Democrats remain strongly united behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as their leader and are equally dug in against allowing Republicans off the hook on Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Incoming House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., is urging her unified caucus to cancel their weekend plans to keep all 212 lockstep-voting Democrats on the House floor to continue to vote against McCarthy and Republicans, The Hill reported.
"And this is not a hard sell, because they understand what's at stake," Clark told reporters Thursday morning.
"This isn't about events and celebrations that they have planned, which of course, you know, we would love to be able to do; but this is about the dangerous moment that we are in. And it is about the chaos that the Republicans are creating.
"So we have to be here to make sure that we are doing everything possible to end this crisis to get a functioning House of Representatives and to get to work for the American people."
Also, a memo reportedly was sent to House committees that warned no committee staffers will get their next paycheck if a House rules package was not in place by next Friday, Jan. 13.
McCarthy has consistently received 201 votes through 11 failed votes — 17 shy of the 218 required — and he is reportedly making deals with some of the 20 holdouts to bridge the divide within the party.
If Democrats were not on the House floor to vote, it would reduce the total Republicans would need to pass the vote on McCarthy as their House speaker. A majority in a given vote hands the speaker's gavel to the winner.
Also, members could lower the threshold by merely voting "present."
There is little help coming from Democrats, though, as Clark said she cannot "overstate how united our caucus is."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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