Usa news: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy grabbed the speaker’s gavel just as Friday turned into Saturday, squelching a week-long, rancorous GOP rebellion that left the chamber rudderless for the longest period since before the Civil War.
By a 216-212 vote, McCarthy, first elected in 2006, defeated New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries for the job.
He was selected by his caucus to lead a House that is expected to be one of the most difficult Congresses any speaker has managed. His job will be even more arduous, his critics charge, because he’s been weakened by a slew of concessions that make him beholden to the right wing of his party.
“My father always told me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and now we need to finish strong for the American people,” he said in his first speech to the chamber after being sworn in as speaker.
