The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has failed in his latest bid to be elected president in a paralysis of the US government not seen since the pre-Civil War era.
A cohort of rightists in his party dismissed an 11th attempt to elect him on the third election day.
Republicans took control of the House in November’s midterm elections, but the impasse left the chamber unable to swear in members or pass bills.
The House adjourned until Friday.
Not since 1860, when the Union of the United States split over the issue of slavery, has the lower house of Congress voted so many times to elect a Speaker. At that time, it took 44 election rounds.
A group of 20 hard-line Republican lawmakers refuse to give Mr. McCarthy the necessary 218 votes.
The rebels are skeptical of the California congressman’s conservative bona fides, despite his support of former President Donald Trump.
One of the dissidents, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, told the BBC that he simply did not trust Mr McCarthy.
The congressman said Mr. McCarthy’s team threatened political retaliation against them if they did not fall in line in the weeks leading up to the deadlock.
“We would be thrown by the committees,” Mr Norman said. “We will lose all the privileges we had.
“And we would have basically told them, ‘If we can’t ask questions, if we can’t pick the most powerful person we’re willing to put in office, then we’re out.'”
Meanwhile, minority Democrats continued to rally in unison for their leader, New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, the first black person ever to lead a party in Congress. But it seems unlikely that he could win over six Republican defectors to become Speaker.
Lawmakers in the sharply divided chamber will reconvene on Friday afternoon (17:00 GMT), the second anniversary of a riot by Trump supporters at the US Capitol.
Despite the stances, Mr McCarthy – who has served as the top House Republican since 2019 – won support from more than 200 Republicans, over 90% of his caucus. They grow restless as their agenda stands.
See: Republican Gaetz nominates Trump for Speaker
“I’m very concerned about it and I’m on the intelligence committee,” said Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick. He added that he and the other committee members will not be able to receive classified briefings until lawmakers are sworn in.
The rules do not require the speaker to be a member of the House, and on Thursday Florida Republican rebel Matt Gaetz submitted a protest ballot for Mr. Trump to serve in the role.
“This is going to end in one of two ways: either Kevin McCarthy withdraws from the race or we construct a straitjacket that he doesn’t want to avoid,” he said.
Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert nominated a lawmaker from Oklahoma, telling her colleagues to pass on Mr. McCarthy.
“It’s not happening,” she said, adding that Republicans “need to get to a point where we start evaluating what life looks like after Kevin McCarthy.”
Mr McCarthy has offered a number of concessions to the rebels, including a seat on the influential Rules Committee, which sets the terms for debate on legislation in Parliament. He also agreed to lower the threshold for triggering a vote on whether to impeach the Speaker to one House member only.
During Thursday’s eight-hour session, he was seen huddling with assistants and having animated one-on-one conversations with colleagues.
The Speaker of the House is second in line to the presidency, after Vice President Kamala Harris. They set the agenda in the chamber, and no legislative business can be done there without them.
In November, Republicans won the House by a slim margin of 222 to 212 in the 435-seat chamber. Democrats retained control of the Senate.
