LyrArc Article Gist
Kevin McCarthy, (Republican from California) is likely to win in the election of minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has the support of former Speaker Paul Ryan who resigned in April. House Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 election made it easier for McCarthy to win the election. In election of minority leader he needed only a majority of votes in a closed ballot election.

LyrArc Article Gist
It was not till 1.39 am in the early hours of the morning of January 7, 2023, that the just elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy swore in all the new members of the 118th House. This ended a week of voting that went into 15 rounds before five Republican member holdouts of 20 rebels voted "present" to make it possible to elect Kevin McCarthy as the new Speaker. A bitter fight led to concessions being made to Freedom Caucus members who wanted to limit spending and cut spending on infrastructure and defense. McCarthy opted for the route of repeated ballots to avoid making concessions on who controls key committees and to limit concessions to ab out 20 rebel members of the Republican Congress. The vast majority of remaining members do not share these views including Democrats who make up about half of the House and many Republican members of Congress.

LyrArc Article Gist
Republicans have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives 222 to 212 for Democrats. This means Republicans can only lose 4 members of their party in a vote when all members vote. Kevin McCarthy was not elected Speaker of the House after 4 days of voting as 20 Republicans oppose his nomination.

LyrArc Article Gist
After a long year of frustration with a small faction of 20 Congressmen in the Republican party led by Mr Gaetz Mr. McCarthy is taking on this group as it seeks to oust him from the Speaker's position. He will need Democratic support. This report looks at the changing situation in the US Congress. America needs a bipartisan approach to tackle major problems of infrastructure, climate change, wages and the cost of living, and education. It does not make sense to allow a few members of Congress to thwart the nation's plans to tackle its problems and challenges.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Bipartisan Debt Agreement passes the US House of Representatives with 149 Republicans supporting Speaker and Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and 165 Democrats. It passed the House 314 to 117 votes. It also asserts Speaker McCarthy's leadership in the House and Mitch McConnell's in the Senate for Republicans seeking a bipartisan approach to bring Americans together on vital issues.

LyrArc Article Gist
42 year old Jason Smith of Missouri will head the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in the US Congress. He is an ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and one of the youngest  persons in this position. He will help form new trade, tax and health policies for Republicans.

LyrArc Article Gist
The immense frustration of Republicans supporting Kevin McCarthy as the voting goes to the 15th ballot and the refusal of Matt Goetz of Florida, Ms. Lauren Boebert of Colorado to relent down to the 14th ballot, is shown here in this NYT report. Mr. McCarthy's at one point even stepped up to confront Mr. Gaetz personally by the 14th ballot.  Many indignities and humiliations were suffered in public says the NYT as the votes dragged on into the night. The WSJ Editorial Board and this NYT report show that the concessions made may only lead to more fractious incidents. This includes says the NYT, the possibility of snap votes for Speaker again by disaffected members, that are a remarkable concession made by Mr. McCarthy in the process.

LyrArc Article Gist
The US House of Representatives led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy passes a debt ceiling bill with a close vote on largely party lines 217 to 215 votes. The bill raises the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts of 14%. President Biden cited Moody's analysis showing a loss of 780,000 jobs with such large spending cuts. The bill has no chance of approval in a Democrat led Senate.

LyrArc Article Gist
This NYT Editorial says now that the debt ceiling agreement is reached between president Biden and Kevin McCarthy of the Republicans it should be passed quickly in the US Congress. It points out the need to consider the use of the 14th Amendment in the future- by getting some idea of how the Supreme Court views the use of this action- to prevent another debt ceiling negotiation like this one in 2025 when this agreement ends.

LyrArc Article Gist
The title says this but Biden has not blown it by conducting discussions on the debt ceiling with Kevin McCarthy, Republican leader in the House of Representatives. Krugman presents MAGA Republicans as controlling the House. The situation is a bit more complicated than that as the Republican margin is only 222-213 with moderates who could move in Biden's direction if a default is impending. Previous articles in the NYT and WSJ have shown how the president has his own set of options including  simply ignoring the ceiling or citing a part of the Constitution of the US that gives the president the authority to conduct the business of the country in such a situation. Mr. Biden is taking the situation as calmly as possible, as the midterms have also given the president a situation where he sees the country on his side with Democrats needing only a few moderates in the Republican party to support him. Mr. McCarthy has his own reasons to support Biden as he supports president Biden in the task of backing up NATO and Ukraine. Having discussions with McCarthy keeps the country together at a time when Ukraine has a planned counter offensive to defend the country. Biden was able to achieve legislative achievements that are comparable to FDR and Lyndon Johnson because of his calm and patient approach. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The name on the bill says it all -The Bipartisan Debt Agreement 2023. As Budget Director Shalanda Young says if you look at it as Democratic or Republican, you have lost already. It is truly bipartisan with the support of the Minority Leader of the Senate, Republican Mitch McConnell, and the Speaker, House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy. Strange as it may sound it sets the stage for other wins as the President in the end stakes his legislative achievements, a strong economy, and a renewing America in the world, for a national bipartisan win for the presidency against his challenger Mr. Trump's purportedly national yet deeply personal agenda. It shows traces of the fights in the past of TR, of FDR, of Lincoln, and Washington, alternately Republican and Democratic but truly American in imagination and foresight.

LyrArc Article Gist
The fight for electing a new Speaker that led to 5 days of voting could lead to month of turmoil in the US House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy made concessions that could lead to more fractiousness among Republicans says this report in the WSJ. A single House Republican can challenge the Speaker under one of the concessions. Other concessions would make it harder to pass legislation. The WSJ Editorial Board says some Republicans who agree more with Democrats than positions taken by the 20 Republican holdouts in voting for Speaker, such as spending on infrastructure and support for Ukraine may actually join Democrats in future voting.  This brings in a new period in which party affiliations will be only one of the factors deciding how members vote, other factors being where they stand in the US support for Eastern Europe against Russian threats, and on issues such as spending on fixing broken American infrastructure .

LyrArc Article Gist
Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.) have jointly written a book "Young Guns," that completely distances the new leadership in the Republican party from the leaders of a prior generation. The book says the older Republican leadership "betrayed its principles," by not controlling spending. See the the link to David Stockman who has criticized previous Republican administrations for their attitude to spending, including President Reagan. A recent NBC/WSJ poll shows only 24% of those polled seeing the Republican party positively. The idea is to differentiate the younger leaders as new voices in the party, different from the party's previous role.