After the U.S. Capitol was stormed during the 2021 electoral vote count, McCarthy reversed his previous comments on voter fraud in the election and blamed Trump for the riot.

McCarthy was the Republican nominee for speaker in January 2023, but did not win the speakership on the first attempt, only securing the office after days of successive votes and negotiations within his own party as well as a historic 15 different ballots.

[12][13][14] As Speaker, McCarthy dealt with a standoff between the House Republican conference and Biden administration that led to the 2023 debt-ceiling crisis and what would have been a first-ever national default.

To resolve the crisis, the parties negotiated the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which passed with bipartisan support in Congress before Biden signed it into law.

[36][37][38] McCarthy attended California State University, Bakersfield, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in marketing in 1989 and a Master of Business Administration in 1994.

[52] When McCarthy and Cantor later found out about the swim, they were "furious" and worried about negative news coverage, and "called a members-only meeting the next morning to reprimand the group—both those who swam and those who abstained".

[52] In 2012, McCarthy's office reported spending $99,000 on pastries, bottled water, and other food items, making him the highest-spending member of the House in this category.

According to the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, McCarthy is the least-tenured majority leader in the history of the House of Representatives.

"[66] An October 2018 investigation documented how William "Bill" Wages, of McCarthy's brother-in-law's company Vortex Construction, has received $7.6 million since 2000 in no-bid and other prime federal contracts as a minority business (a claim that has been disputed).

[82] Previously, Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. had sent a letter to the Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers stating that any candidates for a leadership position with "misdeeds" should withdraw from the race.

[90] In August 2020, a federal judge dismissed McCarthy's lawsuit against Pelosi, ruling that the House has "absolute immunity from civil suit" under the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause.

"[93][94] In December 2020, McCarthy was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

[96][97] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

On a January 10 conference call with Republican leaders, McCarthy said he would ask Trump to resign rather than go through a long impeachment battle, adding, "I've had it with this guy."

Officially the topic was said to be "regaining the lost votes in the midterm elections of 2022", but it was widely reported as an attempt to mend fences with Trump and lessen tensions in the Republican Party.

The initial effort failed, but growing numbers of House Republicans supported her removal; McCarthy agreed to a party vote in May, resulting in Cheney's ouster.

[124] In July 2021, the delta variant of the coronavirus prompted the Attending Physician of the United States Congress to reimpose a mask requirement in the House chamber.

McCarthy called this "a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state", prompting Pelosi to respond to reporters, "he's such a moron.

"[125][126] On July 31, 2021, members of Tennessee's Republican congressional delegation gave McCarthy a large gavel with the words "Fire Pelosi" inscribed on it.

"[127] In August 2021, after the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack asked telecommunications and social media companies to retain certain records, McCarthy said that if the companies "turn over private information" to the committee, they would be "in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States", and that a future Republican legislative majority would hold them "fully accountable".

[129] On May 12, 2022, the January 6 Committee subpoenaed McCarthy and Republican representatives Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs.

[147] The meeting, which was described as a historic first,[148][149] triggered a series of Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, which the People's Liberation Army described as three-day "combat readiness patrols", meant to warn to the Taiwanese.

[158] McCarthy has urged Biden to withdraw the nomination of Julie Su as United States secretary of labor, arguing her controversial record would lead to "potential disastrous ramifications at the federal level".

On September 1, 2023, McCarthy said that he would not initiate an impeachment inquiry without a full House vote, though it appeared he did not have sufficient Republican support to pass such a measure.

[163] McCarthy asserted that, over his objections, former speaker Nancy Pelosi had changed the process when Democrats pursued the first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019, so that he was following what she had done.

[164][165] The impeachment allegations coincided with rising fears of a federal government shutdown, as McCarthy's concessions to Biden infuriated members of the Freedom Caucus who were calling for less spending.

[166][167] On September 29, 2023, McCarthy's bill to fund the federal government, including large spending cuts and strict border policies, failed to pass the House after 21 hard-right House Republicans joined all Democrats present in voting against it, criticizing the reforms proposed as insignificant and insufficient; if no funding bill had been passed, a government shutdown would have occurred on October 1.

Republican members of California's congressional delegation, in addition to Patrick McHenry and Democrat Steny Hoyer, paid tribute to McCarthy on the House floor.

[179][180] After his ouster, he continues to be a major fundraiser, assisting Speaker Mike Johnson with campaign finance via his SuperPAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund.

[185][186] Days earlier, Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. had sent Republican Conference chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers a letter stating that any candidates for a leadership position with "misdeeds" should withdraw from the race.