The United States House of Representatives failed to elect its president after three rounds of voting, something unprecedented in a hundred years due to the deep divisions among Republican congressmen. the republican Kevin McCarthy, the great favorite to replace the Democrat Nancy Pelosi, could not calm the revolt of a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump, in a sign of the fissures in this party that controls the Lower House by a slight majority since the legislative elections of november. With negotiations at a standstill, The congressmen decided to postpone the vote until Wednesday to elect their new president.
The threshold of 218 votes
With 202 votes, McCarthy did not achieve the 218 support needed to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi on the third ballot. In fact, he received one less vote than in the second round. And it is that 20 wayward Republicans voted for Congressman Jim Jordan, of Ohio, who moments before had asked for the vote for McCarthy.
The candidate of the Democratic minority, Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, obtained the 212 votes of his political formation. In this way, the most right-wing wing of the Republican Party, grouped in the so-called Freedom Caucus, keeps the election of the new leader of the House of Representatives blocked, an institution that cannot begin to function until a new president is elected.
California congressman Scott Perry recalled that they sent McCarthy their demands a long time ago, such as a change in the debate rules or the names they want to put in charge of the House committees, but he did not agree to negotiate. In his statements to the press, McCarthy criticized that there are members of the party who oppose his appointment because “They think more about their jobs than about the country”.
The last time it took more than one vote to choose the head of the lower house, known as “speaker”, was exactly a century ago. In 1923 the Speaker of the Chamber was elected in a ninth ballot., while in 1869 it was achieved after 60 votes, in a process that lasted for two months. Is about the third authority in the United States after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harriswho also presides over the Senate.
how does it stand Biden?
The new US Congress begins this new legislature with the expectation that the last two years of Biden’s term will be hampered by the Republican opposition. Although the Republicans won the elections to the House of Representatives last November, the victory of the conservatives was much smaller than they anticipated.
In addition, the Democrats not only managed to retain a majority in the Senate, but also won a new seat. Moderate Republicans blame former President Donald Trump’s influence in the election for the poor electoral performance, while hardliners attribute it to the McCarthy-engineered campaign.
With the House of Representatives under the control of the Republicans, Biden will not be able to push big projects, but neither will the opposite side because the Senate is still in the hands of the Democrats. For them to come together in a systematic opposition they would have to be united, and in the budget vote last December some Republicans were seen voting with the Democrats.
With the election of the speaker, the disunity jumped out again. And a hostile House could even benefit Biden if he confirms his intention to run again in the 2024 presidential election. The president is careful not to comment on Republican divisions. In the event of legislative paralysis, Biden will most likely blame the blockade on the Republicans, hoping to obtain political gain.
The investigations that would come
After two years of watching their leader Trump fend off multiple criminal, civil and congressional investigations, Republicans will seek revenge with their own investigations. One target is likely to be Biden, even with impeachment.
However, the top priority declared by the House Oversight Committee will be to intensify scrutiny of the Democratic president’s son, Hunter Biden, already under investigation by the FBI for his business practices. In addition, Republicans have vowed to demand testimony on multiple aspects of Democratic decision-making, from Biden’s White House immigration management and the covid-19 crisis, to his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
More Latinos in Congress
Among the distinctive features of this new Congress, the Educational Fund of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) revealed that it will be the largest number of Latinos to date in the House of Representatives, which goes from 38 to 47. A total of 35 Democrats and 12 Republicans of Hispanic origin will have a seat, compared to 28 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the previous chamber.
There is also a slight advance in terms of gender, with four more Latina women in the House of Representatives. The Lower House will be made up of 29 men and 18 women, instead of the 24 men and 14 women of the previous one. The first Latinas with seats for Colorado, Illinois and Oregon also emerged from the November elections.