Speaker election causes political divide

by grace hefner news section editor

Congressman Kevin McCarthy was elected as Speaker of the House of the 118th U.S. Congress on Jan. 7, 2023 after 15 rounds of congressional votes.

This is the first time in 100 years that voting for a speaker has gone beyond one round, as McCarthy struggled to get his 20 Republican colleagues who were initially voting against him to flip their ballots. However, by the end of round 14, he was able to negotiate with the majority for these colleagues, getting most to vote in his name and others, including Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, to vote “present,” seemingly forfeiting their votes.

“McCarthy had been in tense negotiations for days with a small but critical group of far–right conservative lawmakers who made extended demands for concessions that would essentially make it easier to depose a speaker and weaken the powers of the speaker’s office to drive the legislative agenda and assign committee posts,” according to npr.org.

Congress Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries received a unanimous vote from the 212 Democrats in Congress during all of the 15 rounds of congressional votes, resulting in the American public fixating on the internal conflict within the Republican party as it contrasted with the unity of the Democratic party.

“[These] kinds of extremely partisan moves might come back to hurt [the Republican party],” said Jesse Oliver, AP U.S. History and Honors Contemporary World Issues teacher.

Both Republicans and Democrats struggle to find common ground in increasing the debt ceiling, a prominent topic during Biden’s State of the Union Address on Feb. 7, 2023. The publicity from the election has only increased public conversation about the lack of bipartisanship that is seen within the U.S. government today.

“I think party lines are so divided … that any hatred [Republican members of Congress]

Congressional demands for debt ceiling

The U.S. government has hit the $31.4 trillion debt limit. The U.S. treasury argues that the “extraordinary measures” it will take to keep the economy stable will only last until summer 2023. Democrats and Republicans have differing opinions on how to solve the problem.

Biden Classfied Documents

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Sources: politico.com & thehill.com have for McCarthy is trumped by the hate they have for the other party,” said Oliver.

Congress is currently in a debate with the White House and President Joe Biden over expanding the government’s debt ceiling, which caps the amount of money the federal government can assume. Through this debate, the public has been able to learn some of the concessions McCarthy made with his Republican colleagues in order to secure him the Speaker of the House position.

“He probably had to make deals that were very specific to certain [Congress members] and what they want, but I do not think [what he agreed to] is going to change the Republican platform,” said Sabrina Beckwith , CP World History and CP Government and Economics teacher.

One of the most prominent concessions is a new rule that allows only one member of Congress to bring a “motion to vacate,” which forces Congress to vote on the removal of the speaker, according to nbcnews.com.

“Conservative lawmakers say that as part of their negotiations to allow McCarthy the speakership, it secured assurances to include major spending cuts to balance the federal budget in any debt limit increase,” according to nbcnews.com . “And to enforce that, they’ve secured other rule changes that give a small group of members the power to remove McCarthy.”

Despite the challenges taking place within the Republican party, many believe that it has an opportunity to gain power in the House of Representatives and influence Americans in time for the 2024 presidential election.

“In terms of what a functional House GOP would seek to do in an ideal world, it would likely be messaging bills meant to tee up the fights to come in the next election,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist and former National Republican Senatorial Committee aide, in an interview with The New York Times . “And of course, since our elections never end, the biggest measure of success will be if [McCarthy] is able to protect and even increase his fragile majority.”