The following essay was chosen as the featured article of the October edition of the LA/Irvine Media Club newsletter. You can find it here: https://shorturl.at/kuRZ4
Eight Republican votes: that’s all it took to paralyze our government on October 3rd when the House of Representatives decided to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first time it has chosen to do so in history. One-half of Congress is now rudderless, limping by with an interim speaker that has no real power; in other words, it has paralyzed itself.
The timing is impeccable. Two US allies are now engulfed in devastating wars that call for government attention and aid immediately. US citizens have been taken hostage in crises. And a government shutdown is looming in little over a month—the deadline, ironically, being one that Congress set for itself. This moment is one of the worst to have a Capitol Hill crisis, but as it stands, the House is engulfed in chaos.
This isn’t a temporary problem, either. What once looked like a messy leadership change has now spun into a full-blown leadership crisis for the House GOP. This was only further confirmed when Mr. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader and the Republican nominee for House Speaker, dropped out of the race today, leaving the Republican spot for Speaker vacant once again. Commenting on Mr. Scalise’s choice, Rep. Mark Alford remarked “…we’re a ship that doesn’t have a rudder right now, and I’m thoroughly disappointed in the process” (Brooks et al.). That seems clear enough: Republicans are not willing to put aside their divisions and support cohesive action on the House floor.
This problem is, of course, a familiar one. Ever since Republicans assumed control of the House, hardliner groups within the party haven’t hesitated to make their voices heard. One example of this lies within the House Freedom Caucus, a group whose “members… are among the most conservative of House Republicans, with several falling on the rightmost end of the spectrum” (DeSilver). Or, more broadly, the so-called “Wrecking-Ball Caucus”, “an ultraconservative minority that sees the federal government as a threat to the republic… a wrecking crew aimed at the nation’s institutions on a variety of fronts” (Hulse).
But what makes this particular situation unique is its shocking reveal of government precarity. The numbers on the ousting vote are revealing: only eight Republican votes out of a total of 221 were needed to eliminate McCarthy’s speakership. Among the votes was Matt Gaetz, who filed the motion to vacate and is described as a “reliable flame-thrower, a main character in the drama now consuming Capitol Hill” (Honderich). It only took eight reactionary firebrands to throw Congress into chaos.
Mr. Carl Hulse sums up the Republican division in his article for the New York Times: “House Republicans… are consumed with an extended struggle of personal grievance, petty beefs, political payback and rampant attention-seeking that has sidelined Congress at a critical moment and rendered the Capitol a bastion of G.O.P. dysfunction. The spectacle of their infighting is even more glaring at a moment of international crisis… they remain unable to settle on a speaker who could put the House back in business.”
Equally as important, though, is the role of House Democrats in McCarthy’s ousting. It’s telling that every single Democrat voted to oust him, as stated by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who justified the vote by arguing that “It is now the responsibility of the GOP members to end the House Republican Civil War. Given their unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism… House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican Motion to Vacate the Chair” (Racker). Ironically, it was Jeffries himself who “urged House Republicans to pass bipartisan legislation…bipartisan plan was the only option available, he said” (Blackburn). It isn’t just Republicans tied up in petty personal squabbles: it’s Democrats as well.
We can therefore see three factors that each played a crucial and instrumental role in the McCarthy oust: a lack of a clear leading force in the Republican party; an unwillingness to cooperate with either side from both parties; and a disproportionately large amount of power that individual Congressmen seem to suddenly wield.
Firstly, it is plain that the Republican party lacks a clear and cohesive leading force right now. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the current state of the party is in turbulence; especially during the last few days, “The race for House Speaker is dividing Senate Republicans, reflecting the broader division in the GOP between traditional and MAGA-aligned conservatives” (Bolton). But the McCarthy fiasco has only brought these problems to further light; as early as January, analysts were warning of “a modern-day civil war within the GOP… On one side: a growing number of elected officials eager to move beyond the divisive politics and personality of former President Donald Trump… And on the other: the GOP’s vocal ‘Make America Great Again’ wing, which… is quick to attack the status quo in both parties” (Peoples). In other words, division within the Republican party has been exacerbated by the McCarthy ousting, but this particular problem’s root lies in how the GOP is currently structured.
Republicans were certainly united, or at least seemed to be, in the Trump administration’s heyday. Throughout the presidency, the de facto leader of the party was undeniably Trump. But after COVID, January 6th, and Ukraine, the party is split between radical conservatives and more traditional members. Because of this division, the party is no longer headed by the former president, or indeed by any single entity at all; Trump becomes a flashpoint, reduced to little more than a stasis point for the party to split itself over. That much is clear, shown by Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and other Republicans vying to appeal to the more Trump-hesitant half, presenting themselves as an alternative. The Republican party is increasingly becoming leaderless and disjointed—compare that to the Democrats, whose unanimity in ousting McCarthy speaks volumes.
Meanwhile, although an unwillingness for across-the-aisle cooperation is a historic tradition of Capitol Hill, the increasing political polarization over any number of points—Roe v. Wade, Ukraine, January 6th, and now Israel—gives plenty of reason for worry. The leaderless and uncoordinated nature of the Republican party is a cause for concern, but equally concerning is the unanimous decision of House Democrats to oust McCarthy, fully knowing that his replacement will probably be far less willing to cooperate with them on key issues. After all, McCarthy was ousted precisely because he was too willing to work with Democrats in the first place. Why, then, would they make this choice? Whether it be a lack of trust in their Republican colleagues or a kind of pleasure at watching said colleagues get humiliated, it’s clear that we won’t be seeing much in the way of bipartisan trust or action any time soon.
Perhaps the most concerning angle of this whole debacle, though, is the amount of power that is concentrated in the hands of individual Congressmen, partially as a result of increasing polarization. In his bid to become House Speaker, McCarthy agreed to a new rule, the “motion to vacate”. According to this rule, “only one member of Congress—Democrat or Republican—is needed to bring… a vote on removing the speaker” (Stewart). And it was one of these motions, brought forth by Gaetz, that spelled the end of McCarthy’s Speakership. This is gravely concerning; for one, it gives much power to individual Congress members, which is likely to be exploited by firebrands and radicals. It gives the next Speaker less leeway with potential policies and less room for action. And it certainly dashes any hopes of significant across-the-aisle political cooperation.
The upshot of all of this is more than temporary instability in Capitol Hill; it transcends Speakership quibbles and polarization. In the short term and long term, the consequences impact us immediately. The New York Times, for instance, cites aid for Israel and Ukraine, as well as avoiding a government shutdown by November 17, as three essential actions that will be put on hold as “disunity… has brought the House to a standstill… leaving one chamber of Congress hobbled in the face of crises at home and abroad” (Jimison).
But in the long term, the consequences to American standing and power abroad could potentially be devastating. As Robert Gates, a former defense secretary, warned: “‘Dysfunction has made American power erratic and unreliable… with potentially catastrophic consequences’… paralysis raises questions about America’s global leadership…” (Economist). Indeed, both at home and abroad, the McCarthy ousting is casting doubts on America’s image and reputation. It is making people less secure with us. And it is putting our government and nation in an increasingly precarious situation.
If Capitol Hill wants respect from its people, trust from its allies, and fear from its enemies, it must act like it does. Anything else risks pushing the nation over the brink.
Citations
Brooks, Emily, et al. “Steve Scalise drops out of Speaker’s Race.” The Hill, 13 Oct. 2023, thehill.com/homenews/house/4253448-steve-scalise-drops-out-speakers-race.
DeSilver, Drew. “Freedom Caucus likely to play a bigger role in new GOP-led House. So who are they?” Pew Research Center, 31 Jan. 2023, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/23/freedom-caucus-likely-to-play-a-bigger-role-in-new-gop-led-house-so-who-are-they.
Hulse, Carl. “The Wrecking-Ball Caucus: How the Far Right Brought Washington to Its Knees.” The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/09/23/us/republicans-congress-freedom-caucus.html.
Honderich, Holly. “What Does Matt Gaetz Actually Want?” BBC News, 11 Oct. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67084540.
Hulse, Carl. “With the World in Crisis, House Republicans Bicker Among Themselves.” The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/us/politics/house-republicans-bicker-world-crisis.html.
Racker, Mini. “Why House Democrats Refused to Save McCarthy.” TIME, 3 Oct. 2023, time.com/6320202/house-democrats-refused-save-kevin-mccarthy.
Blackburn, Piper Hudspeth. “Key Lawmakers in the Government Spending Fight as a Shutdown Nears.” CNN, 30 Sept. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/09/30/politics/key-players-government-funding-shutdown-capitol-hill/index.html.
Bolton, Alexander. “Senate GOP divided over race to replace McCarthy.” The Hill, 9 Oct. 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4244261-senate-gop-divided-over-race-to-replace-mccarthy/.
Peoples, Steve. “Republicans confront bitter divide; no clear path forward.” AP News, 27 Jan. 2023, https://apnews.com/article/politics-us-republican-party-donald-trump-united-states-government-2022-midterm-elections-77c6e337644955bc3e64e1f7e3a094e5.
Stewart, Kyle. “How a speaker of the House can be ousted with a ‘motion to vacate’.” NBC News, 10 Jan. 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-of-the-house-ousted-motion-to-vacate-rcna64902.
Jimison, Robert. “Here’s What Can’t Get Done While Republicans Fight Over a Speaker.” The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/us/politics/speaker-house-republicans-israel-ukraine.html.
“Paralysis in Congress makes America a dysfunctional superpower.” The Economist, 12 Oct. 2023, https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/10/12/paralysis-in-congress-makes-america-a-dysfunctional-superpower.