The GOP rejects Kevin McCarthy's House speaker bid

Kevin McCarthy again fails to become Republican House speaker; Ireland fines Meta $400 million for user privacy violations.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

McCarthy fails to become House speaker (again)

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

• On Wednesday, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy lost a sixth vote in his bid to become Republican House speaker. [Vox / Ben Jacobs] 
• Twenty far-right Republicans voted against McCarthy, denying him the 218 votes necessary if all members vote and are present. [CNBC / Christina Wilkie and Chelsey Cox]
• Without a speaker, the House is unable to swear in new members or tackle any legislation. [New York Times / Luke Broadwater]
• The eventual speaker needs to gain enough support from hardline Republicans to fund the federal government and raise the debt ceiling to avoid an economic meltdown. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
• With his career on the line, McCarthy has vowed to continue holding votes for as long as it takes to win over his detractors. [Associated Press / Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri]

EU fines Meta (again)

• Top EU regulators on Wednesday fined Meta over $400 million for mishandling data and breaching privacy laws by forcing users to accept targeted ads. [CNBC / Ryan Browne]
• Ireland’s Data Protection Commission ruled Meta unlawfully changed its policies to require consent for personal ads in exchange for using Facebook and Instagram. It gave Meta three months to comply with EU privacy laws. [AP / Kelvin Chan]
• Regulators have fined Meta over $1 billion for data violations since early 2022. [The Verge / Adi Robertson]
• Meta said the decision does not block it from using personalized ads on its platforms and that it plans to file an appeal. [Reuters / Padraic Halpin]

The architect of the college admission scandal that brought in more than $25 million has been sentenced to three years in prison. [Marlene Lenthang / AP/NBC]

• The FDA has approved the sale of prescription abortion pills at retail pharmacies. [CNN / Katherine Dillinger and Evan Perez]
• Authorities have arrested a man for allegedly driving a Tesla off a cliff while carrying an adult and two child passengers in an “intentional act.” [Guardian / Victoria Bekiempis]
• On Tuesday, Missouri carried out the first US execution of an openly transgender person. The murder occurred in 2003. [CNN / Dakin Andone and Amir Vera]

“He probably has another 24 hours to get an agreement. If he can’t negotiate to get an agreement on speaker it means he won’t be able to negotiate and get to 218 on anything controversial.”

[Republican House member and McCarthy supporter on the speaker race / CNN]

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