Republican Kevin McCarthy suffered yet another embarrassing defeat as he failed late on Friday by a single vote to be elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, prolonging the deepest congressional dysfunction in more than 160 years. In his 14th defeat of the week, McCarthy received 216 votes, one shy of the number needed for a victory, as a small faction of right-wing hardliners held out despite his promise of spending cuts and other concessions that had won over many of their colleagues.
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