The Speaker of the House of Representatives successfully got the new Rules of Procedure through Congress.
(Photo: Reuters)
Washington The new Republican chairman of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has passed his first test in the new post after the historic election chaos. On Monday evening, the House of Representatives passed the new rules of procedure by a vote of 220 to 213 (local time), which will now apply to the work of the House of Representatives in the new session. McCarthy could only afford to lose four votes because of the narrow Republican majority. In the end, one Republican voted against the Rules of Procedure with the Democrats, and another missed the vote.
It was not previously clear if McCarthy would get a majority for the rulebook. In order to win over his opponents from the party’s extreme right, McCarthy had to make sweeping concessions to a small group of MPs when he was elected to the presidency.
This includes, among other things, that in the future a member of parliament can single-handedly initiate a vote of no confidence against the chairman of the House of Representatives. McCarthy is also said to have promised a group of his opponents posts on key House committees, including a committee that decides which bills to vote on, in side deals to a group of his opponents.
Some more moderate MPs had previously indicated that they intended to vote against the new rules of procedure – the concessions to the small group of radical representatives of the people had gone too far. They feared a cut in defense spending and possible promises McCarthy might have made to his opponents on the sly.
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The 57-year-old was elected chairman of the parliamentary chamber in the 15th ballot on Saturday night (local time) after various party colleagues had refused to support him in the previous rounds and he had therefore repeatedly missed the necessary majority.
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