2023-10-10 22:28:49
– The American Congress still without a “speaker”
Republicans gathered Tuesday evening to hear presentations from the two declared candidates for speaker: Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise.
Published today at 12:28 a.m. Updated 32 minutes ago
Former speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 10, 2023 at the Capitol.
AFP
Pressed from all sides to act in favor of Ukraine and Israel, the Republicans tried on Tuesday to bury the hatchet and finally agree on a new “speaker” in the American Congress.
The removal of Kevin McCarthy from the perch of the House of Representatives, by members of his own party, has suspended for a week the main powers of this institution – one of the most powerful parliaments in the world.
All votes on these hot diplomatic issues, as well as the looming budget crisis, are blocked. An absolutely unprecedented situation.
Fratricidal quarrels
“While we debate so many major internal issues, we seem to ignore the serious threats that weigh on us and our allies around the world,” lamented Republican elected official Mike Kelly on Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter, urging his peers to put an end to this institutional mess.
Republicans have had a majority in the House since January, making them responsible for electing its speaker. But the “speaker” in office for nine months was ousted on October 3 — victim of extremely strong tensions between moderate elected officials and Trumpists in the party. Republicans have since been unable to agree on a successor.
“Not a question of parties”
During a speech on the situation in Israel, President Joe Biden called on Congress to take, as soon as it is able, “urgent action” to “fund the imperatives of our partners.”
“This is not a question of parties or politics,” stressed the Democratic leader, whose party, a minority in the House, is mainly a spectator of the chaotic negotiations in Congress. “The security of the world, the security of the United States, is at stake,” he insisted.
Scalise and Jordan on the board
The Republicans gathered at 5:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. in Switzerland) to hear the presentation of the two declared candidates for the position of “speaker”: On one side the group leader Steve Scalise, 58 years old, member of the right hard. “Congress must get back to work,” he declared just before the start of this meeting. On the other, the pugnacious Jim Jordan, a year older than him, and head of the House Judiciary Committee. This elected official is close to Donald Trump, whose sponsorship he has already won.
But neither of these two men currently has enough support to be elected head of the House of Representatives.
McCarthy touts his experience
A first informal election must be organized behind closed doors on Wednesday to take the temperature within the parliamentary group. Before a vote organized in plenary session, at a later date.
Evoking the need for his position to be filled as quickly as possible, some followers of Kevin McCarthy urged the dismissed “speaker” to run again to allow Congress to act on this series of sensitive issues. “I know that many of them want to present my candidacy, I told them + please do not nominate me +”, replied the elected official from California on Tuesday.
Pressed on this question the day before, Kevin McCarthy had praised his diplomatic experience with Israel at length, seeming to leave the door open to a possible return to the perch. But this would require that the handful of Trumpist troublemakers, responsible for his ouster, fall into line – which for the moment remains more than improbable.
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