OPINION: 'Washington is broken': Scott Perry nominated a GOP alternative for House speaker

Jan. 4—WASHINGTON — As the Republican standoff over selecting a House speaker dragged through a second day Wednesday, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry continued to play a leading role among a small group of GOP hard-liners opposed to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, delivering a speech calling for the party to get behind Florida Rep. Byron Donalds as its leader.

Perry, chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, cast McCarthy as a symptom of the "broken" culture in Washington while urging the GOP to support Donalds, who is just beginning his second term in Congress.

"No matter what your political persuasion, one thing is universally recognized across this country: Washington is broken," Perry, of York County, said in a speech on the House floor. "How are you going to fix it if you just come to this town and just step right in line and just keep doing the same things that everybody has done before you? It's not going to fix it, and the American people know it."

Moments later, the House voted for a sixth time to try to elect a speaker for the new Congress, and failed — again. The election is the first time in 100 years that the House has failed to choose a leader on its first vote, and the delay has prevented Congress from taking up any business — including even swearing in members or establishing basic ground rules for the new year.

Donalds got 20 votes for speaker and McCarthy got 201, virtually unchanged from previous rounds. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York won 212 votes, though no one had enough for a majority.

Perry, a close ally of former President Donald Trump who played a leading role in trying to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election, has emerged as one of the most prominent Republicans opposing McCarthy, calling for changes that would give rank-and-file members more power, including to usurp the sitting speaker (which would effectively give virtually every member a chance to stop the business of the House at any point by threatening to unseat the leadership).

Two other Pa. congressmen negotiate for McCarthy

Two other Pennsylvania Republicans have been prominent advocates for McCarthy and have reportedly been dispatched to try to broker a resolution: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, of Bucks County, and Guy Reschenthaler, of Washington County. Both were part of a group negotiating with holdouts on McCarthy's behalf, according to the online news outlet Punchbowl.

Fitzpatrick, a leader of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, was one of three House Republicans who formally nominated McCarthy within the GOP conference in November and has stuck by the Californian despite repeated defeats. He told NBC News he'd support McCarthy through the "1,000th round" of voting if that's what it takes.

Reschenthaler is a new leader in the GOP whip operation, giving him a role in party leadership.

Holdouts like Perry are demanding moves that would empower rank-and-file members, and in turn the GOP's right flank, arguing that this week's votes clearly demonstrate McCarthy doesn't have enough support to succeed. Other Republicans argue that they're making demands to put themselves ahead of other lawmakers, and preventing the party from getting onto its broader goals, such as tackling inflation and the southern border. They say the party can't cave to people holding the process hostage.

The result has been an extraordinary impasse set to stretch deeper into the first week of the new GOP majority.

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