In 11 rounds for House Speaker, there is a distinctive pattern.
A person nominates Kevin McCarthy. Someone nominates Hakeem Jefries. Then someone nominates another. The clerk then reads the Names and records the The votes of 434 membersthe 435-seat House One vacancy) even though everybody knows that there is no one candidate who can fill it. the necessary majority, and even though everyone knows how everyone else will vote because we’ve done this — wait, how many times have we done this? — 11 times already, and the The only thing that will change is Whom Else? the Someone Else voters are voting for.
So it’s reasonable to ask why they’re all still there, still voting.
Their only choice is to not do so.
Below federal lawThe newly elected House You must swear in front of a speaker the The speaker must swear in the Members “previous to entering on any other business.” Or, to put it another way: until the House It cannot legally do any other thing if it chooses to speak as a guest speaker. So long as the session is ongoing, it can vote for A speaker is a time-consuming and tedious task House precedent says the A speaker is chosen by “viva voce” A live vote is an electronic vote where each person-elect speaks a name loudly. If the If the vote is rejected, you can vote again. Continue to vote.
Other options are not available for It will not be in session. To adjourn, someone must move to do so. the House All parties must be in agreement.
Democrats won’t vote to adjourn; they say Republicans must get their act together and choose a speaker. And Mr. McCarthy’s critics have been reluctant to do so because it is in their interest to highlight time and again that the Republican leader is lacking the Vote for the winner the speakership.
The House On Thursday night, the meeting was adjourned until Friday noon. Other points of the meeting were however inadmissible the day, Republicans didn’t think they had the Vote for that. If they couldn’t muster enough votes to adjourn, the House was required to keep the session going. The vote had to continue on a speaker. The same will be true if they can’t muster the Votes to be adjourned on Friday
When there is uncertainty or crisis, House Leaders often make calls for Recess allows Congress to take a break from work, which gives them the opportunity to regroup while retaining control. the floor. But that’s not possible in this procedural limbo either.
“Recess is a process covered by the rules,” Matthew Bonaccorsi the communications director for the House Rules Committee. “Recessing isn’t an option because the authority to do that is contained in the rules package for each Congress, and the House can’t pass a rules package until it has chosen a speaker.”
