What is the Speaker of the House?
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the most powerful positions in U.S. government. Selected by the members of the House, the speaker oversees the House and is usually a member of the majority party.
In addition to leading the majority party and running the House of Representatives, the Speaker also sets the voting agendas and is second in line for the succession of the President. This means that the speaker has the power to only allow voting to take place on legislation that is supported by the majority party. Having this power is one of the main reasons that people regard the speaker as such a powerful position. The Speaker can control which legislation is passed and which is not, which could interrupt the President’s agenda should they be of opposing parties.
The most recent Speaker was California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by his own party earlier this month. McCarthy experienced backlash from other Republican members since his election, which took 15 rounds of voting and which McCarthy only won by agreeing that a single member could motion to remove him from the position. Unfortunately for him, this is exactly what ended his time as Speaker.
Why was he fired?
The motion to vacate the chair was made by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz. Gaetz is a known Trump loyalist and accused McCarthy of making secret dealings with the White House to continue sending funds to the Ukraine. McCarthy adamantly denies these allegations and claims that Gaetz’s attack was personal. All Democratic members as well as 8 Republicans voted to oust McCarthy, winning the majority vote.
Besides his feud with Gaetz and other right-wing Republicans, Democrats voted against McCarthy because they find him unreliable after he backed out of a deal with the Biden Administration — despite McCarthy narrowly stopping a government shutdown in the weeks prior.
What happens now?
North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry took over as the interim Speaker and placed the house in recess for a week. After three weeks without an official Speaker of the House, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson was elected for the position. Johnson was the fourth nominee for the position following Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, who removed themselves from consideration, and Tom Emmer who held the position for a short time. All 220 Republican members voted in support of Johnson, while all Democrats voted for their respective House leader.
Johnson gained his support by promising a series of government spending bills and most government officials are glad to have stability within House leadership again. However, he has stepped into chaos as government funding is running out and the threat of a shutdown looms still. Hopefully Johnson can work with both parties and the White House to avoid a shutdown and redirect the state of the House.