RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — As Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) failed to win the 10th vote for Speaker of the House on Thursday, many are questioning the system of election.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) is among a number of lawmakers across the country who say that the arduous vote for a new House Speaker is getting in the way of governing.
Spanberger is the only Virginia lawmaker in the House Agriculture Committee tasked with passing a massive farm bill every few years.
“This is a monumental piece of legislation that every five years needs to be reauthorized and reworked,” Spanberger said. “[It] will require people who are committed to — not only doing the business of going back and forth and compromising and finding common ground building out coalitions — but also the most basic element of it which is governing.”
With 10 failed rounds of voting, the House surpassed the number it took the last time this happened 100 years ago. The longest session of voting started in late 1855 and dragged on for two months, with 133 ballots, during debates over slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
