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Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) was elected speaker of the House early Saturday morning after four days and 15 ballots, resuscitating a chamber that had been paralyzed as it endured the longest struggle to elect a leader since before the Civil War.
McCarthy’s long-delayed triumph marks the high point of a congressional career he began as a staffer for former Rep. Bill Thomas more than three decades ago.
But the Republican leader’s victory came at a price. To secure the votes required to succeed fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as speaker, McCarthy had to agree to compromises that dramatically weaken the power of the post.
The deals McCarthy struck with a group of fewer than two dozen hard-line Republicans will empower the far right of his party ahead of a congressional term that promises contentious battles over funding the federal government and increasing the debt ceiling.
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