1 year ago
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The 118th Congress of the United States opens Tuesday, with the House and Senate both convening to swear in new members, adopt a new set of rules for governing the session another housekeeping. That should go well in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s majority is a real majority—51 members. Then there’s the House, which is shaping up to be a real shit show for the tiny GOP majority about to take over. The vote for speaker is scheduled at high noon. Electing a speaker is the thing that allows everything else to happen—the swearings in and the adoption of the new rules. No speaker, no new Congress.
The Democrats will nominate their new leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to be speaker. Some Republican will nominate Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Then they vote. And they keep voting until they elect someone. Even if it takes days.
As Tuesday begins, McCarthy, the Republican leader since 2019, doesn’t have the votes to take the speaker’s gavel. A definite five, and as many as 18, Republicans are refusing to vote for him. He has to get 218 votes, the GOP majority is 222. That didn’t stop him from moving into the speaker’s office Monday, apparently exercising the maxim that possession is nine-tenths of the game.
