In the weeks leading up to the 118th session of the United States Congress, which is set to convene on Tuesday (December 3) at noon (local time), the attention has been focused on Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy whose bid to become the speaker of the House of Representatives has been uncertain at best.
Notably, this is not the first time that the California lawmaker has sought to lead the 435-member House. In 2015, he faced similar opposition from a small section of the Republican party (GOP) after he entered the race when House Speaker John Boehner, (R-Ohio) resigned.
Last year, following the midterm elections the GOP, took over the House with a narrow majority of 222-213 from the Democrats and the outgoing speaker Nancy Pelosi. However, given the opposition against McCarthy so far, from people of his own caucus, Tuesday might become the first time ever in nearly 100 years that a majority is garnered to elect a speaker of the chamber.
Importance of a House speaker
The role of a speaker is critical for the government in Washington to function since not only will the lawmaker preside over the lower chamber of Congress they would also be next in line for the presidency. Typically, a speaker is elected at the beginning of a new Congress, however, the House can elect a new one if the incumbent dies, resigns or is removed from office, said a report by Associated Press.
Additionally, the chamber cannot be organised until a speaker who is to preside over it is chosen, therefore, the vote to choose a speaker will be the first one taken once the lawmakers convene for the session on January 3 even before the new and returning members of both parties are sworn in.
The speaker has “massive influence over what sorts of bills and amendments get voted on in Congress”, said Christian Fong, a political science professor at the University of Michigan, to Al Jazeera. He added that this also gives them a significant amount of control over what becomes a law in the upcoming session.
Who will lead the house from both parties in the upcoming session?
After the midterm elections, both the GOP conference and Democratic caucus held an informal vote where they selected the lawmaker they want to lead their party for the upcoming session. Therefore, by mid-November, following a close-door vote with Republicans, McCarthy emerged as the leader of the House for his party. Subsequently, by the end of the month, Democrats chose Representative Hakeem Jeffries from New York to lead the party in the House.
How does the voting take place?
Once the House has the minimum number of members present to proceed or quorum, leaders of the house will read out the names of the speaker nominee from their respective party before the roll call vote for the election. Subsequently, the clerk appoints lawmakers from each party as tellers to tally the votes.
Notably, once the Congress begins on January 3, the members are not obligated to vote for the party’s chosen candidate, in fact, while the person typically is a member of the House it is not required. Therefore, any lawmaker including the incumbent President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and Senators, can be nominated and have previously received votes for speaker’s office, in the past, but not gained the majority, reported AP.
This is because lawmakers in the House call out the name of their choice from the floor in a time-consuming roll call. So far, the number to reach a majority in the 435-member chamber has been 218 votes, however, many speakers including the outgoing speaker Pelosi have taken the gavel with less than that.
This is because some members vote present instead of calling out a name, therefore, according to AP, every lawmaker that votes “present” lowers the total tally needed to reach a majority. In case a majority is not reached on the first ballot, as many have speculated would happen in McCarthy’s case, the clerk will repeat the roll call vote several times until a majority is garnered.
Once the speaker nominee has won a majority of the vote the clear announces the results. Subsequently, a bipartisan committee typically one consisting of the members of the candidate’s home state escorts the speaker-elect to the dais for the oath-taking ceremony, where the outgoing speaker, in this case, speaker and California Democrat Pelosi, joins their successor and passes the gavel in a peaceful transition of power.
Why do many people McCarthy would not be able to garner a majority to become the speaker?
The last time a speaker for the House of Representatives was not elected in the first round of votes was exactly a century ago in 1923 when a speaker was selected after nearly nine rounds of voting. “It’s a very thin (GOP majority), so it only takes a small group of determined representatives to really get together and pose a credible threat to prevent the Speaker from being elected”, said Fong to Al Jazeera. The professor also spoke about how despite growing bipartisan opposition to the power of the Speaker, the path to the gavel will be particularly difficult for McCarthy.
The situation that the Republican lawmaker faces is not entirely unique, as the outgoing speaker Pelosi who held the position for nearly four years witnessed similar internal opposition during her reelection in 2021. However, despite protests from five members of her caucus she managed to retain her position with Dems’ slim majority in the chamber, at the time.
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According to Fong, Republicans who are opposing McCarthy’s bid for the gavel are from the so-called “safe-districts”, where they did not face much competition in the elections or had trouble raising funds due to their strong political base. Therefore, they do not value the power a speaker holds over what would otherwise be “valuable resources” for the House members which include committee assignments and campaign funding.
Additionally, the California Republican faces a number of critics who want change in the way the House operates and have long complained that the structure gives too much power to leaders and argued for changes which would make small groups of dissenters obstruct and change legislation, reported the New York Times.
McCarthy currently faces at least a dozen lawmakers who would choose anyone else but him which has left him scrambling for votes at the last minute and negotiating with the opposing lawmakers on concessions which may dilute his powers, should he take the office of the speaker, in the upcoming session. This mix also includes a group of newly elected lawmakers who are still weighing their options, said the NYT.
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Furthermore, since the GOP is holding on to a majority in the lower chamber by just a couple of votes which makes McCarthy’s bid to become the next speaker all the more critical given that members with outsized power can threaten to effectively dilute if not wipe out the power Republicans would otherwise enjoy as a majority in the chamber, affecting potentially every upcoming legislation the dissenters they do not get their way.
“One reason why you don’t see more opposition to the Speaker in the modern era is that the Speaker controls all kinds of valuable resources that members of the House of Representatives really want,” said Fong to Al Jazeera.
(With inputs from agencies)
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