This is an unprecedented scenario in more than a hundred years: in the United States, the House of Representatives was paralyzed on Wednesday January 4, dissension in the Republican ranks preventing elected officials from choosing the speaker. The debates resumed at noon (6 p.m., in Paris) in the hemicycle, before being again suspended a few hours later, for lack of an agreement after a sixth vote.
Big favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi at the perch, the Republican Kevin McCarthy is hanging on the goodwill of about twenty elected Trumpists who accuse him of being too moderate and deliberately playing the spoilsport. Members of the most conservative fringe of the party, these elected officials take advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the mid-term elections (222 seats, out of 435) to set their conditions.
Without their support, Kevin McCarthy cannot be elected. The United States wants “a new face, a new vision, a new leadership”, argued the turbulent elected representative of Texas Chip Roy. Kevin McCarthy, a member of the Republican staff for more than ten years, has already acceded to many of this group’s demands, without this breaking the deadlock. Worse, the opposition to his candidacy seemed to crystallize on Wednesday, when Mr. McCarthy lost, around 10 p.m. in Paris, the sixth vote with fewer votes than the first.
Donald Trump wants to “avoid an embarrassing defeat”
Democratic President Joe Biden called the situation a“embarrassing”ensuring that ” the rest of the world “ followed this mess closely. Among the non-refractory and largely majority Republican elected officials, annoyance was beginning to be felt, which gave rise to very lively debates in the hemicycle. “It all seems messy”conceded the elected Mike Gallagher, a close friend of Kevin McCarthy.
On Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump called on his party on his social network to do everything to “avoid an embarrassing defeat”. “Now is the time for our great elected Republicans in the House to vote for Kevin” McCarthy, who will “a good job, and maybe even a great job”. However, the former president, whose reputation as a kingmaker has been seriously questioned, has also failed to convince this conservative group to toe the line.
The election of the speaker, the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice-president, requires a majority of 218 votes. In the first four rounds, Kevin McCarthy did not manage to exceed 203. The Democratic candidate, Hakeem Jeffries, did even better, winning the 212 votes of the elected Democrats in the House, without however having any illusions about his chance of nomination.
In 1856, two months and 133 turns to elect the speaker
This situation also completely paralyzes the rest of the institution: without a president, elected officials cannot take an oath, nor therefore pass any bill. Republicans also cannot open the numerous investigations they had promised against Joe Biden. The Democrats observe this impasse with a certain amusement, sometimes launching sardonic laughter and applause in the hemicycle.
Elected officials will continue to vote until a Speaker of the House of Representatives is elected. This could be a matter of a few hours or several weeks: in 1856, the elected members of Congress only agreed after two months and 133 turns. Facing a hostile but disorderly House could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden, if he confirms his intention to run again in 2024 – a decision he is due to announce at the start of the year.
The President of the United States went to Kentucky on Wednesday to praise the construction of a new large bridge financed by a pharaonic infrastructure law that he carried, and which had collected some Republican votes in Congress. It was an opportunity for him to put on his favorite costume as a centrist president, fond of compromises, inherited from his long career as a senator. Chance of the calendar, he is accompanied by the Republican leader of the other chamber of the American Congress, the tenor of the Senate, Mitch McConnell.