Chaos without end – so it goes on in the US Congress

Washington The heart of American democracy, the US Congress, is in turmoil as the House of Representatives, one of two chambers, is fighting for a new leader for the second day in a row. What sounds like a formality is growing into a drama in Washington. As long as the so-called “speaker of the house” has not been determined, the House of Representatives with its 435 members cannot start its work.

In purely mathematical terms, the Republicans would have to fill the powerful post previously held by Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The party won a majority in the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections. But Republicans are at odds over who should be their powerful leader. The 57-year-old Kevin McCarthy of California has by far the most support so far, but round after round around 20 MPs refuse to vote for him – far more than the four dissenters McCarthy can afford.

“It’s pretty embarrassing,” said US President Joe Biden. The chaos in Congress will also affect him in the medium term, because a dysfunctional House of Representatives threatens the entire US government.
What is behind the showdown in Congress, how to proceed now – the overview.

1. How did it come to this?

So far, McCarthy has been the so-called minority leader in the House of Representatives, i.e. chairman of the Republican opposition in the chamber. For eight years he worked to be elected Speaker. The third-highest office in the United States harbors enormous power, most recently held by Democrat Nancy Pelosi. She could set the agenda and thus decide which laws would be dealt with.

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While Donald Trump was in the White House, McCarthy was a loyal partner of the President. However, he criticized him after fanatical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His opponents in the Republican faction accuse him of opportunism and lack of backbone. They mostly belong to the ultra-conservative, Trump-affiliated “Freedom Caucus” and consider McCarthy to be too “establishment”.

McCarthy tries to accommodate his critics: For example, he questions the billions in US aid for Ukraine. And he promises to hustle the Biden administration with committees of inquiry and impeachment procedures. But that’s not enough for the right wing. They’ve been failing McCarthy vote after vote since Tuesday noon. The number of dissenters has not decreased recently, but has even increased. There hasn’t been anything comparable in the House of Representatives for almost a hundred years, and the work of the deputies is paralyzed for the time being.

2. What happens if there is no agreement?

In theory, the House of Representatives can vote on a speaker indefinitely, the US Constitution only provides vague instructions. There are no signs that McCarthy is giving up. The Democrats have fielded their own candidate, young, black Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from New York. However, a simple majority is not enough; the speaker must simultaneously have the majority of the votes cast. If all MPs are present, the hurdle is at least 218 votes – neither McCarthy nor Jeffries currently achieve that. As long as there is no spokesman, the chamber is not able to work.

McCarthy wanted to enter into negotiations with his critics again on Wednesday, and Donald Trump also supported McCarthy via his Truth Social platform. So far, other possible candidates do not seem to be able to win a majority. Floating in the room were the names of Byron Donalds, a black congressman from Florida, and election denier Jim Jordan, who is set to take over the powerful Judiciary Committee.

Steve Scalise could be a consensus candidate who has been in Congress for almost 15 years. In 2017, he was shot and seriously injured by an anti-Trump activist during a baseball game. So far, however, Scalise has supported McCarthy.

The scenario of a deal with the Democrats is even circulating on Capitol Hill: Some MPs are demanding that they vote for a Republican and get some concessions in return. A so-called “Unity Speaker” would be very unusual. The mere fact that such solutions are being discussed shows that the narrow majority in the USA is putting the two-party system in the USA to the test.

3. “Not my problem,” says President Biden. Is that correct?

From a purely strategic point of view, the Republicans’ theater is not inconvenient for the US Democrats. The more divided the Republicans appear, the more stable the Democrats appear – that is the calculation of US President Joe Biden, who may want to run for a second term. In fact, the Republican struggle for direction is showing its full effect in Congress.

The populist and nationalist Trump had his party firmly under control for years and radicalized it. But then he lost the 2020 presidential election and the Republicans performed disappointingly for them in the 2022 midterm election. Almost two years before the next presidential election, they are in a deep crisis.

“I just find it a little embarrassing that it’s taking so long,” Biden commented on the chaos in Congress. “The rest of the world is watching.” But that’s “not my problem,” he said. But an unstable House of Representatives could quickly become his problem. Even the last negotiations on the 1.7 trillion budget were only concluded with a bang and a bang. And the annual increase in the debt limit is due again in autumn 2023, and Congress will also decide on that.

If the US does not raise its debt limit, the economic powerhouse will not be able to meet its payment obligations, which will destabilize the global economy. How united or divided the factions in Congress appear has direct consequences for the reliability of the USA.

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