Chaos in the United States Congress while a revolt by Trumpists deemed favorite Kevin McCarthy too moderate.
Washington correspondent
The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives failed to elect their president. Republican candidate Kevin McCarthy could not afford more than four votes against within his faction. Five opponents had previously spoken out against his candidacy. They were almost twenty to vote against him in three consecutive ballots on Tuesday afternoon.
Instead of the 218 votes needed to win the election, McCarthy, a Republican representative from California, received only 203 votes in the first two ballots. He fared even worse in the third round, losing the support of 20 other Republicans. The meeting was adjourned in the late afternoon and is scheduled to resume at 12 noon on Wednesday.
A formality for a century
This situation is very rare and has not occurred for a hundred years. The election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the majority party is mostly just a formality. This crisis shows the depth of divisions within the Republican faction. It also cripples the functioning of the lower house of Congress. Until the President of the Chamber is elected, the Assembly cannot meet, decide on the agenda, or make appointments to the various parliamentary committees.
McCarthy refused to admit defeat. After receiving a call for encouragement from Donald Trump, he assured that the former president had asked him to bring the party together.
McCarthy, who was leader of the Republican minority in the previous legislature, was the big favorite to succeed Nancy Pelosi, the incumbent Democrat, after the Republicans won the midterm elections last November. This victory was less than the announced triumph but sufficient to regain control of the House from the Democrats. “The regime of the only Democratic Party is coming to an end,” announced Republican MP Elise Stefanik on Tuesday when nominating the candidate. “Kevin McCarthy is a staunch conservative,” she assured her Republican peers, who supports the anti-abortion, gun-bearing right and says she is determined to cut public spending. Not everyone was convinced.
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For several months, a small group of elected Republicans, who were among the most radical, had announced their refusal to see McCarthy in the post because they believed he was neither conservative nor determined enough to oppose the Democrats, and even voted with them on occasion to have.
These radicals, members of the Freedom Caucus (the freedom group), had pressured McCarthy to grant them veto power and changed House rules to allow a single elected representative to seek the impeachment of their president. McCarthy made many concessions but rejected this measure, which would have put him under the control of this handful of radicals more determined to settle their scores than to legislate responsibly.
“Alligator”
“If you’re going to drain the swamp, you can’t give the job to the biggest alligator,” quipped Matt Gaetz, Florida representative and one of McCarthy’s most vocal opponents, using a metaphor that compares Washington DC and the federal government to a swamp of Corruption.
McCarthy’s supporters have accused this core of opponents of demagogy. “They care more about their own notoriety than about principles,” said Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, one of McCarthy’s supporters. But these twenty slingers have reiterated their intention to maintain their opposition and see the vote as an important moment in giving the Republican Party a decidedly more conservative stance.
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If McCarthy doesn’t get the required number of votes, Republicans may have to choose another candidate. But this small internal crisis of the Republican Party already heralds the difficulties that await the future President of the Chamber during the new legislature.