The favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi, however, managed to rally trumpists to his cause. Taking advantage of the fine margin of the Republicans in the House, this small group of around twenty elected officials blocks the election in the hope of obtaining concessions.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The situation in the House of Representatives in the United States had still not found a way on Friday, January 6. While Republican Kevin McCarthy managed to convince, after thirteen votes, several elected Trumpists to support his candidacy, that was not enough to make him access the speaker position. Open at noon (6 p.m., in Paris), the debates were suspended a few hours later and will not resume until 10 p.m. (4 am, in Paris).
Four days after the Republicans officially took control of it, the room is still paralyzed by the sling of around twenty Trumpist elected officials who blocks the election. Republican Kevin McCarthy, favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi in this position, for the first time on Friday made significant progress in his candidacy on the fourth day of unpublished negotiations.
of the 218 votes necessary to prevail – The Republicans have a short majority of 222 seats in the House of Representatives -, Mr. McCarthy had until now gathered 203. During the thirteenth on Friday , he harvested 214. The elected representative of California is suspended from the goodwill of members of the most conservative fringe of his party, who take advantage of the very fine republican majority won in the mid-term elections to lay their conditions.
“An extreme fringe prevents govern from”
The opportunity, for the Democrats, to denounce the control of the faithful of Donald Trump – many of whom still refuse to recognize his defeat in 2020 – on the Republican Party, two years after the attack by his supporters against the siege Congress. “The chaos that reigns in the House of Representatives is only another illustration of the way in which an extreme fringe (…) prevents them from governing,” assured the chief of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.
The anniversary of the Capitol Assault “should serve as a signal to the Republican Party to reject the Trumpism which led him to fail,” he said in a statement. This second anniversary was marked by a minute of silence on the steps of the American Congress.
Kevin McCarthy stretched out the free electrons blocking his election, offering them size concessions during behind -the -scenes negotiations. This blockage has very concrete repercussions: without speaking, elected officials cannot take an oath or therefore vote a bill. The 434 members of the House of Representatives, theater of this singular show, will therefore continue to vote until a president is elected.
“We will surprise you”
“We are going to make progress, we are going to surprise you,” promised Kevin McCarthy by entering the Congress Plugs on Friday morning. After the suspension of the debates, the elected Republican told CNN “to believe [that he] will get the votes to close all this for good”. Member of the Republican staff for over ten years, the elected official has not currently had credible competitor. Only the name of the group leader, Steve scalizes, circulates as possible recourse, without his chances seem serious.
This is generally the case only for a few hours could take several weeks: in 1856, the elected officials of the Congress had only agreed after two months and 133 laps. The annoyance was palpable among the members of the Grand Old Party, who largely support the candidacy of Kevin McCarthy, giving rise to very animated debates in the hemicycle. The republican staff also knows that he cannot afford to go too far and alienate the moderate republicans.
In the Democratic ranks, where elected officials all get up in block with each vote, as if to accentuate the republican divisions a little more, we take care as best. The party of Joe Biden may show unity around his chief Hakeem Jeffries, the camp does not have enough votes to put an end to this paralysis.