Current Events > Explain to me like I'm stupid. What's going on with the house and Kevin McCarthy

(+) Yeah! (+)

I see hes trying to be speaker or something and theres a problem.

what happens if he becomes speaker?
why do people not want him to be speaker?
what does the speaker do?

You need at least 50% of the votes to win the election for speaker. He was expected to win but hasn't hit 50% yet in any of the votes they've done. It's mainly notable because it's the first time in 100 years that a speaker election wasn't determined on the first vote, perhaps a sign of the fracturing within the GOP.

Mizznox posted...

You need at least 50% of the votes to win the election for speaker. He was expected to win but hasn't hit 50% yet in any of the votes they've done. It's mainly just notable because it's the first time in 100 years that a speaker election wasn't determined on the first vote.

There's also no sign he'll get them either. He's actually losing votes as more votes are taken.

dj1200 posted...

what happens if he becomes speaker?

Hell on earth

dj1200 posted...

why do people not want him to be speaker?

He is a republican

dj1200 posted...

what does the speaker do?

Lead the House of Representatives and I think they control what gets voted on

He's a wishy washy Republican who doesn't have the respect of the far right trump praising assholes and also doesn't have much respect from the Boehner era folks because he was the whip and would gather party votes then vote against Boehner to save face with the Tea Party asshats etc

Tldr he can't get cleared as speaker and if he keeps failing someone else is probably going to run and no one knows what part of the spectrum they'll be from

dj1200 posted...

what happens if he becomes speaker?

The 118th congress can then begin normal business. Things like:

• Swearing members in
• Deciding and enacting house rules
• Bringing bills to the floor for a vote

dj1200 posted...

why do people not want him to be speaker?

It's mostly the MAGA republicans, about 20 of them, who keep voting against McCarthy. If 435 house representative-elects are voting, you need 218 votes (majority) to become speaker. There are 222 republicans and 213 democrats. Somewhere between 19 and 21 republicans, again mostly the MAGA caucus, have been voting against him every time. So we're now on the 8th speaker vote. The house can't do anything else until the speaker is elected.

dj1200 posted...

what does the speaker do?

• Swears in elected representatives so that they can officially act as members of congress in and out of the capitol
• Controls what the house does day to day
• Decides what the general house rules are
• Decides which bills the house will vote on

The Speaker is the leader of the House.

The Republicans have a slim enough majority that McCarthy can only lose four (or five, I forget) votes from his own party before the vote ends up deadlocked. There's apparently a mild schism in the Republican party because some of the hardcore Trumpers are trying to extort him for committee assignments and the like.

Speaker is 2nd in line for the presidency if president and VP are taken out.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Because that's just up to the Representatives and the Republicans apparently haven't given up on him.

pegusus123456 posted...

The Speaker is the leader of the House.

The Republicans have a slim enough majority that McCarthy can only lose four (or five, I forget) votes from his own party before the vote ends up deadlocked. There's apparently a mild schism in the Republican party because some of the hardcore Trumpers are trying to extort him for committee assignments and the like.

4 is the max he can lose (from Republicans) and still win

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


What should happen is that after a few failed votes, the people who aren't getting enough votes step aside and allow someone else to be nominated, but Kevin McCarthy just keeps trying over and over.

The speaker of the house has to have a majority in order to pass bills at all... But in this case, even if he does get enough votes on the 15th try or whatever, it's unclear whether the MAGA caucus that keeps voting against him will agree to vote for the bills he brings to the floor throughout the year.

the entire republican portion of the house is all having sex with each other and they did not invite kevin mccarthy because theres a rumor that he has a penis shaped like a question mark

CableZL posted...

What should happen is that after a few failed votes, the people who aren't getting enough votes step aside and allow someone else to be nominated, but Kevin McCarthy just keeps trying over and over.

The speaker of the house has to have a majority in order to pass bills at all... But in this case, even if he does get enough votes on the 15th try or whatever, it's unclear whether the MAGA caucus that keeps voting against him will agree to vote for the bills he brings to the floor throughout the year.

There's ~220 Republicans that can nominate someone else. Nothing stopping them.

DarthAragorn posted...

There's ~220 Republicans that can nominate someone else. Nothing stopping them.

Yeah, but the establishment republicans are only about 202 of those. The MAGA caucus makes up the other 20, and he needs 16 of the MAGA caucus republicans to vote for him.

I still find it hilarious at how vicious the republicans are being towards each other and how they just know that this will divide their base even more between MAGA world and establishment republicans, think about they're already tearing into each other this brutally for the speaker, part in because McCarthy is such a wimp he'll do whatever MAGA tells him to do on the other hand establishment republicans know this is gonna fuck them in 2024 so are trying to smoother the MAGApublicans and make them kowtow to the establishment wing with vague promises they'll get to be their terrible selves.

In short: Think of this like Bane-Ye when he went on Alex Jones with his little buddy nick and Jones was trying to let Ye say the bigoted shit he loves to say but in a more "subtle" way and Ye wasn't having it. the MAGA wing are basically a bunch of Ye's who want to do away with the wink and nudge games and just wear it out there and openly screw anybody who doesn't like it.

Mccarthy is so desperate to be speaker he flat out said we'll do this forever until they give him what the damn gavel he so desperately craves

The Qanon trolls should go hardcore trolling mode and just nominate the Democratic candidate, ultimate troll move.

MarcyWarcy posted...

the entire republican portion of the house is all having sex with each other and they did not invite kevin mccarthy because theres a rumor that he has a penis shaped like a question mark

XD

20 House Republicans want more power than the other 200 because they think they're saving America or something and Kev was supporting Donnie T just to further his political career... or something like that.