This is a historic setback for the Republicans: in a hundred years, the “speaker” of the room has always been elected in the first round. The representatives engage in a second vote and will continue to vote as long as a president has not been elected.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
This is a first since 1923: the favorite candidate for the “speaker” position of the House of Representatives was not elected in the first round on Tuesday, January 3, in the United States. The Republican Kevin McCarthy was, at 2 p.m. (8 p.m. in Paris), who came to bring together 202 of the 218 votes necessary for his election, despite the 222 elected officials from his camp to the House. The Democratic candidate for the post, Hakeem Jeffries, even did better than the Californian representative with 212 votes, without maintaining illusions on his chances of appointment.
This is a historic setback for the Republicans when in a hundred years, the Speaker of the Chamber had always been elected in the first round. American representatives engage in a second vote, and will continue to vote as long as a president has not been elected.
Kevin McCarthy, who has led his group since 2014 to the Lower Congress Chamber, is the big favorite to replace the Democrat Nancy Pelosi in this position and remains firm in the face of oppositions within his party. “We will not give in,” said relatives at CNN. But the elected representative of California had been weakened by the counter-performance of the Republicans in the mid-term elections, and a handful of elected Trumpists, who accuse him of not being conservative, decided to play the trouble -Fets.
Five even said that they would vote against him. “Kevin does not believe in any way, he has no ideology,” tackled Matt Gaetz, a turbulent elected representative of Florida. Without their support, the election of Kevin McCarthy in the first round seemed to be well compromised. Two other Republican elected officials, Andy Biggs and Jim Jordan, obtained 10 and 6 votes respectively, preventing his rapid election. 2> Kevin McCarthy had already failed in 2015 2>
Kevin McCarthy seemed to want to give pledges to this conservative fringe to prevent history from stuttering: in 2015, he had already failed to become president of the House of Representatives in front of a sling of the right wing of the right wing of left. But either he could not afford to go too far and alienate the moderate republicans.
With the majority republicans in the House, Joe Biden and the Democrats will not be able to pass new major projects. But with a Senate in the hands of the Democrats, either their rivals. Will they take refuge in systematic opposition? For that, they would have to block, while some of their elected officials have – as during the budget vote before Christmas – voted with the Democrats.
The election of the speaker is therefore also used to measure their nuisance capacity for the president. Being faced with a Hostile House of Representatives could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden, if he confirms his intention to represent himself in 2024 – a decision he must announce at the start of the year. In the event of legislative paralysis, he will undoubtedly reject the fault of blocking on weakened republicans, thus hoping to turn the situation to his advantage.