The United States House of Representatives is still paralyzed: an ally of Donald Trump failed on Friday, for the third time in four days, to be elected president, at a time when Joe Biden is asking Congress for a huge budget extension to the Israeli and Ukrainian allies.
For almost three weeks, one of the two chambers of the American Congress, supposed to be one of the most powerful parliaments in the world, has not been able to vote on a single bill and no end seems in sight. .
During the 17 days that have passed since the Republican Kevin McCarthy was dismissed by surprise from his position as “speaker” (president of the lower house) after the rebellion of a Trumpist elected official, the 221 Republicans, in the majority but torn between hard wing and moderates, could not agree to find a successor to the perch.
An elected official from the hard right, Steve Scalise, already lost his teeth last week and Jim Jordan, a member of the most conservative fringe of the party and very close to Trump, failed on Friday, for the third time this week .
With each vote, opposition against Mr. Jordan grows. Twenty Republicans voted against him on Tuesday and 22 the next day. On Friday, 25 members of his party refused to give him their vote.
“We are in a very bad situation,” admitted former “speaker” Kevin McCarthy after this vote.
It was unclear Friday whether Jim Jordan, 59, planned to try to push for a fourth vote.
The day before, during a meeting, parliamentarians had asked him to give up. And some Republican elected officials assured that they would not vote for him if he persisted in running.
“It has become clear that elected Jordan does not have and will not obtain the votes necessary to be a speaker,” Tom Kean, elected Republican from New Jersey, said in a statement.
It is in this context of blockage in the House and political chaos that Joe Biden requested on Friday a budgetary increase of 105 billion dollars in particular to support Ukraine and Israel, allies of the United States involved in major international crises, and respond to the challenges posed by immigration at the country’s southern border.
More details will follow.