We're closing down our live coverage for the night, and kicking off again on Friday as the House mounts a 12th effort to choose a Speaker.

Here are where things stand now:

• The House stands adjourned until 12:00 (17:00GMT) after a historic 11 attempts to pick a Speaker
• The impasse is stalling any legislative business from being conducted, and lawmakers cannot even get sworn in to officially be seated as members of Congress
• Kevin McCarthy, who has led Republicans in the House since 2019, has failed to convince 20 of his colleagues that he is conservative enough to hold the gavel
• Donald Trump has thrown his backing behind McCarthy, but it still has not been enough to convince the Republican rebels
• On Thursday, one of the holdouts even nominated Trump to serve in the role himself
• Democrats continue to stand uniformly behind their leader, Hakeem Jeffries
• A new Congress was elected in November, but business cannot begin until a Speaker is chosen
• Joe Biden is up against a Republican majority in the House for the first time in his presidency, but his party keeps control of the Senate

Our live coverage was provided by Holly Honderich, Kayla Epstein, Anthony Zurcher, George Wright, Max Matza, Madeline Halpert, Victoria Lindrea, Chloe Kim

Lousiana's Steve Scalise, the second most powerful Republican in the House, moved that the chamber stand in recess until noon tomorrow.

Democrats opposed the move. The chamber held a recorded vote on whether to throw in the towel for the day, and try again tomorrow.

The ayes have it - it's wash, rinse and repeat, Friday at noon.

And you won’t be surprised to learn McCarthy continues to make history for all the wrong reasons by losing the 11th round.

He again mustered 200 votes, again 18 short of the necessary number.

A smattering of ballots went to alternative candidates, including one for Trump.

The Democrats’ Hakeem Jeffries again picked up 212 votes.

Get ready for a 12th ballot.

When will this ever end?

US voters are taking to Twitter to share new suggestions for speakers of the house, as McCarthy failed to secure enough support in a ninth round of voting.

Some of their proposals: singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, embattled Republican congressman-elect George Santos and Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was captured on video roaming the halls of a Publix supermarket in Florida today.

Others are sharing memes from the movie Mean Girls and a clip, external from the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which Ferris's mother, Katie Bueller, expresses shock that her son has called in sick "nine times".

The tally is ongoing, but Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes to win the 11th round.

It's unclear whether a 12th ballot will be held tonight.

Image source, Getty Images

Bob Good, a Virginia Republican, nominates Kevin Hern, an Oklahoma Republican, for Speaker in an impassioned speech. Hern won three votes in the ninth ballot.

And now we’re in the 11th vote.

Image source, Getty Images

Nominating speeches are under way.

Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, put forward the party’s House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, for Speaker.

Jeffries won 212 votes in the last round and is a political longshot given that the Democrats are the minority in the chamber.

Matt Gaetz of Florida then rose to again nominate Donald Trump for the job of Speaker.

"He can start by making the House of Representatives great again," said Gaetz, one of the 'Never Kevin' rebels.

Trump is not a congressman, but the constitution does not specify that the Speaker must actually be a member of the House.

So technically the former president could become Speaker, even though he is also a political longshot.

Image source, Getty Images

For anyone who was hoping US lawmakers would now adjourn for the night, an Arkansas Republican, French Hill, just stood up to nominate McCarthy.

So it looks like we’re heading for an 11th vote tonight. That would be the fifth today.

McCarthy just lost his 10th vote for speaker.

He won 200 votes, but 13 rebels voted for Byron Donalds, a Florida congressman.

McCarthy needs 218 votes to win.

Not since 1859, when the United States' union was fraying over the issue of slavery, has the lower chamber of Congress voted so many times to pick a speaker.

Back then it took 44 rounds of ballots.

Image source, Reuters

Yep, it's that familiar feeling. The clerk is reading names, acknowledging their vote, and writing it down.

There are a lot of names to get through.

It's coming up for 6pm in Washington DC. Will they break for dinner after this round of voting?

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

Image source, Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Kevin McCarthy for Speaker yesterday, but it’s unclear whether his words hold the weight they once did.

Even though the 20 Republican holdouts come from the Trumpian wing of the party, they have not changed their minds and continue to oppose McCarthy.

As little as two years ago, House Republicans would likely have followed Trump’s instructions to "VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY".

Trump is once again running for president, on the presumption that he still holds the Republican Party in the palm of his hand.

But now, out of power and under multiple federal and state investigations, some Republicans and political observers have begun to question his grip. The Speaker contest might provide one data point.

As the House’s Republican leader, McCarthy long appeased Trump during his presidency and defended him through two impeachments. McCarthy went so far as to visit Trump at his Florida estate after the 6 January attack on Congress to make peace - even after a mob of Trump supporters had chased McCarthy and his colleagues into hiding.

McCarthy was so deferential to Trump over the years that the former president gave him the moniker “My Kevin” - both an endearment and a reflection of political reality.

But right now, being Trump’s Kevin might not be enough.

Kevin McCarthy, Byron Donalds and Kevin Hern are the Republicans nominated, along with Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

The voting is under way.

Will we have a winner 10th time around? I wouldn't bet on it.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, or if you're not steeped in the inner workings of Congress, here's a quick explanation:

• Politicians are attempting to elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives, the most senior role on the House side of the US Congress
• The Republicans have a slim majority, so it falls to them to pick someone to become Speaker
• But their leading candidate, Kevin McCarthy, doesn't appear able to get the 218 votes needed to be approved Speaker
• He is being blocked by members of his party, who are nominating and voting for a variety of alternative candidates

• The process could theoretically go on indefinitely - the House needs a Speaker and cannot pass laws or form key committees until it has one

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC's Americast podcast has spoken with Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of the 20 members of Congress who has opposed Kevin McCarthy throughout.

Norman shared details of some of the contentious meetings with McCarthy that led up to this week’s standoff.

“We were threatened,” he said.“We were going to be thrown off committees. We're going to lose every privilege we had. And we'd basically told them: 'If we can't ask questions, if we can't vet out the most powerful person that we're getting ready to put in office, then we're out.’”

Norman said he simply does not trust McCarthy; that the Republican leader took conservatives like him for granted, and made half-hearted attempts at amends when it was clear his majority would be narrow.

So it appears this is about more than just procedural changes and policy votes. The opposition is to McCarthy himself - and that could prove a particularly difficult obstacle to surmount.

Listen to the podcast episode now.

Americast is presented by North America editor Sarah Smith, Today host Justin Webb, the BBC's social media and disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring, and North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher.

No surprise there then - McCarthy loses for a ninth time.

Here we go again...

Image source, Reuters

This is the scene in the House of Representatives just now.

Politicians are standing around chatting, some are reading, others using their phones.

We're all awaiting the official result of the ninth vote... but most of us can guess what it'll be.

I'm sure you're all getting a sense of deja-vu now.

The ninth vote has ended and McCarthy appears to have lost for a third time today.

The unofficial tally is:

McCarthy: 200

Jeffries: 212

Donalds: 17

Hern: 3

Present: 1

A total of 218 notes are needed to become Speaker.

We're waiting to see whether we'll have a fourth straight vote today.

Enough Republicans have now voted against Kevin McCarthy to ensure he will almost certainly lose this ninth vote for Speaker.

The contest will likely move on to a 10th vote at some point. It's uncertain if that ballot will play out any differently.

Holly Honderich
BBC News, on Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

Collective boredom has set in in the House chamber.

We're midway through the ninth vote for Speaker - almost certain to fail - and many of the lawmakers here look like they've had enough.

I've counted at least five iPads, and three novels in the hands of politicians - tools to help pass the time.

Democrat Larry Nadler appears so engrossed with a large paperback volume he has not bothered to look up through dozens of ballots and and several loud rounds of applause.