WACO, Texas — After two days, the House of Representatives is yet to name a new Speaker of the House.
The Republicans, who hold the majority right now, nominated Kevin McCarthy for the position, but he has yet to receive the 218 votes needed to get the seat.
"We nominated Kevin McCarthy but as we then move forward the next three weeks towards where we are now, dissension has broken out in my party," Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas said. "A group of people have decided not to support Mr. McCarthy."
There are a group of about 20 conservatives Sessions says that are not supporting McCarthy unless he makes a list of concessions, among them a promise to immediately take action at the border, address inflation and rules change that would make it easier to remove him from the position if needed.
"Three different people have been nominated, the dissension comes from a group of conservatives that there are about 20 of them that are insisting that they go a different direction," Sessions said.
Baylor Political Science Professor Pat Flavin says the Republicans will have to figure this out on their own. When asked if Democrats could crossover to end the stalemate, he said that's basically unheard of.
"From a political standpoint, it would be surprising to see Democrats come to the rescue of Republicans," Flavin said.
But if the House cannot reach a decision on the Speaker of the House, it begs the question what will happen when it's time to legislate.
"This usually doesn't happen and it's upsetting and concerning going forward," Flavin said. "Whenever this speaker dilemma gets resolved, whether that's tomorrow or a few days from now, who knows when they actually have to get to the more challenging business of governing."
Sessions says the problem could be resolved tomorrow after the House agreed to drop the issue for the night.
Six votes and still no decision, but Sessions says it might be on McCarthy to make some adjustments.
"I think it's time for Mr. McCarthy to figure out that he's going to have to decide what his fate is. It is important to know that the conservatives have nominated three different people. That person I think they're going to stick with and so now we're gonna have to just decide what sort of length of time Mr. McCarthy wants to put up with until he finally figures out that they have a problem with him."