Favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi to the perch, the republican Kevin McCarthy is suspended from the goodwill of around twenty Trumpist elected officials who prevent him from gathering the majority of votes.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
This is an unprecedented scenario in more than a hundred years: in the United States, the House of Representatives was paralyzed Wednesday January 4, dissensions in the Republican ranks preventing elected officials from choosing the speaker. The debates resumed at noon (6 p.m., in Paris) in the hemicycle, but no agreement could be reached after a fifth vote.
Big favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi to the perch, Republican Kevin McCarthy is suspended from the goodwill of around twenty Trumpist elected officials who accuse him of being too moderate and deliberately play the spoilsports. Members of the most conservative fringe of the party, these elected officials take advantage of the very fine 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 from Texas Chip Roy. Kevin McCarthy, a member of the Republican staff for more than ten years, has already accessed many of this group’s requirements, without this unlocking the dead end. Worse, the opposition to his candidacy seemed to crystallize on Wednesday, while Mr. McCarthy was on the way, around 10 p.m. in Paris, to lose the sixth vote.
Donald Trump wants to avoid an embarrassing defeat ”
The Democratic President, Joe Biden, described this situation as “embarrassing”, assuring that “the rest of the world” followed this mess closely. Among non-refractory and largely majority republican elected officials, an annoyance began to be felt, which gave rise to very animated debates in the hemicycle. “All this seems messy,” conceded the elected Mike Gallagher, a relative of Kevin McCarthy.
Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump called his party on his everything to do everything to “avoid an embarrassing defeat”. “It is now time for our great Republican elected officials in the room to vote for Kevin” McCarthy, who will do “a good job, and perhaps even a great job”. Nevertheless, the former president, whose reputation for a kings made was seriously questioned, did not succeed in convincing this conservative group to enter the rank.
The election of the speaker, the third most important character in American policy after the president and the vice-president, requires a majority of 218 votes. During the first four laps, Kevin McCarthy failed to exceed 203. The Democratic candidate, Hakeem Jeffries, even did better, winning the 212 votes of elected Democrats in the Chamber, without however maintaining illusions on his chances of appointment.
in 1856, two months and 133 laps to elect the speaker
This situation also completely paralyzes the rest of the institution: without president, elected officials cannot take an oath, or therefore pass any bill. Republicans cannot open the many surveys they had promised against Joe Biden. The Democrats observe this dead end with a certain amusement, sometimes launching naked laughter and applause in the hemicycle.
Elected officials will continue to vote as long as a president of the House of Representatives will not be elected. This could be the business of a few hours or several weeks: in 1856, the elected officials of the Congress had only agreed after two months and 133 laps. Being facing a hostile, but disorderly room, could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden, if he confirms his intention to represent himself in 2024 – Decision he must announce at the start of the year.
The President of the United States went to Kentucky on Wednesday to boast the site of a new large bridge funded by a pharaonic infrastructure law he worn, and which had collected some republican voices at the congress 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 chief of the other chamber of the American Congress, the tenor of the Senate, Mitch McConnell.