After angry scenes, divided US Republicans name House speaker

Republican favourite Kevin McCarthy was finally elected speaker of the US House of Representatives early Saturday, ending a paralysing standoff with right-wing holdouts that raised concerns about his party's ability to exercise power in Congress.

McCarthy’s victory required an historic 15 rounds of voting and was secured only after a late-night session of high drama that saw Republican members almost come to blows as tempers flared.

It also required major concessions to the small group of Republican conservatives who had opposed his candidacy, and turned what would normally be a showcase of party unity into a days-long display of internal division.

The speaker wields key influence in Washington by presiding over House business and is second in line to the presidency, after the vice president.

But McCarthy has been weakened out of the gate by the protracted election and the promises he was forced to make to hardliners, who demonstrated the leverage they hold given the Republicans' wafer-thin majority in the lower house of Congress. "Speaker in Name Only" read the headline in the influential Atlantic magazine.

The chaos and confusion, watched with both glee and contempt by Democratic rivals across the aisle, could signal years of legislative and decision-making paralysis on consequential issues for the country – and the wider world.

Heated confrontation 

As he accepted the gavel in the early hours of Saturday, McCarthy, who was backed by former president Donald Trump, outlined the Republicans' aggressive lines of attack ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

He vowed to "pass bills to fix the nation's challenges, from the wide open Southern border to 'America last' energy policies, to woke indoctrination in our schools."

On "America's long-term challenges – the debt and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party – Congress must be with one voice," the 57-year-old Californian told the House.

As the 14th vote got underway before midnight Friday, McCarthy suffered a shock setback amid heated exchanges as he came up short of a majority by just one vote out of more than 400 cast.

When Matt Gaetz voted "present" to deny McCarthy victory, the disappointed Republican leader strode over to the Florida lawmaker-elect for face-to-face talks.

In scenes broadcast live, Gaetz pointed a finger at McCarthy, who backed off before Alabama's Mike Rogers lunged at Gaetz and had to be held back with a restraining arm across his face.

"The 'speaker' selection process, as crazy as it may seem, has made it all much bigger and more important than if done the more conventional way," Trump chimed in on his Truth Social platform.

"Congratulations to Kevin McCarthy and our GREAT Republican Party!" added the former president, who has launched his 2024 election campaign to return to the White House.

Democratic President Joe Biden optimistically called for more cooperation between the parties.

"I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can, and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me," Biden said after McCarthy's victory.

The fractious 2023 contest required more rounds of voting than any speaker election since the Civil War in the 1860s.

Concessions to far-right? 

McCarthy had projected confidence even as he was bleeding votes rather than expanding the base of around 200 Republicans who backed him all week.

His party's takeover of the House is expected to herald investigations into most aspects of Biden's administration and his family.

Democrats and some observers expressed concern that McCarthy has offered his far-right critics radical policy commitments that will make the House ungovernable.

"It'll be interesting to see if he can marshal support for the rules package and other deals he cut with the dissidents who held him hostage all week," wrote David Axelrod, a strategist to former president Barack Obama.

Political scientist Larry Sabato called the vote humiliating and said it produced an exceptionally weak speaker "from the most extreme party caucus since the lead-up to the Civil War."

"Seeds of the GOP’s own destruction have been planted and fertilized," Sabato wrote on Twitter, referring to the Republican Party.

There were reports that McCarthy, as he sought needed votes, agreed to propose keeping spending at 2022 levels, including a cap on military funding that would amount to a US$75 billion (RM330.26 billion) cut.

That raised alarm among defense hawks pushing for the US to project strength amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and an emboldened Chinese stance on Taiwan.

Other lawmakers complained that McCarthy was handing the hardliners plum committee posts and  rules changes – even making it possible to oust the speaker in a vote called by a single member – that would severely curtail the role of the speaker.

Democrats said the speaker role would be a poisoned chalice, leaving McCarthy as the weakest speaker in modern history.