Chaos in the US Congress due to the inability to elect its president after 3 votes

It hasn’t happened in 100 years: the new House of Representatives from USA adjourned the session this Tuesday without being able to elect its president due to tensions between the Republicans.

SIGHT: The Republican McCarthy loses both votes for the presidency of the US House of Representatives.

Republican Kevin McCarthy, the favorite to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi, failed to calm a revolt by a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump, who consider him too moderate.

Congressmen decided to adjourn until Wednesday morning to give themselves time to negotiate behind the scenes.

The Republicans, who won a slim majority of the seats in the Lower House in the November legislative elections, intend to use their counterpower to open a series of investigations into the US president, the Democrat Joe Biden, for example on the way in which the who managed the covid-19 pandemic.

But first they have to agree on who will preside over the House of Representatives so that congressmen can be sworn in.

– 218 votes –

The election of the head of the Lower House, known as “speaker”, the third most important figure in US politics after the president and vice president, requires a majority of 218 votes.

A figure that McCarthy has not been able to reach for the moment, after three rounds, due to the opposition of twenty or so Trump-friendly congressmen who have decided to spoil the party.

And that McCarthy’s candidacy has broad support within his party. In fact, the announcement of his nomination on the floor Tuesday was greeted with a standing ovation from the Republican ranks.

At the beginning of the third round, some discomfort was palpable. More moderate Republicans were calling on their colleagues to support McCarthy.

“We came here to do things,” said Republican caucus leader Steve Scalise, drawing laughter from Democrats.

Throughout the vote, Biden’s party has rallied around the candidacy of Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, applauding him to the tune of “Hakeem, Hakeem, Hakeem!” But he lacks enough votes to get elected.

The choice of a Speaker of the House of Representatives could be decided in hours or weeks. In 1856 it took two months.

McCarthy seems willing to make concessions to the most conservative to avoid history repeating itself, since in 2015 the right wing of the party already prevented him from holding office.

But he also can’t afford to turn against moderate Republicans.

Although their room for maneuver is limited, at the moment they do not have a strong rival. As a possible alternative, only the name of Jim Jordan is circulating.

– Does it benefit Biden? –

With the Lower House under the control of the Republicans, Biden will not be able to promote large projects, but neither will the opposing camp because the Senate is still in the hands of the Democrats.

For them to entrench themselves in a systematic opposition they would have to be united and in the budget vote in December some Republicans were seen voting with the Democrats.

With the election of the “speaker” the disunity jumps out again.

And a hostile House could even benefit him if Biden confirms his intention to run again in the 2024 presidential election.

The president is careful not to comment on Republican divisions. His spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, assured that the Democratic leader “will not meddle in this process.”

In the event of legislative paralysis, he will most likely blame the blockade on the Republicans, hoping to benefit politically.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.