By Kelsey Maxwell
The House of Representatives has been Speaker-less for two weeks, the longest vacancy period in history. As of October 20, there is still no Speaker of the House.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) had to fight for 15 rounds of voting to become the Speaker of the House back in January. And even after all of the fighting for the Speakership, he’s the first Speaker to be successfully ousted. The vote was supported by eight Republican representatives: Andy Biggs (R-AZ-5), Ken Buck (R-CO-4), Tim Burchett (R-TN-2), Elijah Crane (R-AZ-2), Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1), Bob Good (R-VA-5), Nancy Mace (R-SC-1), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT-2). Gaetz introduced the motion, independently due to a concession made by McCarthy in January, after McCarthy worked with Democrats to pass a spending resolution to avoid a government shutdown. But this isn’t a new plan: reports say that Gaetz has been waiting for the right moment to remove McCarthy from the Speakership. Not only did McCarthy break some promises that he made to the far-right to gain their votes in January, but he also never looked at various other pieces of legislation while trying to avoid a shutdown. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21) and others proposed multiple spending bills, but McCarthy never even looked at them.
But just because there is no official Speaker, doesn’t mean that the House will stop working: there is currently a Speaker Pro-Tempore. Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) was secretly named as the successor after McCarthy became Speaker as a part of a post-9/11 procedure. A Speaker Pro-Tempore can recess the House, adjourn the chamber, and recognize nominees for Speaker. Committees can still operate, but no piece of legislation can be brought to the floor for a vote, which means there can not be more funds allocated to assist Israel. So how long will it be before the House can get back to working at full capacity? Only time will tell, but the GOP is hard at work in their attempt to make our country not be the laughingstock of the world.
To avoid a repeat of the embarrassment that took place in January, the GOP has been holding conferences and secret ballots to get it together. The first meeting produced a nominee of Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) over Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-4). Scalise, who is currently battling blood cancer, eventually dropped out because he is too similar to McCarthy to secure enough votes. A second meeting awarded the nomination to Jordan over Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA-08). But getting modern Republicans to fully agree on anything is seemingly impossible. While McCarthy, Scalise, and numerous other Republicans have voiced their support for Jordan, some Republicans are already planning on Jordan’s failure, like Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) announcing that he will announce a bid for Speaker if Jordan is unsuccessful. The new Speaker battle has also begun to highlight the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) throughout the party. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL-03) announced that he wants to work with Democrats to find a bipartisan Speaker. Apparently, he doesn’t remember that working with the Democrats is what got us in this mess in the first place.
Even after an endorsement from former president Donald Trump, Jordan failed to reach the Speakership after two rounds of voting. Jordan has vowed to stay in the race, but obviously, something needs to change. Right now, Jordan is the best option for Speaker, with the only concern for most Republicans being that he is the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and they don’t want the current investigations to stop just because he isn’t there anymore. So while Jordan has gotten the far-right Freedom Caucus members to agree with a majority of the party, a near-impossible feat, there are still a few holdouts. To avoid embarrassment, is it in the best interest of the party for Jordan to introduce a rule change? Blocked by Scalise, this particular rule change would force the GOP to get behind a single candidate. This could either go very well or very badly for Jordan. But, he’s lost votes in each round so far, so would it really hurt him to try? If Jordan keeps losing votes in each round, does the GOP need a new candidate? It turns out, they do. Jordan lost a secret ballot vote to maintain the nomination after three rounds of voting. Now, the GOP needs to find a new candidate. Should Scalise try again, or will McHenry get the job since McCarthy hadsuch faith in him to make him the Speaker Pro-Tempore? Only time will tell, but two things are for certain: McCarthy’s removal was the right move at the wrong time, and the GOP needs to get it together. Heck, if Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO-3) can agree, all Republicans should be able to agree.
Patrick McHenry: Who is the interim House speaker? | CNN Politics
Mike Johnson plans to launch House speaker bid if Jim Jordan falters
Mike Rogers will not back Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House, would work with Democrats - al.com
Scalise’s potentially fatal mistake - The Washington Post