Amid international crises, US Congress handcuffed by Republican feud
The House of Representatives has drifted leaderless for 12 days since eight of its 221 Republicans ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That has held up any legislative action, from debating further aid to Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion to a statement of support for ally Israel in its war with Hamas.
Republicans on Friday nominated hardliner Jim Jordan for speaker, but it was not clear if the longtime antagonist of party leadership would have the support needed to win a floor vote this week.
McCarthy's removal was the latest in a series of self-created crises Congress has faced in a year that saw lawmakers bring the federal government to the brink of defaulting on its $31.4 trillion in debt and just two weeks ago narrowly avert the fourth partial U.S. government shutdown in a decade.
That latter move led to McCarthy's ouster by colleagues angry that the spending bill passed with more Democratic than Republican votes, even though any measure passed by the House needs to clear the Democratic-controlled Senate and be signed by Democratic President Joe Biden to become law.
Some House Republicans voiced frustration and anger that they have gone so long without being able to choose a leader.
Why wouldn't they vote against McCarthy? He made a deal then abjectly refused to honor it later. His word is useless so him getting the boot is just desserts.
Why keep a guy in there you can't at all trust to work with?
Because it leaves the House even more dysfunctional while republicans get their shit together.
IMO, it's not the Democratic party's job to not let the Republican party fail in its duties.
Maybe some people will wake up to just how incompetent and unfit Republicans are and vote accordingly.
I see this as mostly a lose lose situation. Upside is maybe the remaining republicans see enough reason to pick a fair centrist instead of cowtowing to another ineffective hard right representative.
My observation is that whenever some obnoxious person leaves as a leader of the House or Senate, they manage to find someone just as bad or worse. Like Yeah! Newt Gingrich is gone. They came up with Dennis Hastert. Boehner is gone, great! They picked Paul Ryan. Trent Lott is out, great! They came up with McConnell. So it's possible but I doubt they're changing their strategy.