House Democrats were advised by Democratic leaders to stay in Washington, D.C., over the weekend to stand together in opposition to Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) run for the Speaker of the House position.
Democrats have collaborated with approximately 20 Republican House conservatives to stop McCarthy from becoming the next House speaker.
The incoming Democratic House whip, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), told reporters that she has requested all 212 Democratic lawmakers to stay in the district over the weekend to thwart Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) selection as speaker.
“And this is not a hard sell, because they understand what's at stake,” Clark added.
“This isn't about events and celebrations that they have planned, which of course, you know, we would love to be able to do,” she said. “But this is about the dangerous moment that we are in. And it is about the chaos that the Republicans are creating.”
“So we have to be here to make sure that we are doing everything possible to end this crisis to get a functioning House of Representatives, and to get to work for the American people,” she added.
To date, all House Democrats on every round have voted in favor of election-denier Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to be the next speaker. The Democrats’ willingness to vote for an election-denier shows the hypocrisy of some on the left, who have attacked Republicans for doubting the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.
McCarthy has also faced a block of 20 conservative representatives who are opposed to his selection and must convince at least 16 of those conservatives who are critical of him that he is the right man for the job. McCarthy's margin of error is just four votes.
In the past few weeks, McCarthy has conceded to more than 15 demands from conservative holdouts in order to become the next speaker, but critics claim the concessions can't be enforced.
Four of the concessions involve the provision of a one-member threshold to trigger a vote to remove the speaker (instead of five), allowing additional House Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee (two seats), agreeing to hold votes on term limits for lawmakers and border security bills, as well as allowing significant modifications to the appropriations process to stop another omnibus bill by allowing floor amendments to be proposed by any member of the House.
