Holly Honderich
BBC News, on Capitol Hill

Image source, US Pool

Florida Republican Matt Gaetz - one of the ringleaders of the Kevin McCarthy opposition group - is now holding court in the chamber.

He's speaking to a group of Republican men and gesticulating animatedly, apparently trying to bring some of them on side.

If he does, it will be a major blow to McCarthy - the group Gaetz is speaking to includes McCarthy allies Mike Gallagher, Jason Smith and Brian Fitzpatrick.

After a brief exit McCarthy is back in the chamber and doing some negotiating of his own, likely scrambling to find a plan ahead of a fifth vote.

Many of these negotiations are happening live on the House floor - you can watch at the top of the page.

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

• Politicians are attempting to elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives, the most senior role on the House side of the US Congress
• But the Republicans' chosen candidate, Kevin McCarthy, is struggling to get to the 218 votes needed to be approved Speaker - even though his party has a slim majority in the House
• He is being blocked by hardline conservative members of his party, who are nominating and voting for a variety of alternative candidates
• McCarthy lost three separate votes on Wednesday and lost a fourth today
• The process could theoretically go on indefinitely - the House needs a Speaker and cannot pass laws or form key committees until it has one
• The last time a Speaker was not chosen by their party at the first time of acting was a century ago, in 1923
• The Democrats have united behind Hakeem Jeffries as their leader and Speaker nominee, using the chaos on the other side of the House to criticise and make fun of their political opponents

The fourth round of voting for the new Speaker of the House of Representatives has now ended.

All 20 Republican members who defected and voted against Kevin McCarthy yesterday have done so again, which means he is set to fail to reach the votes needed once more.

Stick with us.

Image source, Reuters

Asked this morning about the current stalemate in Congress, President Joe Biden has described the row over who should be Speaker of the House as "not my problem".

Speaking with reporters ahead of a visit to Kentucky and Ohio with Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, Biden said: "What I'm focused on is getting things done."

He added that the trip with the Republican leader today was to demonstrate their success at passing bipartisan legislation to address major issues.

Holly Honderich
BBC News, on Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

We’re midway through the roll-call and Kevin McCarthy has so far failed to flip a single vote from Republicans who oppose him.

Inside the chamber, McCarthy looks like he’s resigned himself to a fourth loss. His cheerful demeanour of yesterday has faded slightly - he’s fidgeting with his glasses and checking his phone.

Just an hour ago he told reporters “it doesn’t matter” if he fails in this fourth ballot.

“I still have the most votes,” he said.

We’ll soon find out if that’s true.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

On the fourth round of voting, the anti-Kevin McCarthy crowd in the House of Representatives found a new Speaker candidate to rally around - Byron Donalds of Florida.

The 44-year-old congressman, who has only served two years in the House, is a reliably hard-line conservative who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory in 2021.

Perhaps more importantly, he was the first Republican to switch his vote away from McCarthy on the third ballot yesterday, after supporting the Republican leader in the first two votes.

In the fourth round of balloting, Donalds voted for himself - to a smattering of applause in the chamber.

With voting ongoing, it now seems fairly certain that McCarthy will not win the needed majority to become Speaker in this round, sending Republicans back to the drawing board - and presaging another long day of uncertainty in the House.

You can watch the moment that Donalds was nominated for Speaker below. Chip Roy of Texas nominated him.

It looks like, once again, Kevin McCarthy will be defeated in his bid to become Speaker, with several Republicans backing Byron Donalds during today's vote.

But what happens if McCarthy keeps losing?

No business can be undertaken within the House - not even the swearing in of new members of Congress - until a Speaker has been chosen.

With Kevin McCarthy so far failing to win a majority after four rounds of votes, members of the House must keep voting until a winner emerges.

McCarthy has vowed to fight on even if he does not win immediately. And there is no other obvious candidate who could viably challenge for the speakership.

But having to hold this many votes to pick a Speaker is embarrassing - not only for McCarthy, but for the Republican party.

• Read more on why some Republicans are challenging McCarthy

We aren't even halfway through the roll-call vote and already, McCarthy doesn't have enough votes to become Speaker.

Eleven Republicans have so far instead cast their vote for Byron Donalds.

A fifth vote is now expected, unless the members move to adjourn.

Voting has started again, with representatives choosing between Kevin McCarthy, Hakeem Jefferies, Byron Donalds or someone else of their choosing.

Like yesterday, each member will be called by the clerk and must say a name out loud.

It can take a while to get through all the names - yesterday it took just under an hour.

Now we wait...

Watch live at the top of the page.

Holly Honderich
Reporting from the House chamber

There were audible groans throughout the chamber when Republican Chip Roy stood up to nominate a second Republican - this time Byron Donalds of Florida.

If other Republicans get behind this nomination, it means we’re in for another long day, given that Kevin McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes from his colleagues to get the 218 needed.

Donalds has only been in Congress for two years, and was the only Republican yesterday to switch their vote from McCarthy to an opponent between rounds of voting.

Roy hails that "for the first time in history, there have been two black Americans" nominated to be speaker, and then invoked Martin Luther King's iconic call to judge people "not by the colour of their skin, but the content of their character" - to a standing ovation from his party.

The Democrats nominee, Hakeem Jeffries, became the first black man to be nominated for the role yesterday.

The cycle begins again. For the fourth time, Kevin McCarthy has been nominated as House Speaker - this time by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher.

In his opening remarks, Gallagher accused the media of "salivating" over the political deadlock, and Democrats of enjoying it.

He's now laying out his case for McCarthy, saying that "it is time to get to work" on issues including the border and national security.

"What I see right now is energy," he said of the Republican party. "[McCarthy] had laid out a plan to renew the House of Representatives."

On the Democrats' side, California's Pete Aguilar has again nominated Hakeem Jeffries.

It looks like we're headed to another vote.

Holly Honderich
BBC News, on Capitol Hill

Kevin McCarthy, who has failed so far in his bid to become Speaker, kept his cool a few minutes ago as he walked to the House chamber from the Speaker’s office, where he had been meeting with high level Republicans right up until the noon session began.

McCarthy told reporters that his party would continue to vote until they had a Speaker. He did not respond to questions about if his party would move to adjourn before any votes were taken, which had been reported by US media.

And he would not comment on whether his late-night endorsement from former President Donald Trump would help or hurt his chances today.

If you want to watch events unfold live, there's a play button at the top of this page.

Press play and you can watch the vote in Congress as it happens.

Republican representative Elise Stefanik kicked off by making the point of order that a quorum (the word for a majority of elected members) is not present - meaning that the chair had to count how many people were there.

This is sometimes a delaying tactic used on Capitol Hill.

After a count, the chair confirmed that a quorum was indeed present - although the count stood at 355, which is far short of the full House membership of 435.

Proceedings can now begin.

Stay tuned for more updates - and watch live by clicking the play button at the top of the page.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Day two of the House speaker drama begins the way day one ended - with little clarity over how the standoff between hardline Republicans and the rest of the party will be resolved.

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House leader who seeks the Speaker’s job, spent Tuesday evening huddled with his closest advisors. If they made any progress toward convincing the 20 Republicans who did not vote for him in the third round of balloting on Tuesday to change their minds, there was no obvious indication. Rather, those “never Kevin” legislators appear resolute in their opposition.

On Wednesday morning, both former President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Mike Pence renewed their endorsements of Mr McCarthy. Up until now, however, the hardline House Republicans have been resistant to outside pressure.

After House members reconvene, they will hold a fourth vote for Speaker, which should provide the clearest indication of where things stand. It would take 16 Republicans switching their support to Mr McCarthy - or some combination of Democratic or Republican absences or “present” votes - for him to win.

If he loses again, pressure will mount among Republicans to find some acceptable alternative, although no clear choice has come forward yet.

Until the chamber elects a Speaker, the House can conduct no other official business, such as officially swearing in its members, passing rules governing the House’s operation and assigning legislators to their committees.

The House has just been "gavelled in" and brought to order.

They'll start with a brief prayer. There appears to be fewer people than yesterday in the chamber so far.

Stay tuned for more updates.

We're about five minutes away from the House of Representatives "gavelling in" again.

Just as a reminder, Kevin McCarthy needs 218 votes to secure his position as Speaker of the House. It's unclear, even after a night of political wrangling, if he has the votes.

Some US news outlets have also suggested that McCarthy and his allies will move to adjourn the House soon after gavelling in to give him more time to gather votes and negotiate with other lawmakers.

Stay with us as the House convenes.

Image source, Getty Images

Since the proceedings on Capitol Hill came to a close yesterday afternoon, there's been quite a lot of political wrangling and behind-the-scenes intrigue from lawmakers.

McCarthy, for his part, reportedly worked to negotiate with lawmakers. According to USA Today and a number of other news outlets, McCarthy asked some of the lawmakers who opposed him to vote "present" rather than endorsing him or backing another candidate.

This would allow him to more easily secure a majority of those casting ballots. Various news outlets also reported that McCarthy and his allies are discussing adjourning the House immediately after it convenes today at noon local time.

Even former President Donald Trump weighed in and urged dissenting lawmakers to throw their weight behind McCarthy. On his Truth Social platform, Trump told them to "close the deal" and "take the victory".

At least one of the dissenters, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, said that Trump's comments wouldn't change his mind.

Earlier, Gaetz had sent a letter to the Architect of the Capitol asking when McCarthy would be considered "a squatter" in the Speaker's office, where he has already begun working.

Will Grant
BBC News, on Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

It is a brisk morning on Capitol Hill with a sense of expectation in the air. The gathered congresspeople and journalists — and the public watching at home — are waiting to see if there has been any breakthrough between the opposing sides within the Republican Party.

The negotiations between Kevin McCarthy’s camp and his right-wing dissenters apparently carried on through the night. Among those he spoke to was President Trump who offered his endorsement via the social media site, Truth Social: “VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY”, he told Republicans in the House.

Yet whether that or some last-minute concessions by McCarthy will be enough to bring the bloc voting against him over to his side will only become apparent when the ballots are cast on the floor of the House — at the fourth time of asking.

Image source, Getty Images

Let's start by taking a look at what happened yesterday - and why this process is still going on.

• California Republican Kevin McCarthy needed to reach a 218 vote threshold to become Speaker - and failed to reach that number in three consecutive roll-call votes
• A hardcore bloc of 19 Republicans, largely drawn from the more conservative side of the party, did not vote for him
• It was the first time since 1923 that the House failed to choose a leader after a first round vote
• The new Congress cannot be sworn-in until the Speaker is chosen, leaving the House in chaos until the matter is resolved
• McCarthy has vowed to keep fighting and to not make any more concessions, leaving him with limited options