Stalemate for House Speaker vote is unprecedented

Unprecedented. That’s a word that has been bandied about consistently for years when politics come up. “Unprecedented border crisis.” “Unprecedented SCOTUS reversal.” “Unprecedented high fuel prices.”

It’s become such an overused word that I wonder if the word has started to lose meaning. But regardless, the word has been used a lot this week as Congress is supposed to elect a new Speaker of the House. It is Thursday evening and they have adjourned for the night without doing so, for the third day in a row.

Now, normally I am not invested in this process. It’s like certifying the elections, and well, oops. That last one that was certainly unprecedented. But watching this normally dull procedure usually reserved for C-SPAN has turned into something else, making many question the future of the GOP.

The Republicans regained control of the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections back in November. So it goes without saying that a republican should easily slide into the coveted leadership position of Speaker.

Insert Kevin McCarthy here.

He’s a Republican from California whose entire political career has been built around his eventually becoming Speaker. It certainly seemed like a no brainer.

Except he has not been able to reach the required 218 votes needed to win Speakership. He hasn’t even received the most votes. That honor goes to the Democrats and their nominee, Hakeem Jeffries. But because of the long-established rules in Congress, that’s neither here nor there. What is stalling Mr. McCarthy is a faction of 20 Republican representatives, give or take a few, who are determined to not see Mr. McCarthy in the Speaker role.

Some have said they don’t like his character, while others want a chairmanship or better position within the many, many committees that leads to more power overall. But most of the 20 are not willing to bend.

In the beginning, this was riveting, almost must-see TV. I figured the group of hold-outs would make their point that they weren’t happy, and that they weren’t just going to go along to get along. But eventually a few of them would tire out and vote for Mr. McCarthy. Spoiler alert, that didn’t happen.

It didn’t happen on Wednesday. Nor did it happen today (it is Thursday as I write this). But today, there was a bit of a plot twist when one of the holdouts voted for former President Donald Trump. They can actually do that because there isn’t a rule that says it someone has to be an elected member of Congress to be Speaker.

Don’t expect a Democrat to help Mr. McCarthy out either. They could throw votes his way and end this stalemate, but I’m pretty sure they are relishing all of this, gleefully reading press releases and commentary about the GOP and how out-of-sync they are appearing.

I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. I am proudly independent because frankly, I don’t recognize either party anymore and what I do see is that neither party is a good fit for me. Frankly, I don’t care who becomes Speaker because I’m just cynical enough to believe that not much will get done during the next two years.

That said, this whole thing is chaotic and sad, bordering on pathetic. Congress looks ridiculous, like they can’t get their act together to get a leader for one of the houses. The guy who was so sure he was going to be Speaker (and might still be) went ahead and moved into the Speaker’s office.

This logjam has prevented the actual business the Republican majority wants to get done from happening. They haven’t even been able to swear-in the newly elected representatives.

The Speaker has a host of responsibilities, besides just presenting and drafting legislation. He or she is 2nd in line for the presidency after the Vice President. Right now, if a plot from any number of action movies were to occur with the White House being attacked, and the President and Vice President are taken out, there’s no one to lead the military. That would go to the President pro tempore of the Senate, who is Senator Patty Murray from Washington.

This isn’t Mr. McCarthy’s first go-round on the Speaker merry-go-round. He tried in 2015 but came up short then, with the backdoor dealings failing, and the Speakership went to Paul Ryan.

Mr. McCarthy has bent over backwards, making who knows how many concessions to get a deal so he can finally reach his golden chalice. I have to wonder what it does to a person’s psyche to see yourself lose not once, not twice, but 11 times. How much of his soul has he sold to try and get the Speakership, and after doing so much, how much will the Republican Congressmen and women trust him, how many will fall in line with his plans?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It’s hard to predict when and how this is going to end, but I have a feeling that unless Mr. McCarthy withdraws or another candidate is introduced and found to be acceptable, or at least reach 218 votes, we will probably be right back here on Monday.

In the meantime, the border is overflowing into the streets of El Paso, the economy edges closer to recession, and people can’t find eggs in the stores.