Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melbra, and the first vote of the new Congress under this new speaker is actually slated for this hour.

It's the Rules Package for the 108th Congress. Now, a vote on the rules is not typically covered live as major news, but, well, as last week showed, Washington is not taking typical for granted under the leadership of now Speaker Kevin McCarthy,

who begins the big job in a diminished posture after it took fully 15 ballots over four days,

or five, if you count Saturday at 12 a.m., to even get the votes from his own party.

It's a public squabble we all witness. No speaker has had to face anything like that

since the year 1819.

So right now, as we track tonight's rules vote,

which will approve the concessions McCarthy made,

we actually begin with something special

I want to show you,

the unusual, bruising way we got here.

A speaker has not been elected. This dramatic day that is not turning out remotely the way

Kevin McCarthy had hoped. A speaker has not been elected. Some type of discussion happening

between McCarthy's camp and

Mac Gates. Who would have guessed that a bunch of insurrection apologists would

have trouble certifying a vote? It's what... Democratic congresswoman

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was spotted chatting with the Republican Paul

Gosar, the lawmaker, was ties to white nationalists. Oh, we might have a fight here. What's going on here?

I wish that camera would widen out.

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy of the state of California, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Now, that's just a few highlights, low lights, whatever you call, a McCarthy winning at 1237 in the morning after bowing to the hardliners over reforms,

largely designed to reduce his power and increase theirs. That brawl shows why there is some

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