Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has failed for the 14th time in his bid to become the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, all after falling just one vote short of a majority to take office.
The California congressman, who garnered 216 votes, lost despite the fact that this time two Republicans voted «present,» abstaining from voting and thus reducing the total number of votes to reach the majority, as reported by Bloomberg.
In this sense, four congressmen from the Republican Party who voted for two other candidates were enough for the House of Representatives to continue without a president after fourteen votes.
After the vote, the congressmen voted to postpone the fifteenth vote to Monday, although it did not go ahead, leading the House of Representatives to a new scrutiny that could be the final one.
Sources close to the matter assure that Congressman Matt Gaetz, from Florida, will change his vote from «present» to «yes», which in theory would give McCarthy the votes to become president, according to CNN.
The four days of voting have paralyzed the activity of the House of Representatives and generated a legislative crisis unprecedented in more than 150 years.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
