Republican McCarthy elected as US House Speaker after chaotic voting

News, US January 9, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Republican Kevin McCarthy has been elected as the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker after days of chaotic voting and making major concessions to the right-wing hardliners.

Although McCarthy’s party held the majority, it took him five days and 15 rounds of voting to be elected as the speaker. The Republican representative’s victory ended the chaos in the chamber which had dysfunctioned the U.S. Congress after more than 150 years.

The 57-year-old Republican suffered a setback when Representative Matt Gaetz withheld his vote on the 14th round of voting, which led to a brawl and Republican Mike Rogers had to be physically pulled away. Many hardliner Republicans believe that McCarthy is not in a position to negotiate with President Biden on critical issues, as Democrats control the U.S. Senate.

After his victory, McCarthy posted on Twitter, “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up for you, the American people.” McCarthy also said that former President Donald Trump had helped him win and stressed that “I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence”.

U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated McCarthy on being elected as the Speaker of the House and said that he looked forward to working with the Republican Party. Biden wrote: “Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House. As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.”

*^{Newly elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy swears in members of the 118th Congress in Washington, on January 7, 2023. (Image Credit: AP/Alex Brandon)}*

McCarthy’s victory comes only a day after the two-year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. On January 6, 2021, a group of violent mob attacked Congress after former President Donald Trump lost the election. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that McCarthy’s victory in Congress “will cause a government shutdown or a default with devastating consequences to our country.”

Republicans seek to tackle inflation, increase border security and strict immigration policies, and push investigations of Biden, his administration as well as his family. However, House Republicans will be faced with many challenges in passing bills through Congress as Democrats control the Senate and the White House, especially when the president can use veto power over legislation.

Kevin McCarthy said in his inaugural speech that “Our system is built on checks and balances. It’s time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president’s policies.” McCarthy’s main priorities include controlling spending, cutting government funding, addressing the U.S. debt ceiling, and winning the economic competition with China.

McCarthy said that the United States needs to emerge as a winner in the economic competition with China, as he referred to the “Chinese Community Party.” McCarthy said, “As for the Chinese communist party, we will create a bipartisan select committee on China to investigate how to bring back the hundreds of thousands of jobs that went to China, and then we will win this economic competition.”

^{U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy wields the Speaker’s gavel after being elected as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on January 7, 2023. (Image Credit: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)}

The Speaker of the Congress acts as the House of Representatives leader, the presiding officer and administrative head of the House, and the leader of the majority party in the House. The Speaker of the House is second in line to succeed the President of the United States, after the Vice President.