After winning the election thriller: McCarthy passes the baptism of fire in the House of Representatives

After winning the election thriller
McCarthy passes baptism of fire in House of Representatives

Only in the 15th ballot did Kevin McCarthy secure enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The first session as chairman is successful for the Republican. Under his direction, the chamber adopts new rules of procedure.

The new Republican chairman of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has passed his first test in the new post after the historic election chaos. On Monday evening, the House of Representatives passed the new rules of procedure by a vote of 220 to 213, which will now apply to the work of the House of Representatives in the new session. McCarthy could only afford to lose four votes because of the narrow Republican majority. In the end, one Republican voted against the Rules of Procedure with the Democrats, and another missed the vote.

It was not previously clear if McCarthy would get a majority for the rulebook. In order to win over his opponents from the party’s extreme right, McCarthy had to make sweeping concessions to a small group of MPs when he was elected to the presidency. This includes, among other things, that in the future a member of parliament can single-handedly initiate a vote of no confidence against the chairman of the House of Representatives.

In addition, McCarthy is said to have promised a group of his opponents posts on important committees in the House of Representatives – including a committee that decides which bills should be voted on – in side deals. Some more moderate MPs had previously indicated that they intended to vote against the new rules of procedure – the concessions to the small group of radical people’s representatives had gone too far. They feared a cut in defense spending and possible promises McCarthy might have made to his opponents on the sly.

The 57-year-old was elected chairman of the parliamentary chamber in the 15th ballot on Saturday night (local time) after various party colleagues had refused to support him in the previous rounds and he had therefore repeatedly missed the necessary majority.

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