(Washington) The US House of Representatives closed its day on Wednesday without managing to elect its new president, sinking a little deeper into the crisis.
Sharp dissension in the Republican ranks completely paralyzes the process of appointing a “speaker”. After six unsuccessful votes since Tuesday, the elected officials agreed to suspend their debates until Thursday noon local time (12 p.m. Eastern time).
Favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi at the perch, the Republican Kevin McCarthy is dependent on the goodwill of about twenty elected Trumpists who accuse him of being too moderate and deliberately playing the spoilsport.
“Embarrassing”
Members of the most conservative fringe of the party, they take advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the mid-term elections in November to set their conditions. Without their support, Kevin McCarthy cannot be elected.
America wants “a new face, a new vision, a new leadership”, argued the turbulent elected representative of Texas Chip Roy from the hemicycle on Wednesday.
Kevin McCarthy, a member of the Republican staff for more than 10 years, has already acceded to many of this group’s demands, without this allowing the situation to be unblocked. Worse, opposition to his candidacy seemed to crystallize.
The election of the “speaker”, the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice-president, requires a majority of 218 votes. Kevin McCarthy has so far failed to exceed 203.
The elected representative of California does not have a credible competitor. Only the name of group leader Steve Scalise is circulating as a possible alternative, without his chances seeming serious.
Democratic President Joe Biden called this situation “embarrassing”, assuring that “the rest of the world” was following the mess in Congress closely.
This blockage has very concrete repercussions: without a president, elected officials cannot take an oath, and therefore pass any bill. “We have work to do and which we cannot tackle,” denounced the elected Republican Mike Gallagher.
Republicans also cannot open the numerous investigations they had promised against Joe Biden.
Annoyance was beginning to be felt in the Republican staff, giving rise to very lively debates in the hemicycle.
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump came out of the woodwork, urging the group of free spirits to fall into line.
PHOTO KEVIN LAMARQUE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Former President Donald Trump called on his party to do everything to “avoid defeat”.
But the former president, whose reputation as a kingmaker has been seriously questioned in recent months, has also failed to convince them.
Boon for Biden?
A situation that the Democrats observe with a certain amusement, launching sardonic laughter and applause in the hemicycle. Joe Biden’s party is united around the candidacy of Hakeem Jeffries, but the elected official does not have enough votes to be elected to the perch either.
Elected officials will continue to vote until a Speaker of the House of Representatives is elected. This was to be a matter of a few hours, but could extend over several weeks: in 1856, the elected members of Congress only agreed after two months and 133 turns.
Facing a hostile but disorderly House could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden, if he confirms his intention to run again in 2024 – a decision he is due to announce at the start of the year.
The Democratic president went to Kentucky on Wednesday to praise the construction of a new large bridge financed by a pharaonic infrastructure law that he carried, and which had collected some Republican votes in Congress.
The opportunity for him to put on his favorite costume as a centrist president, fond of compromises, inherited from his long career as a senator.
Coincidentally, he was accompanied by the leader of the Republicans in the other chamber of the American Congress… the tenor of the Senate Mitch McConnell.