Commentary
After a record-breaking 15 rounds of voting, characterized by brief bursts of internecine warfare interposed with much tedium and the occasional late-night pizza, California Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy was finally elected to the office of Speaker of the House late on Jan. 7.
After a week of chaos and name-calling, the lower House of Congress can now carry on its business, including finally installing the newly elected representatives from the class of 2022 and maybe even getting back to basic lawmaking.
What should have been a quick and ordinary process given the Republican majority devolved into near chaos over the week, as approximately 20 conservative representatives, many aligned with the
House Freedom Caucus (HFC), levied a staunch resistance and refused to deliver the votes necessary to install Rep. McCarthy as Speaker, at least until substantive concessions were made.
The Democratic Party members in Congress, along with their allies and sympathizers from both parties in the mainstream media, used the free pass given to them to rail against the conservative Republicans and roundly mock the dysfunction and apparent dissolution unfolding before them. This was primarily political theater. The Representatives’ real frustration, of course, was being forced to stay in session 14 times in a row, often late into the night, only to end up at the same place and having to start all over again. Apparently, Groundhog Day arrived early this year.
While this melodrama was difficult to watch, the process forced some much-needed concessions and changes to the way the congressional business may get done going into 2023. And hopefully, it will result in some humility on the part of Rep. McCarthy, who was opposed in part on a view that he represented little change from the Pelosian status quo, with all the attendant arrogance, We the People ignoring, and authoritarianism it entailed.
The most important of the
demands of the HFC and its allies, as articulated by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and others, included: 1) reinstalling the Motion to Vacate the Chair, in which any one rep can force a vote on the removal of the speaker; 2) restoring the legislative process and its norms such that representatives can have at least 72 hours to review proposed legislation, as well as debate issues and make proposals for amendments on the open floor of the House; 3) keeping House leadership and their proxies from interfering in Republican primaries; 4) granting HFC and other conservatives proportionate representation on committees and among committee chairs; 5) “a firm plan to end limitless spending,” recently
illustrated by the Omnibus spending package ramrodded through Congress to the frustration of many excluded from the process; 6) “Using Must-Pass legislation to Check the Biden Administration”; and 7) forming a “
Church Commission Style Committee to Target Weaponized Government.”
Many of these demands were accommodated or acknowledged by Rep. McCarthy, with commitments to address them in the new term, and that is a good thing. This will not be enough. The U.S. Congress has sunk to such a level of dysfunction and, yes, corruption, that a major overhaul is required. While these events won’t bring such a transformation, they may signal a step in the right direction.
I write in “
Why America Matters“ that our nation faces a crisis of institutions, meaning, among other things, that most Americans believe, on some fairly damning evidence, that our government institutions are failing us. Beyond the signs of bureaucratic incompetence is the loss of trust necessary for a democratic republic to survive. Specifically, these institutions no longer trust the American people; as a result, we no longer trust them (see the
Twitter Files).
While trust in our institutions is declining across the board, nowhere is Americans’ distrust of the competence, reliability, and trustworthiness of government greater than with regard to the U.S. Congress. Specifically, only around 22 percent of Americans
approve “of the way Congress is handling its job,” a figure which has ranged as low as 16 percent in recent months.
Last week’s theater did little to improve Americans’ impression or the reputation of the U.S. Congress. Having said that, the battle that was waged to restore some basic legislative norms lost in Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and previous eras, and the concessions ultimately granted, may have made the messiness worthwhile.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
