Congress remains stalled after multiple votes for House Speaker continue to keep California Republican Kevin McCarthy from reaching a majority. And Louisiana’s lone Democrat in the House, Representative Troy Carter said each vote appears to further diminish McCarthy’s chances for Speaker.
“Each time we have another round of votes the numbers get further away from his ability to get to 218, which is the required number to name him Speaker of the House,” said Carter.
Congressman Garret Graves said voting for speaker unlike other issues is a lengthy process.
“This is one of the only times where in order to do a vote in the House of Representatives, they actually go through and call each person’s name individually, so they call all, in this case, 434 names,” said Graves.
After the midterm elections, the Democratic Party was no longer the majority party in the House and Carter said Democrats relinquished control at noon on Tuesday, and ever since the lower chamber remains paralyzed.
“The Republicans have won control of the House but have yet been able to secure a Speaker,” said Carter.
Graves said the Republican majority in the House is an indication voters want accountability against the Biden Administration.
“But the problem now, is the inability of Congress to select a Speaker of the House means that there’s no accountability, there’s no real change there’s just a void that’s there,” said Graves.
And without a chosen speaker, Carter, and Graves like other elected congressional members, remain Representative-Elect and have yet to be sworn in.
Carter said committees are unable to be assigned and important votes concerning the war in Ukraine, the economy, healthcare, crime, and the environment remain stalled.
“And none of that will be able to be discussed until we are able to finally select a leader of the House,” said Carter.
“You don’t have committee chairs that have been chosen, the committees aren’t populated, and no one really has the authority to go out and do their jobs at this point,” said Graves.
While the situation is not unheard of it’s been more than a century since a Speaker of the House has not been elected in the first round of votes.
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