Dissenters in their own ranks – Scalise withdraws candidacy for chief position in the US Congress – News

  • The chaos in the US Parliament continues: Republican Steve Scalise, nominated for the presidency of the House of Representatives, has withdrawn his candidacy due to internal party resistance.
  • The Chamber of Congress remains largely unable to act for the time being – and this in the midst of international crises in Israel and Ukraine.
  • The ultra-conservative MP Scalise ultimately failed to secure sufficient support within his own group.

The Republicans nominated the 58-year-old from the state of Louisiana for the influential post at the head of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. However, he would most likely have been denied a majority in the chamber due to several dissidents in his own ranks.

Legend:

Lack of support: Steve Scalise withdraws candidacy for Speaker of the House of Representatives.

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Shortly after his election as candidate, around a dozen Republicans announced that they would withhold their vote from Scalise in a vote for the presidency. In the course of internal negotiations behind closed doors, there were more. And so Scalise went before the media to announce his retirement.

Trump prefers competitor Jim Jordan

“There are still some people who have their own agenda,” Scalise said. He warned: “This House of Representatives needs a chairman.” The chairman of the parliamentary chamber comes third in the state ranking after the president and his deputy. Since the Democrats currently hold the presidency, the office is particularly important in the hands of the opposition.

Scalise currently leads the Republican group in the chamber and was chosen by his group as its candidate after a week of deliberations. But he only narrowly won against his party rival Jim Jordan, who is considered a loyalist of former US President Donald Trump. He would like to see a confidant in the office of chairman.

“The USA is experiencing a political shutdown”


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“A good handful of Republican MPs, who are basically Donald Trump’s extended arm, absolutely did not want to give in,” says USA correspondent Barbara Colpi. Scalise is not radical enough for this. “Then there are also those who want Kevin McCarthy back. Recently, Steve Scalise’s health also raised a question mark. He is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a blood cancer, an easily treatable one, as they say. And yet there were those who doubted that he was up to the role of Speaker because they feared that he would be absent at important moments.

For Colpi, this is a very delicate situation, “not to say a catastrophe.” The head of the House of Representatives, the Speaker, is the person who decides when and what will be voted on. Without this speaker, the House of Representatives would be unable to act. What the USA is now experiencing is, in a sense, a political shutdown. “It’s really back to square one.”

Colpi would not be surprised if the current speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was brought back into play as the savior of the seemingly hopeless situation. “Today a lot of people were frustrated after these hour-long sessions, and one is even said to have said that they should shoot him on the moon and then he would be out of this hell.”

Republicans only have a slim majority in the House of Representatives, so Republican dissidents have powerful leverage in their hands when it comes to voting – even if there are only a few of them. Just four dissidents in his group would have been enough to make Scalise unable to maneuver politically.

Centrist candidate

It is now completely unclear whether the group can quickly agree on a new candidate who they would then stand behind in an election.

Many Republicans prefer Trump supporter Jordan. However, a compromise candidate would also be possible, with fewer MPs in the group likely to object. Various names are circulating. One possibility would be current interim spokesman Patrick McHenry.

Matt Gaetz: “I don’t regret anything”


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“I don’t regret anything,” Rep. Matt Gaetz told CNN after Scalise withdrew his candidacy. It was the hardliner from Florida who initiated McCarthy’s downfall. “People say that there is chaos here,” said Gaetz. He sees it differently.

What has already become clearer in recent months in the dispute over the debt ceiling or the budget is now becoming even clearer: the radicals are not interested in sustainable solutions and consensus – they rather want to push the political system to its limits and break all rules and conventions and enforce radical demands.

Another option would be a centrist candidate on whom more moderate Republicans could agree with cooperative Democrats. According to media reports, Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has already brought such a solution into play.

Historical situation

But given the deep political divisions between the camps in the USA, such a cross-party solidarity would be nothing short of a sensation. And it would be a disgrace for the Republicans if they were unable to find their own candidate despite having a majority in the House of Representatives.

The previous chairman, Kevin McCarthy, was voted out of office as chairman of the House of Representatives last week for the first time in US history in a historic vote. The political drama largely brought the US Parliament to a standstill.

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