A disastrous start for the GOP-controlled House
Whether the next speaker is Kevin McCarthy or someone else, things are likely to get worse.
In a dramatic repudiation by colleagues, Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to secure election as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after three votes on Tuesday. The Bakersfield Republican could still prevail when voting resumes, but win or lose, he and his party have been hugely embarrassed by the chaos of the GOP’s first day back in control of the House.
The Republican Party long has been a haven for ideologues and extremists who didn’t seem to be interested in competent government, a nihilistic attitude embodied in former President Trump. Tuesday’s spectacle of repeated inconclusive votes for the speakership, followed by adjournment, was more proof of the party’s dysfunction and raises questions about its ability to govern.
Even if McCarthy succeeds on a subsequent ballot, he will have to deal with a frail and fractious majority that is unlikely to deliver much for the country other than turmoil and political theater. It’s hard to summon any sympathy for McCarthy. To a great extent, he has himself to blame for his predicament.
McCarthy emboldened far-right members of his caucus by making concessions that still failed to ensure an easy victory. His shameful pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago — after he had said Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol — might even have discouraged some swing voters to elect Republicans to Congress, resulting in a narrow House majority in which far-right extremists exerted outsized influence.
No one expects a Republican-controlled Congress to adopt the same agenda as the previous Democratic-controlled chamber. But it would be comforting to think that, if he is eventually elected, McCarthy might exhort his majority to cooperate with House Democrats and the Senate (and even the White House) to accomplish something for the American people. Imagine, for example, a bipartisan immigration bill crafted by Republicans and Democrats to legalize the “Dreamers,” regularize the asylum process and address Republican concerns about a porous border. But to expect even modest progress on that or any other issue seems Pollyannish.
More likely, the Republican-controlled House under McCarthy or any Republican speaker will be remembered for brinkmanship on issues such as raising the debt ceiling, partisan investigations and obstruction of orderly government. It can pass radical legislation, but the most extreme proposals are likely (fortunately) to perish in the Senate or be vetoed by President Biden. That is some consolation, but far better would be a Republican House that legislated seriously.
The Republican-controlled House could also try to undermine the historic (and bipartisan) House investigation of the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the Jan. 6 riot. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is line to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has accused Democrats of using the Jan. 6 panel as “a partisan cudgel against their political adversaries.” (Jordan received 20 votes for speaker on the third ballot, even though he said he was supporting McCarthy.)
A set of proposed rules released by House Republicans also proposed a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” designed “to investigate the full extent of the Biden administration’s assault on the constitutional rights of American citizens.”
The dismal performance of several extreme Republican candidates in the midterms — not to mention the narrowness of the Republican majority in the House and the party’s failure to regain the Senate — should have led to a diminution of the power of the hard right. Instead that faction seems to be riding high.
Whether the next speaker is the oft-humiliated McCarthy or someone else, Republican control of the House has gotten off to a disastrous start, and things are likely to get worse.