Designated on Tuesday October 24 by his peers as a candidate to become speaker in the American House of Representatives, Republican Tom Emmer only lasted a few hours. He threw in the towel, failing to gather the 217 votes needed for his election. Without compromise, the American Congress is sinking further into the crisis.
After trying for weeks to find a new speaker for the House, the Republicans finally agreed, after a series of internal votes, on the name of Tom Emmer. But the candidacy of this elected representative from Minnesota, number three in the party in the House and voice of the party establishment, very quickly seemed doomed to failure.
More than twenty elected officials from his own camp announced that they would never support him during the vote in plenary session, while the Republicans only have a very slim majority in the House of Representatives. Donald Trump’s allies are opposed to him, because he was one of the elected officials who voted in favor of certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. They therefore consider Tom Emmer to lack loyalty to the ex-president . Nearly three weeks after the impeachment of former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, the Republicans’ internal struggles continue to come to light.
Important issues
However, the challenges of finding a new speaker are high. Without it, it’s impossible to hold a vote on a bill; and in the absence of a vote on the budget, the threat of a paralysis of the federal administration in mid-November is real.
“It’s probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen,” Republican Foreign Relations Committee head Michael McCaul told ABC News on October 22. “Because if we don’t have a Speaker of the House, we can’t govern. And every day that goes by, we are basically shut down as a government,” he added.
Last week, the head of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, an ally of former President Donald Trump, appeared to be on the verge of ending this increasingly embarrassing quest for the party. He ended up suffering three failures in as many votes. Then the Republicans withdrew their support, announcing that they would meet on Monday to nominate a new candidate for speaker.
Military aid for Ukraine and Israel blocked
Donald Trump, who endorsed Jim Jordan, told reporters before a campaign event in New Hampshire that he had spoken to Tom Emmer over the weekend but had no plans to endorse him. saying he prefers to “hold back for a while.”
These dysfunctions within the Republican Party are also preventing Congress from responding to Joe Biden’s demand for more than $100 billion in emergency funds, primarily military aid for Ukraine and Israel in their wars against Russia for one, and Hamas for the other.
“At a critical moment when our allies are counting on us to show leadership (…), House Republicans are making a mockery of our government and embarrassing the country on the world stage,” denounced the spokesperson for the National Committee Democrat, Sarafina Chitika.
Unless elected officials approve the 2024 federal budget by November 17, the federal administration will be paralyzed, with hundreds of thousands of workers temporarily sent home without pay.