The speakership is supposed to be a privilege for the party in the majority within the House of Representatives. But for the House Republican conference, it has turned into a nightmare. One ousting, two failed candidates and three crises later, the House of Representatives is still without a Speaker.
Kevin McCarthy was ousted Oct. 3 of this year when highly ideological representatives declared his conservatism not “up to par.” However, a decade ago, McCarthy was considered more in line with the far right members when compared to leaders of the Republican Congress like former Speaker of the House John Boehner. Much like his fellow members in the self-proclaimed “Young Guns,” former majority leader Eric Cantor and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, McCarthy has now found himself out of touch with his own party, a demonstration of the conference’s move to the extreme right.
Unfortunately for the conference, the status quo of Kevin McCarthy as their leader was the only thing keeping them united. Majority Leader Steve Scalise, although generally considered more conservative than McCarthy, was unable to gain support from many of the same representatives who ousted McCarthy earlier this month and was forced to withdraw his candidacy.
Although this left the Chair of the Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan as the only major candidate, many moderates have become bitter with their party and the fact that they have forced their elected leaders, whom the party generally supported, out of their posts of leaders in the Republican conference. Thus, on Friday morning, Jordan lost one-third of the speakership vote, and support for his bid is continuing to bleed.
The House of Representatives is now at a standstill. Democrats, without a majority, have no realistic way to empower their preferred candidate, Hakeem Jeffries. At the same time, the Republican conference is divided. Hardliners refuse to back any candidate who doesn’t share their views, and moderates refuse to allow a small minority of members to hijack the party. Now, discussion has turned to empowering a Speaker pro tempore, an unprecedented territory with unknown consequences.
With two of our allies at war, each day is one step closer to a government shutdown. America without a Speaker is against the interest of our national security. Yet those who would rather disrupt than provide proper government have been empowered, accommodated and appeased so a select few can obtain power. It is time for the majority of the Republican conference who truly believe in governing to move past this national disgrace and put the American people over party politics. If not, the American people will force them to do so by the ballot box.
