Republicans get into fights and fail to elect the incumbent of the House of Representatives

by time news

Three votes failed, something unprecedented in decades. Ultra-conservatives blocked the election of Kevin McCarthy.

The new United States Congress took office this Tuesday in Washington and it could already be glimpsed chaos and fierce internal struggle that the republicans live: in the midst of an ultra-conservative rebellion, the opposition party failed at night in three votes to elect one of their own as leader of the House of Representatives, something that had not happened for 100 years.

In the November 8 elections, the Democrats maintained a majority in the Senate, but the Republicans won a majority in the Lower House and therefore had to choose the “speaker” to replace the legendary Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to lead the deputies.

But The process, which is usually simple, was chaotic and could not be completed. Moderate Republican Kevin McCarthy suffered a defeat in three rounds of voting after a ultras rebellion, supporters of former President Donald Trump, who blocked his nomination, which failed to reach a majority of 218 votes, causing the process to drag on with multiple rounds of voting, something the House had not seen since 1923.

After three votes in which a majority was not reached (20 wayward Republicans voted for Representative Jim Jordan), the legislators left the premises to negotiate and vote again this Wednesday.



Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed to get the votes to be elected president of the Lower House of Congress. Photo: EFE

Talks

It is possible that McCarthy offers concessions to the ultras or that they look for a consensus candidate that could be Jordan (who made a name for himself defending Trump in Congress during the investigations of the assault on the Capitol) or someone else. The regulation does not contemplate any other alternative to continuing to repeat the votes until someone achieves the necessary majority.

The Republican fight is a preview of things to come in the next two years: the tensions in the party between the ultra-conservatives who endorse Trump’s vision and the more moderates who seek to curtail the power of the magnate and steer the party towards the traditions that the former president demolished.

Trumpists seek revenge on Congress. After two years of seeing how their leader defended himself against multiple criminal, civil and parliamentary commission investigations, now they want revenge with investigations from the Capitol to complicate Biden, even with an impeachment.

Parliamentary investigations may be opened for the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who already faces FBI investigations for his international business practices.

Infighting prevented the appointment of an incumbent to the US House of Representatives.  Photo: REUTERS


Infighting prevented the appointment of an incumbent to the US House of Representatives. Photo: REUTERS

They will also seek to investigate decisions made by the White House on immigration issues, the Covid crisis and even the controversial withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan. They are also likely to seek to cut aid to Ukraine because they do not want to give that country a “blank check” in the midst of a US recession.

Although the Republicans will have their internships on certain issues, there are still initiatives that they will seek to impose beyond their factions: greater decision by parents in the education of their children, more money for the police and border control, among others. But it is unlikely that these projects will prosper because the Senate has a Democratic majority, which can stop the plans of the opponents.

The act that should have been a party for the Republicans for their return to the lower house was marred under the infighting.

The chair of the National Party Committee, Ronna McDaniel, lamented on the conservative Fox News network about all the drama in the representative leader nomination. “As long as we’re fighting each other, we won’t keep our eyes on the prize,” she said, referring to the 2024 presidential election.

“We have to move forward if we want to succeed in 2024 as a united party. Right now, this exemplifies exactly what Democrats want to see from our party.”

Washington, corresponsal

CB​

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