Kevin McCarthy has been in parliamentary history for as long as United States of America. This Tuesday, Republican caucus leaders, trying to get elected as the new chairman of the US House of Representatives. Three votes and all three lost. For first time in 100 years, the lower house unable to name its new president in one voice.
We will survive until we win… I’m not going anywhere.”
But why did McCarthy insist on becoming Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s successor and fail? Does the House have a Democratic majority? Well no. After the November midterm elections, the majority is Republican. Then are there other candidates? Yes, but in the minority. Well, all that remains is to say: trouble Kevin McCarthy is that he doesn’t have the support of his entire party.
In Spain it would be unthinkable to us, but in the US – as in England – MPs have great independence and party discipline is not as submissive as it is here. The fact is that McCarthy – the Republican leader in the House of Commons since 2014 – has failed in her attempts to an uprising from the far right of his own party.
Since Democrat John Nance Garner in 1931, no hypothetical Speaker of the House has had such a small majority. The Republican Party has 222 members of Congress. Up front, 212 Democrats. They elected their party leader, Hakeem Jeffries. to choose from McCarthy needs support from 218. In the first two rounds he only got 203 votes and in the third round less.
In 1923 nine ballots were required and in 1869 there were 60 votes over two months.
This Wednesday he will try again. “We will survive until we win… I am not going anywhere,” he told reporters. And if it fails again, it will be possible to vote another day, and again, and again… The House of Representatives must continue voting until it has a President. That regulations do not limit voting roundsso that the process can last at least days.
According to history, the last time a Congressional nominee for president did not get the necessary votes in the first round was in 1923. On that occasion, Frederick Huntington Gillett, a representative from Massachusetts, needed nine ballots and several days to be elected. Even worse in 1869: 60 votes needed for two months.
Until a replacement for Pelosi is chosen, the US House of Representatives remains paralyzed; You cannot move on to another business. That is, can’t pass new regulations or laws, or celebrate the inauguration from new members.
Until there is no president, the House of Commons cannot approve norms or laws, or celebrate the inauguration of new members
But the president of the DPR is much more than that. The accusation is one of the most prominent in American politics. Representing countries around the world (as has been done Nancy Pelosi, for example, on her recent treacherous trip to Taiwan) and has a high position in the hierarchy: ranks second in the order of presidential successionbehind the vice president (currently Kamala Harris).
Why don’t all Republicans vote for McCarthy?
Republicans are divided. If the by-elections have shown a clear split between the party’s classic candidates and the candidates from the new generation it supports Trumpthe presidential election stage of the Congress The difference between conservative and ultraconservative.
For ultra-conservatives, the problem is that McCarthy cannot be trusted because he is not right-wing enough.
The latter (19 in principle) did not support McCarthy. They were opposed for ideological and personal reasons. The group was led by Andy Biggs (Rep. Arizona), who was running as a replacement, and Matt Gaetz (Florida). Biggs received 10 votes in the first round, and nine Republicans backed the other candidate.
On the second ballot, all 19 Republicans were in favor Jim Jordan (Ohio). Surprisingly, Jordan himself proposed to McCarthy. In the third, Jordan has 20 supports.
McCarthy was less conservative and ideologically agnostic. Its constituents are Washington lobbyists. If you have genuine political beliefs, it sucks.”
All of these ultra-conservative deputies had been negotiating with McCarthy for weeks. This is how politics is conducted everywhere and especially in US Concessions and Concessions. But for all of them, the problem is that McCarthy can’t be trusted: he isn’t right wing enough.
Or as you say Tucker Carlsonconservative commentator on the very conservative foxnews:”McCarthy wasn’t particularly conservative. ideologically agnostic. The real constituency is the lobbyists in Washington. If you have genuine political beliefs, it sucks.”
What reproaches the republican faction?
Although, after the November election, that is Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives from Democratsvictory is tight. The “red tide” didn’t happen which the far-right media had predicted and the Democrats managed to maintain a majority in the Senate.
McCarthy is favored by Republicans, but he is far from well-liked. There was no wave of support from the grassroots demanding he be the spokesperson.”
Whose fault was it? Too many Trumps? How bad was the campaign McCarthy designed? That More moderate Republicans blame the former presidentthat put some of the extremist candidates who eventually lost.
However, radicals hold McCarthy responsible. They reproached him for not negotiating with them to reform the debating rules or name to chair the congressional committee in the new legislature.
McCarthy didn’t seem like a natural, charismatic leader. “He has historically had a small majority for first-time presidential candidates, and McCarthy himself has been historically unpopular compared to other DPR members who are trying to become president,” wrote Harry Enten CNN.
McCarthy could become president without 218 votes, as long as he achieves a majority between abstentions and abstentions
This wasn’t the first time he had tried it. McCarthy was next in line to speak when Republican John Boehner resigned in 2015. But the California Republican couldn’t get enough support to win a House majority. Continue there are 245 seats held by Republicans. Now only 222.
“Republicans love McCarthy, but far from love. There was no wave of support from the grassroots demanding that he become a spokesperson,” said Enten. But, in a way, nothing else.
If McCarthy fails, no other Republican will be known and respected in the assembly. For this reason, one last possibility should not be ruled out: that McCarthy is president of the US Congress by less than 218 votes. It will be possible with get the most votesthat is, if there is enough MPs to stay at home or vote (a kind of abstention, neither for nor against).
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