All of the House’s members, Republicans and Democrats alike have gone, in my very professional opinion, cuckoo-bananas. On Oct. 3, Kevin McCarthy, Republican representative of California’s 20th congressional district and former Speaker of the House, was ousted from his Speakership.
In a monumental act that proves that certain members of the Republican Party were frequently dropped on their heads as children, the House’s partisan divide insurmountably widened and created a state of flux that no one knows how to fix.
McCarthy was voted out of office by eight Republicans due to a compromise he made with the Democrats in an effort to prevent a government shutdown — a phenomenon that causes immense chaos in everyone’s lives, not just in the government’s abilities and functions.
Those who ousted McCarthy are perfectly comfortable with diverting congressional attention from making sure the country runs smoothly to deciding which helpless congressperson should be thrown into the ring.
We’re in uncharted territory. Not only has a Speaker never been voted out before, but there’s nothing in the Constitution that even slightly refers to what to do in a situation like this. Given the approaching shutdown date in less than a month and the lack of any clear option besides gentle-parenting certain Republicans into changing their minds, the future looks like it’ll be controlled by a tiny little tyrannical group with unchecked power.
These Republicans need to realize that McCarthy’s not a line monitor, and he can’t just be kicked out in the middle of a massive upheaval going on in the world. There are countless wars waging, and with the U.S. widely leaned on as a global superpower, the cogs in this machine need to be fine-tuned — or outright replaced. Now is not the time to be testing the limits of the government’s power, nor is it the time to test the American people’s patience.
It only took eight Republicans to vote out the Speaker and essentially force the entire House into what I assume must look like a kindergarten classroom left unattended. These miscreants are woefully aware of the power they hold to enact their own wishes, and the idea of bipartisanship is becoming more and more of a daydream than a possibility. The House is now rendered even more ineffectual than usual, left in a complete deadlock until they choose a new Speaker.
We have a year until this election cycle’s up, and there’s no shortage of issues that need to be dealt with in the meantime. This precedent means that not only are our politicians failing to compromise in any way, shape or form, but they’ve also decided it’s okay to kick someone out of their seat when they make an action they disagree with — not only bruising his ego but the entire state of affairs of the country. America has enough problems when parties fight each other, but now they’re fighting themselves, too, and no one really knows what to do here.
Austin Bussing, assistant professor of political science at Trinity, wrote in an email that cooperation as of now seems highly unlikely. Concurrently, he restored just a little bit of my faith that our government won’t crumble before the government shuts down in November by illuminating a path for what’s going to happen next. Notably, he wrote that the interim Speaker of the House, Patrick T. McHenry, U.S. Representative for North Carolina’s 10th congressional district, might serve in the seat going forward.
“There is disagreement on this, but my reading of the House Rules and Precedents is that he is perfectly able and allowed to do that,” Bussing wrote in an email.
McHenry and McCarthy worked together to pass the continuing resolution, proving that he might actually have at least a slightly open-minded approach to legislation in the House. I don’t personally agree with his policies, but given the fury with which he banged the gavel after being given the interim Speakership, it’s fair to say that he’s leaning away from the hyper-conservative mindset that kicked his friend out of power. Nonetheless, there’s no way to verify my claim unless he gets the Speakership and proves it, but even if he does, who’s to say Republicans won’t throw him out too?
Some Republicans are even pointing out that nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the Speaker of the House must be a U.S. Representative in the first place, just that they need to be chosen by its members. As such, in an unsurprising turn of events, Donald Trump has thrown his hat into the ring. Gracious as ever, he has decreed that he will become Speaker “if necessary.”
Congress is evidently just making it up as they go, leaving a trail of unanswered questions and confusing precedents behind. Somehow, they’ve reached into my brain and recreated my nightmare scenario. For now, the government is up and running, but as for how long that’s going to be true, in the words of President Joe Biden, “that’s above my pay grade.”
