The lower house was headed to vote for the moderate Kevin McCarthy. But he made strong concessions to the right of the party, which will determine his future.
After an exasperating round of more than a dozen ballots, Republicans were on their way to choosing the head of the United States House of Representatives—the third most powerful official in the United States—and thus ending the a historic and scandalous paralysis in Congress that lasted more than 4 days, something that had not happened for more than a century.
The moderate Republican representative Kevin McCarthy hoped to finally reap two votes this morning that he lacked for the 218 votes needed to become the “speaker” of the House, replacing the legendary Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
But the fight that he had to wage to achieve this – the process is usually simple for the party that wins the majority in Deputies – leaves him with an extremely weakened leadership and there is no doubt that he will always remain on the brink of the abyss, depending on the most conservative .
Twenty radical members of his own party had blocked McCarthy’s nomination since Tuesday because they believe that noor is it sufficiently conservedry that he was not very supportive of former President Donald Trump when he was questioned in Congress for his role in the January 6, 2021 when a violent mob stormed the building. Precisely this Friday marks two years of that tragic episode.
The situation had caused an unprecedented institutional freeze: as the “speaker” is the one who takes the oath to the deputies, none had been able to assume for what the Congress could not function.
Beyond the fact that laws could not be passed, other important issues were paralyzed because the elected representatives did not have security clearances and therefore could not, for example, receive classified intelligence reports or access conflict analysis. Furthermore, if a serious crisis occurred, the representatives would not be able to respond. A scandal in the first world power that claims to be a champion of democracy.
The rebels refused to turn to McCarthy, even though Trump himself had asked them to vote for him. Finally, after a feverish negotiation, this Friday The path began to clear thanks to several concessions that the moderate legislator resigned. Little by little, he was adding votes from the wayward.
According to reports, McCarthy would have given up some important items, such as With the vote of a single legislator, the removal of the speaker can be activated (before there were 5). Also propose a law that limits the term of the mandates of congressmen (they seek that they do not exceed 12 years) and another on border security.
In addition, the hard right would gain approval power over some key committees, including a third of the members of the influential Rules Committee, which controls what legislation comes to the floor and in what form. And spending bills would have to be considered under so-called open rules, allowing any member to vote on an unlimited number of changes that could gut or scuttle the legislation outright.
It is true that McCarthy managed to survive, but his task will be greatly limited by the ultras. In fact, a single legislator could activate a motion to have him removed from office. And many tremble at the thought of what might happen when the debt ceiling has to be increased at the end of the year –something that is often done in order to avoid government paralysis- with this ultra-conservative group that hates public spending.
The representative David Valadao, A California Republican and McCarthy ally, he said more moderate members of the conference were increasingly concerned that the deals being struck give too much leverage to the far right. Others privately point out that they will be tempted to agree in some cases with Democratic representatives to stop any onslaught from the ultras.
“He’s going to be the weakest speaker”, said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. “The problem is that he has also weakened the institution in general, all because he wants the title of head of the chamber, but without the power or responsibility.”
As McCarthy ceded more ground to the far-right group, it became clear that the lower house will be very difficult to control. With the ultras empowered to abort spending bills or call for the removal of the president at any time, it is feared that the chamber is dysfunctional and paralyzed from the ground up.
Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said that “the problem for McCarthy is that, with every concession, he has to wake up every day wondering if he’s still going to have his job. Because the slightest disagreement could lead to a body motion to remove him from office.”