It feels like the cinema. The American Congress had a crazy week which began in comedy, before taking on burlesque overtones, then in a thriller whose outcome was still in suspense late Friday evening.
The scenario works on a fairly classic spring: a routine procedure – the election of the President of the House of Representatives – goes off the rails after the introduction of a grain of salt – around twenty ultra-conservative elected officials. But it is original: never, in the last 160 years, has it happened that the elected members of the Lower House vote 13 times in a row without succeeding in electing the Speaker of the House.
It all started on Tuesday in a festive atmosphere: the representatives elected in November are due to take office for the first time. They have invited their relatives who, from the balcony, will applaud when they take the oath.
But the regulations provide that before anything else, they choose the president of the Chamber. Republican Kevin McCarthy is expected to land the role as his party narrowly regained a majority in the precinct. Except that a handful of die-hards, representing the right of the right, refuse to give him their vote, reproaching him pell-mell for being too timorous, not showing enough solidarity with Donald Trump, for embodying the “system” or for have no beliefs.
The votes are linked, but no one wins the necessary majority. Families take the opportunity to visit Washington. Some children descend into the hemicycle, but seem to be bored.
Democrat Jimmy Gomez keeps his four-month-old baby with him. He unleashes knowing laughs as he votes with the crazy little Hodge on his belly. On Thursday, Republican Nancy Mace voted with her dog Libby under her arm.
From laughter to exasperation
Meanwhile, the atmosphere turned absurd. Ordinarily, sittings in the House of Representatives are governed by strict rules which obviously prohibit dogs, but also to criticize another elected official by name, to speculate on his motives, to boo him… But these rules must be adopted after the election of the Speaker of the House.
Taking advantage of this void, the elected officials are having a field day. Republican Kat Cammack takes the top spot by accusing Democrats of bringing “popcorn, blankets and booze” to enjoy the show. In the midst of this turmoil, the clerk, Cheryl Johnson, strives to remind everyone that her role is to maintain “order and decorum until the election of the speaker “. Without much impact on the most turbulent.
” I love that ! loose the rebel republican Lauren Boebert, for whom this chaos is the mark of a healthy democracy.
Unconvinced, a growing number of elected officials are showing their exasperation with the votes that follow one another mechanically: the Democrat Maxine Waters blows shamelessly, Republicans leave the session during a speech by the troublemaker Matt Gaetz…
Negotiations and tribulations
In this confusion, negotiations begin little by little, feeding all the conjectures.
The cameras of the parliamentary channel C-Span, exceptionally authorized to film in the smallest corners, capture the elected leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in deep discussion with the Republican Paul Gosar. In 2021, he had however posted an animation video showing him killing her. She later told the press that he wanted to know if the Democrats were considering helping McCarthy.
Republican George Santos, snubbed Tuesday by his peers because he lied on his CV during his campaign, is taking advantage of this climate of palaver to break out of his isolation.
Friday, after a night of negotiations, elected Republicans pray at the foot of the perch in the hope that the situation will unblock. When the session resumed, Kevin McCarthy stirred behind the scenes. He keeps leaving his seat to go and chat in the galleries adjacent to the hemicycle. His efforts seem to be bearing the first fruits, since around fifteen elected officials have joined the ranks. In the middle of the afternoon, when the session is closed, he only lacks a handful of votes.
The exercise was to resume late Friday evening. A fourteenth vote was scheduled for 10 p.m., hoping to end a situation not seen since 1860, when the United States was on the brink of civil war.