What’s Happening:
The House of Representatives had quite a week. In a historic turn of events, members-elect in Congress needed not one, not two, not even ten, but 15 rounds of ballots to choose the next Speaker.
They could not swear in members of Congress or start any business before this was decided, and late Friday night, it finally ended in a nail-biting vote.
Kevin McCarthy emerged victorious, and even in the wee hours of Saturday morning, he was ready with quite a speech. From Fox News:
His speakership followed a dramatic week of him slowly winning over 20 Republicans who initially did not support his speakership and defected their votes to other members.
After his victory in the 15th and final vote, McCarthy lauded: “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. I will never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our Commitment to America.”
“Our nation is worth fighting for,” he added in his opening remarks.
Those 6 words had Republicans on their feet cheering their new speaker. Democrats, meanwhile, stayed seated and silent. Not surprising…
Then the new Speaker said he looked forward to working to make progress with both sides of the aisle, but he had a lighthearted warning for the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries:
“Hakeem – I need to warn you: I also won 100 percent of my conference vote on this floor two years ago. So, good luck!” McCarthy jokingly said.
For those who followed the week, they witnessed history. Not since before the Civil War did such a protracted vote for Speaker occur.
Does this point to further strife in the Republican Party for the new 118th Congress? Maybe not. McCarthy claims this process helped the party come together, and it had been years since America had seen Congress do what it should: show up to work, day after day, and openly work to get the votes needed in the best interests of the American people.
For the last 4 years, Democrats have hidden behind rules put in place by Nancy Pelosi that froze out amendments on the floor from the competition.
True, McCarthy had to make a lot of concessions to the conservatives in order to secure the speakership.
Hopefully they were made in good faith on both sides and the Republican Party can now work together in unity to stop the liberal agenda of President Biden, and possibly implement the conservative core that GOP voters want.
Key Takeaways:
- Kevin McCarthy was finally voted Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot early Saturday morning.
- The new speaker’s speech emphasized that America is worth fighting for.
Source: Fox News
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