The House (finally) has a new leader
Image: Getty
Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA) was elected Speaker of the House on Saturday morning, following four days and 14 failed attempts to win the necessary votes. It marked the longest election for House leader since 1859, when it took 44 ballots.
🗳️ Background: The House began voting on a leader last Wednesday in the first session of its new term, with most analysts predicting Rep. McCarthy would win. But for the first two days, a group of around 20 GOP members – mostly belonging to the “Freedom Caucus” – continually refused to vote for McCarthy, leaving the chamber unable to perform its duties due to lack of a speaker.
🏛️ That brings us to Friday… when things started to shift, after McCarthy approved a number of concessions to get the holdout GOP votes moving in his direction. These included agreements to:
- Allow a single GOP member to call for a vote to remove the House Speaker
- Create a new committee to investigate the alleged weaponization of the FBI against its political foes
- Cap government spending for 2024 at the same level as 2022
- Establish a 72-hour window for House members to read any new bill before it can be voted on
- Hold separate votes on all 12 annual government spending bills, rather than bundling them together in a single massive omnibus measure
- Add more members of the conservative House “Freedom Caucus” to key committees
And it eventually worked – on the 15th ballot early Saturday morning, McCarthy received 216 votes compared to 212 for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). (Six Republicans voted present, allowing McCarthy to win the speaker position with less than a majority.)
📝 Bottom line: All 434 House members were finally sworn into office around 1:30am Saturday morning, roughly an hour after McCarthy was elected – meaning the House can finally start performing its legislative and administrative duties.
The first item on the agenda? Voting on a new rules package that’ll govern procedures in the chamber for the next two years.
📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the listed concessions that House Speaker McCarthy made to get elected?
See a 360° view of what media pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that the current dysfunction in the House is what happens when the Republican party, year after year, systematically destroys the norms and institutions of democracy.
- Others contend that, while it may be tempting for Democrats to gloat at Republican struggles, such upheaval so early in the House session has historically been bad news for all Americans, regardless of party.
- “To save himself, McCarthy just destroyed the House” –Dana Milbank, WaPo
- “It’s Tempting to Laugh at McCarthy’s Struggles, but History Shows That This Type of Chaos Is Not a Joke” –Joanne B. Freeman, NY Times
- “The debacle that made Kevin McCarthy House speaker is just the start. There’s much more to come.” –Mike Littwin, The Colorado Sun
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that the concessions Rep. McCarthy made to get elected as speaker means the new GOP leader is now hostage to any single Republican House member with an ax to grind.
- Others contend that, despite some of the overwrought commentary, this was not a national crisis – the concessions he granted the ~20 dissenters won’t make his life any easier, but a number of them are actually desirable.
- “The Price for Speaker McCarthy” –WSJ Editorial Board
- “Kevin McCarthy’s New House” –National Review Editorial Board
- “McCarthy is finally speaker. But he's not weak like you think. Now he can deploy the 'crazy boss' strategy” –K.T. MacFarland, Fox News
Share this!
Recent Discussion stories
Discussion
| January 6, 2023Should former President Trump face charges for Jan. 6?
📑 Today marks the two-year anniversary of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. It’s also two weeks after the former House committee investigating the incident published its final report on the situation, following a one-and-a-half-year investigation, 10 public hearings, and interviews with 1,000+ witnesses.
Discussion
| January 4, 2023The future of Tesla
🚘 Competition in the EV space is heating up – and Tesla is feeling the pressure.
Discussion
| December 21, 2022Tackling America’s teacher shortage
🏫 A growing number of school districts across America are switching to a four-day week due to issues with teacher recruitment and retention; the trend comes as districts are also dealing with a rising shortage of teachers.
You've made it this far...
Let's make our relationship official, no 💍 or elaborate proposal required. Learn and stay entertained, for free.👇
All of our news is 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime; the quiz takes ~10 seconds to complete