Kevin McCarthy clinches House speaker vote in historic 15th ballot

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy clinched the election to become speaker of the House after a marathon week of votes.

More developments are emerging in the wake of the University of Idaho murders.

USA TODAY Personal Finance and Markets Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald looks at the December jobs report and what it means for the economy.

USA TODAY Money Reporter Medora Lee explores what a ban of noncompete agreements from employers would mean for workers and businesses.

The Mega Millions jackpot rises to $1.1 billion after another drawing without a winner.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is Five Things you Need to Know, Saturday the 7th of January 2023. Today there's finally a speaker of the House, plus the latest developments in the wake of the University of Idaho murders, and the jobs market remained strong. Well, it took a week and a historic 15 rounds of voting, but the House has its speaker.

Congressman Kev...: That was easy, huh? I never thought we'd get up here.

Taylor Wilson: Congressman Kevin McCarthy won a late night vote last night to clench the position, but not before making major concessions that moved power to the Republican Party's far right wing in exchange for votes. One controversial proposal is an agreement that would allow for a single member to call for a vote ousting the speaker. Ouster would still require a majority of the House, but the rule change would potentially give major power to begin the process. Critics say this move weakens McCarthy's power significantly, making the speaker a ceremonial job that could limit his ability to govern over the next two years.

Another concession appears to be giving the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus more seats on key congressional panels, and another would allow open debate on government funding measures which fiscal conservatives have urged for years. The process leading up to McCarthy's election was chaotic, to say the least. And last night was maybe the rowdiest of the week. After falling one vote short on the 14th ballot, McCarthy walked to the back of the chamber to confront Republican, Matt Gates, who was sitting with other holdouts. Fingers were pointed and at one point, Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, approached Gates before another Republican. Richard Hudson physically pulled him back. After McCarthy's election on the 15th ballot, he administered the oath to all members elect early Saturday morning. Business on Capitol Hill should resume as normal on Monday.

We're learning more about the murders of four University of Idaho students last November. According to newly released court documents unsealed this week, a surviving roommate in the house where the murders took place told authorities she saw a tall masked man dressed in black in the hallway in the morning of the murders. The primary suspect Bryan Kohberger appeared in court in Idaho this week after his extradition from Pennsylvania. He's maintaining his innocence. Police say they zeroed in on him using DNA evidence left on a large knife sheath found at the scene.

But despite these developments from police, we still have more questions than answers. The knife is still unaccounted for, and it's still not clear why police weren't alerted until nearly 80 hours after the killings took place. Meanwhile, police in Moscow, Idaho said the public was not in danger after the killings. But new documents released this week revealed bombshell information that local police had reason to believe a killer was on the loose. Some crime experts said that was irresponsible. Others say police shouldn't have shown their hand, which could have allowed the suspect to modify behavior and better hide from police. For all the latest in the aftermath of the Idaho killings, stay with usatoday.com.

The jobs report from December is out and unemployment dropped from 3.7 to 3.5%, matching a 50-year low according to the labor department. PBS reports that 2022 was the second biggest year of job gains since records began in 1940, trailing only the previous year when the market was coming out of pandemic restrictions. And while inflation remains at a 40-year-high, average hourly wages rose just 9 cents, a drop from the previous month. For more on the latest jobs news, I'm now joined by USA Today Personal Finance and Markets reporter, Elisabeth Buchwald. Elisabeth, thanks for coming on the show.

Elisabeth Buchwald: Thanks for having me on.

Taylor Wilson: So Elisabeth, the December jobs report is out. What did we learn about hiring and unemployment?

Elisabeth Buchwald: So employers added 223,000 jobs last month, and that put the unemployment rate down from 3.7% to 3.5%, so still a very strong number even with the risk of a recession.

Taylor Wilson: What are some of the industries that are hiring right now, and are any industries in particular not adding many jobs?

Elisabeth Buchwald: So one of the industries that's adding the most jobs right now is the industry that got hurt the most by the pandemic, and that's leisure and hospitality. They saw about 67,000 jobs added last month. Healthcare also really strong, construction and social assistance, but where there's a little bit of lacking is in manufacturing, retail, transportation and warehousing. Those didn't really have as high of gains and they were stressed earlier in the period experiencing labor shortages. So maybe they're making up for some of those jobs there.

Taylor Wilson: So Elisabeth, what do the latest jobs numbers tell us about the economy as a whole right now, and especially what's the latest on this big recession question?

Elisabeth Buchwald: Well, that's the thing. If you're going to say that there's a recession, usually recessions have really high unemployment. I don't think we've ever seen a recession where there is an unemployment, and right now we're at a really low unemployment rate. So if you're thinking there's a recession, it's just hard to jump to that conclusion right now. That's not to say that we're in a good position. I'm sure we've all heard about the various tech layoffs. Salesforce recently announcing that they're going to shed a whopping 10% of their workforce. So things aren't really a pretty picture right now. Americans are draining their savings, relying more on credit cards, but on a whole, the fact that they have jobs is a very good thing.

Taylor Wilson: Elisabeth Buchwald, thanks so much.

Elisabeth Buchwald: Thank you.

Taylor Wilson: The Federal Trade Commission is exploring the ban of non-compete agreements from employers, but what does that mean for workers and businesses? Producer PJ Elliot spoke to USA Today money reporter Medora Lee, to find the answer.

PJ Elliot: Medora, thanks for joining Five Things again.

Medora Lee: Thanks for having me again.

PJ Elliot: Well, I guess I want to start off by asking what the Federal Trade Commission hopes to accomplish by banning non-compete clauses for employees.

Medora Lee: So the FTC thinks that if they ban non-compete clauses, this is going to open up a lot more opportunity for people to move jobs more freely and also to negotiate better wages for themselves. I just want to put out the pros and cons of this. So on the one side, the FTC thinks it's going to be great for workers to be able to move through jobs and negotiate higher wages more easily. But on the other side, the businesses of course, think that this is going to stifle innovation, and they think that this really is only going to help the people who are earning higher wages, because people at the lower end probably won't be too affected.

PJ Elliot: So how many people are affected by non-competes, and how much could those workers look to gain if they get banned?

Medora Lee: So the FTC says that about one fifth of all Americans have signed non-compete agreements in their careers, and so they think that that's a pretty... I think the estimate about 30 million people could be affected. And so by banning this, they think that its proposal to ban non-competes could increase wages by nearly $300 billion, a year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans.

PJ Elliot: Is there a timeframe that we're looking at for this rule to go into effect?

Medora Lee: Right now it's just a proposal and they have to put that out for public comment. So for the next 60 days, anyone can send a comment to the FTC about it, and then they'll probably take some time to consider that. And once they've considered that, they might revise it a bit. So it kind of goes along the lines that if they decide to go ahead and they have a final rule, it'll go into effect 180 days after that final version is published.

PJ Elliot: Medora, great stuff as always. I really appreciate your time.

Medora Lee: All right, thanks. Have a great weekend.

Taylor Wilson: The Mega Millions jackpot rose to 1.1 billion last night, and after nobody won the latest drawing, it's now the fifth largest lottery jackpot in history and third largest Mega Millions prize. The largest lottery jackpot of any kind went for more than $2 billion in the Powerball last November. There have been 24 drawings without a Mega Millions jackpot winner this time around stretching more than two months. The next drawing is set for Tuesday, and if you somehow do win, financial advisors are pretty clear, keep it as private as possible and be sure to get a tax attorney and tax advisor immediately.

But that probably won't apply to you, because your odds of winning are one in more than 302 million. Thanks for listening to Five Things. James Brown is in as always for the Sunday edition of Five Things tomorrow. He'll chat with Medora Lee, who you heard on today's episode about a California law that would potentially give fast food workers a 60% raise. Find the show right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'll be back Monday with more of Five Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kevin McCarthy clinches House speaker vote in historic 15th ballot