HE United States Congress entered this tuesday chaospushed by rebel a group of representatives far right Against the leader of the Republican majority in the Lower House, Kevin McCarthy. The speaker did not receive enough votes this Tuesday to defeat a motion to impeach him that Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz introduced the day before. 11 Republicans joined 207 Democrats in rejecting his initiative, leaving Gaetz’s motion for debate and a vote. And as I write these lines McCarthy may become the first House speaker in history to be impeached The existence of the United States is not only a historical but also a hopeful fact. paralysis of life for days, perhaps weeks .
The final hours represent the culmination of this process intense civil war open between factions Republican Partybut they also reveal the price education have to pay your money radicalization since the emergence of his leadership donald trump. Because on the one hand most radical congress members Despite being a minority in the Lower House, which Republicans control with a fragile majority after the last parliamentary elections, Republicans aligned with the former president and the 2024 candidate managed to gain one vote. excessive force. And on the other side Democrats refused to bail out McCarthy. A politician who has aligned much of his agenda with the radicalized positions of Trump and his acolytes recently endorsed this legislation. Starting a process to remove Joe Biden from officeand they claim it cannot be trusted.
The result is moment of chaos and uncertaintyWhich puts Congress and the country into uncharted territory. Because if the speaker position is left vacant, as intended in Gaetz’s motion, second in the presidential rankingsMcCarthy will be temporarily replaced by someone selected from his own list. However, the only authority for this is temporary speakerAccording to legislative experts, it will organize the election of the new speaker of the Parliament. AND Legislative paralysis is guaranteed as long as no one is elected to this officeIt is an extremely complex situation that jeopardizes progress in approving the budget, for example, to keep the government running.
A riot in slow motion
This weekend’s vote on a measure that would grant a 45-day extension to the budget and prevent a government shutdown in extreme cases was the final straw for Gaetz and the rest of the radical group, at least on paper. McCarthy passed the bill with more Democratic votes than Republicans. And even though it’s the law Aid to Ukraine excludedGaetz accuses McCarhty of reaching a “secret agreement” with Democrats and Biden to get more aid approved for Kiev, which is opposed by the ultra-conservative wing.
In any case, the rebellion is coming from further afield. What McCarthy should do in January concessions to ultras After an agonizing and humiliating process that required 15 rounds of voting, he decided to become speaker of the Assembly. Contraction was already predicted at that time. And despite the fact that legal steps have been taken in these months to appease them, including starting the process to impeach Biden or moving away from the commitments he reached with the White House in the agreement that the debt ceiling hinders the United States. Defaulting did not stop the rebellion.
The possibility of saving his position lay in the fact that: democrats They would actively or passively support him by not participating in the vote on Gaetz’s motion or simply voting “present” and reducing the required majority. But after hours of intense conversation Of course, it wouldn’t be the Democrats who would save him.. In a letter: Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic minority leader When sent to his group, the leadership’s position was explained, which had previously been discussed in a two-hour meeting; That meeting opened that same Sunday with a video showing McCarthy trying to blame them for bringing the government closer to a shutdown. And Jeffries used this as an argument against McCarthy:Lack of desire to truly and completely disengage from MAGA extremism.” An acronym for the Make America Great Again movement, which is allied with Trump.