a fourth day of voting has so far failed to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives

by time news

The situation in the House of Representatives in the United States had still not found a way out on Friday, January 6. While Republican Kevin McCarthy managed to convince, after thirteen votes, several elected Trumpists to support his candidacy, that was not enough to get him to the post of speaker. Open at noon (6 p.m., in Paris), the debates were suspended a few hours later and will not resume until 10 p.m. (4 a.m., in Paris).

Four days after the Republicans officially took control, the House is still paralyzed by the revolt of some twenty elected Trumpists who are blocking the election. Republican Kevin McCarthy, favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi in this post, for the first time on Friday made significant progress in his candidacy for the fourth day of unprecedented negotiations.

Of the 218 votes needed to win – the Republicans have a narrow majority of 222 seats in the House of Representatives – Mr. McCarthy had so far gathered only 203. In the thirteenth vote on Friday, he collected 214. The elected representative of California is dependent on the goodwill of members of the most conservative fringe of his party, who take advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the mid-term elections to set their conditions.

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“An extreme fringe prevents governing”

The opportunity for the Democrats to denounce the stranglehold of the faithful of Donald Trump – many of whom still refuse to recognize his defeat in 2020 – on the Republican Party, two years after the attack led by his supporters against the seat of Congress. “The chaos in the House of Representatives is just another illustration of how an extreme fringe (…) prevent them from governingassured the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

The anniversary of the assault on the Capitol “should serve as a signal to the Republican Party to reject the Trumpism that is leading it from failure to failure”, he said in a statement. This second anniversary was marked by a minute of silence on the steps of the United States Congress.

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Kevin McCarthy reached out to freelancers blocking his election, offering them sizeable concessions in behind-the-scenes negotiations. This blockage has very concrete repercussions: without a speaker, elected officials cannot take an oath or therefore vote on a bill. The 434 members of the House of Representatives, the scene of this singular spectacle, will therefore continue to vote until a president is elected.

“We will surprise you”

“We will make progress, we will surprise you”, had promised Kevin McCarthy entering the precincts of Congress Friday morning. After the suspension of the debates, the elected Republican told CNN ” believe [qu’il] will get the votes to end this for good”. A member of the Republican staff for more than ten years, the elected official does not currently have a credible competitor. Only the name of the group leader, Steve Scalise, circulates as a possible recourse, without his chances seeming serious.

What is generally only a matter of a few hours could take several weeks: in 1856, the elected representatives of Congress agreed only after two months and 133 turns. The annoyance was palpable among the members of the Grand Old Party, who largely support the candidacy of Kevin McCarthy, giving rise to very lively debates in the hemicycle. The Republican leadership also knows that it cannot afford to go overboard and alienate moderate Republicans.

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In the Democratic ranks, where the elected officials all rise en bloc at each vote, as if to accentuate the Republican divisions a little more, we are busy as best we can. Joe Biden’s party may show unity around its leader Hakeem Jeffries, but neither does the camp have enough votes to end this paralysis.

The World with AFP

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