Kareena Joseph '23
Kevin McCarthy persuaded the far-right members of his party to support him as Speaker of the House by agreeing to concessions that changed the course of political history.
For those unfamiliar, the Speaker of the House is recognized as the House's presiding officer and is entrusted with several tasks and obligations by law and House of Representatives rules. The Speaker maintains order, conducts its proceedings, and regulates the administration of its business. Because the majority of the chamber is Republican, the Speaker must, by tradition, also be Republican.
Since there was no speaker for more than two weeks, the House of Representatives became chaotic and unorganized. That is why McCarthy made concessions to get the far-right party members to vote for him.
These compromises included only one member of the House of Representatives needed to vote him out of office. If McCarthy does something unlawful or unethical, all it takes is one person to vote him out of office. Usually, it takes five votes to remove a speaker from the House, but McCarthy had to agree to this concession to gain his party's support. He also promised to hold votes on controversial term limit and border security proposals, and to let additional Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee.
Some individuals need clarification on the House of Representatives taking more than two weeks to pick a speaker, while others have no feelings or views on the subject.
When asked how they felt about the situation, Zoe Yeung '23 responded, "I feel like two weeks is excessive to pick one person for the Speaker of the House. Especially since it is such an important job, I feel the people in the House should have sucked it up and picked McCarthy in the beginning."
Meanwhile, Lianna Wu '26 stated, "I honestly do not have much interest in this subject, but it's confusing because the House of Representatives first opposed McCarthy, yet he still won."
This situation has been stressful and fascinating for someone who is not a huge admirer of politics. Because citizens in the United States cannot vote in this election, many of us can only wait and watch what the leaders in the House of Representatives ultimately decide.
However, it is surprising that it took 15 days of negotiating and voting for them to choose McCarthy when the House of Representatives members understood the importance of having a Speaker in the House.
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