US House of Representatives adjourns again after 11th ballot fails to secure Kevin McCarthy as new speaker
The US House of Representatives has adjourned after failing to vote for a new speaker for the 11th time.
Republican Party leader Kevin McCarthy has failed in every round to secure the 218 votes needed to win, and the House will now carry out a 12th round of voting at noon on Friday.
The loss means the race is now tying for the fifth-longest speaker selection process in history – an election that took place more than 200 years ago, in 1821.
The Republicans took control of the House following the midterms, where they secured a slim 222-212 majority.
However, the stalemate in the vote for a new speaker has exposed the rifts within the party in what is usually a routine vote at the outset of a legislative session.
At least 200 Republicans have backed Mr McCarthy in each of the votes this week and although fewer than 10% of Republican lawmakers have voted against him, it’s enough to deny him the 218 he needs to succeed Nancy Pelosi as speaker.
Mr McCarthy has failed to garner the support he needs to get elected speaker due to a group of 20 hardliners who continue to refuse to back him.
Kevin McCarthy speaks to US Representative Andy Biggs
House sat for eight hours in bid to get result
Thursday’s session continued for eight non-stop hours which included a speech by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida nominating former president Donald Trump, who is no longer a house member, in a symbolic but pointed sign of the broad divisions within the party.
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Mr McCarthy has served as the top House Republican since 2019 and led his party’s successful effort to win control of the chamber in the 2022 midterm elections.
He secured the backing of Mr Trump, but is under growing pressure from Republicans and Democrats to get the votes, so the House can resume business.
The key ask McCarthy won’t budge on
To win support, Mr McCarthy has already agreed to many of the demands of his opponents, but has resisted implementing one of the key asks, which is to reinstate a rule that would allow a single lawmaker to seek a motion to vacate the chair.
This would essentially allow a lawmaker to call a House vote to oust the speaker.
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Chaos in US House speaker vote
Among Mr McCarthy’s prominent opponents includes Scott Perry, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus – the furthest right ideological group in the House and the home of almost all of his opponents.
With his party’s slim majority, Mr McCarthy cannot afford to lose the support of more than four Republicans as Democrats united around their own candidate – Hakeem Jeffries.
The House, which is one-half of Congress, is essentially at a standstill, unable to launch the new session, swear in elected members and conduct official business.
The US House speaker holds a post that normally shapes the chamber’s agenda and is second in line of succession to the presidency – behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
US
Man who died after being pulled into MRI machine was wearing 9kg weight-training chain, wife reveals
A man who died after being pulled into an MRI machine in New York was wearing a large weight-training chain around his neck, his wife has said.
Keith McAllister, 61, entered a room at the Nassau Open MRI clinic while a scan of his wife’s knee was under way.
The machine’s strong magnetic force drew him in by the 9kg metal chain around his neck, according to Nassau County Police.
His wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, said she had called out to her husband to help her off the table.
“I yelled out Keith’s name, [shouting] Keith, come help me up,” she said in an interview with News 12 Long Island.
She said her husband entered the room wearing the chain, which he uses for weight training.
“I saw the machine snatch him around and pull him into the machine,” Ms Jones-McAllister said as tears streamed down her face. “He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms.”
Police said that the accident last Wednesday “resulted in a medical episode” and left Mr McAllister in a critical condition in hospital.
Ms Jones-McAllister said her husband had suffered a series of heart attacks after he was freed from the MRI machine. He was later pronounced dead.
A file picture of an MRI scanner
MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The machines use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of the inside of the body.
Due to the magnetic fields, “very powerful forces” are exerted on objects made of iron, some steels, and other magnetic materials, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering says.
It says the forces are “strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room”.
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Sky News’ US partner network NBC New York reported that MRI accidents are rare but can be fatal.
It is not the first time someone has been killed by an MRI machine in New York.
In 2001, six-year-old Michael Colombini died at the Westchester Medical Centre when an oxygen tank flew into the chamber, drawn in by the MRI’s 10-ton electromagnet.
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