push from lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Steve Daines to ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning or trading individual stocks.
What's Next: The House will continue to hold ballots to pick a House Speaker.
On the other side of the aisle, all House Democrats continue to back New York Rep. Hakeem Jefferies as minority speaker.
Image: Shutterstock
Crypto Whales Are Loading Up — Are You?
New research shows the biggest crypto buyers are back. And this time? They could hold for the possibility that Bitcoin will surpass $100,000 in 2024. You don’t want to miss the next massive crypto bull run like we saw in 2020 and 2021. To know exactly what’s going on and what to buy… Get Access To Benzinga’s Best Crypto Research and Investments For Only $1.