Fifteen. That’s the number of rounds it took to elect Kevin McCarthy as leader of the United States House of Representatives. In question, a group of elected Trumpist conservatives, who blocked the Republican election 14 times. For the new speaker, who therefore becomes one of the most important figures in the country, the mandate already promises to be difficult. But what will be the role of Kevin McCarthy? Europe 1 takes stock.
First of all, if we use the American term “speaker”, it actually represents the speaker of the House of Representatives. In the United States, the Congress is separated into two distinct chambers: the upper house, the Senate, made up of 100 senators, and the lower house, that of the representatives, made up of 435 elected officials. Together they form the legislative branch of the country. Since the mid-term elections last November, the House of Representatives has been mainly made up of elected Republicans (222 against 213 elected Democrats). The assembly of representatives elects the speaker, which must obtain an absolute majority.
One of the most important people in the United States
With his election, Kevin McCarthy succeeds Nancy Pelosi. He thus becomes the third most important person in American political life, behind President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
If the main roles of the House of Representatives are to pass federal and budgetary laws or to invoke a procedure ofimpeachment to dismiss the president in office, the speaker does not have exactly the same missions. If the American Constitution does not define his role, the speaker must ensure the smooth running of debates and votes in the lower house. He has the right to vote, but cannot participate in debates. It also has several administrative functions, such as monitoring parliamentary inquiry commissions.
Represent the United States to the world
The speaker of the lower house also represents the United States abroad. This is one of the reasons why former speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan last August, despite tensions with China.
The speaker can also be a strong ally for the tenant of the White House. But for Democratic President Joe Biden, the election of Republican Kevin McCarthy is not necessarily good news. As with each mandate, the speaker logically favors the policy of his party, but can also block the president in his projects. Such a scenario has already happened, especially when Donald Trump was at the head of the United States: Nancy Pelosi had then prevented the realization of his project to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Be that as it may, the task does not look easy for Kevin McCarthy, in particular because of the dissensions within his own party and the pro-Trump elected officials who do not seem ready to give him their confidence.
