The House Republican majority is stuck, one week after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely.

On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, were addressing colleagues behind closed doors at a candidate forum. But they appeared to be splitting the vote.

McCarthy, meanwhile, was openly ready to reclaim the gavel he just lost, but was seen by many as a longshot option unlikely to win back the handful of hardliners who just ousted him.

  • CapgrasDelusion@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    If the world didn’t require actual leadership this would be funny. Except it does and these morons are in a position of influence. You have 8 people who value being on TV over lives, and over 200 people who will work with you if you don’t tether everything to women’s uteri.

    • jennwiththesea@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Just last week I was actually looking forward to the dramatics to begin. As long as they figured their shit out before the debt ceiling came crashing down again, it would be fine. Definitely don’t feel that way now!

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Democrats and 4 republicans who actually care should put up a speaker to call a vote for a comprehensive aid package to Ukraine and Israel that funds to January 2025, then have that speaker step down.

    Don’t let our allies suffer because of our dysfunction. It puts us in the exact same situation that we are in now without fucking over the rest of the world at a critical moment.

    • Reptorian@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      4 republicans who actually care

      This doesn’t exist. Oh well, voters’ faults. All they had to do was pick D if they want a functioning government. One job.

  • ShadowRam@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    This should probably trigger an election when a speaker can’t be decided upon. Similar to other countries that fail to form a government

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      9 months ago

      I feel like if the House has no Speaker for over a year, shit would fall apart more than even Republicans could stand. We’ll get within a week or two of the next shutdown deadline, and they’ll finally put someone up there.

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        9 months ago

        Yep, shooting themselves in the foot as there will be no time to negotiate properly. So they will either accept and move on, or cause another shutdown.

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          9 months ago

          Great, now I’m thinking about the possibility of a few of the R’s signing on for Hakeem Jefferies and then immediately refusing to negotiate, causing the shutdown just so they can blame dems

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            9 months ago

            Only republicans would fall for that shit, and they’re a total loss to the country, anyway. You’re worried about sunk costs.

            • Hazzia@discuss.tchncs.de
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              9 months ago

              It’s not the “blame the dems” part I care about, it the “intentionally shutdown the govt while acting like a bunch of toddlers (again)” part that bugs me

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    9 months ago

    Name me a more traitorous political party in modern times. Our founding fathers would be making daily executions.

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        9 months ago

        While yes, I’m normally inclined to believe Republicans colluding with foreign governments. I think this time, it’s all just extremely unfortunate timing. McCarthy being outside really does seem to be hard-line Republicans being fed up with him, with the budget proposal being the final straw. Also McCarthy was heavily disliked by both sides.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I could be actually worse. If the 45 day budget extension hadn’t occurred we could have a shut down government AND no House leadership to do anything about it while the Republicans fight amongst themselves for Speaker of the House.

  • jerome@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Republicans are just having a good time. Wearing shirts with a giant letter A on it, walking around with a lasso and smiling while the country burns to the ground.

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      9 months ago

      They are a party who is only united by hate for others. Once you get beyond that facade no one there knows how to function.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Republican majority is stuck, one week after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely.

    On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, were addressing colleagues behind closed doors at a candidate forum.

    Just 10 months in power, the historic ouster of their House speaker — a first in the U.S. — and the prolonged infighting it has unleashed are undercutting the Republicans’ ability to govern at a time of crisis at home and abroad.

    “We’re in a similar situation that we were back in January,” said Doug Heye, a former Republican leadership aide, adding the political optics of the feud look “terrible” to American voters.

    McCarthy headed into the evening forum insisting he was not, at the moment, a candidate for speaker and urging his colleagues to resolve the issue internally Wednesday before bringing a nominee forward to a full House vote.

    But the California Republican gave a nod to his own short track record as speaker — being ousted by the far-right flank after he led Congress to approve a stopgap spending bill to prevent a disruptive federal government shutdown.


    The original article contains 994 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I wonder if they will figure it out before the shutdown? (November 17th?) Seems like they would have trouble funding their little darlings in Israel if they don’t.

    Or maybe they want that too. I don’t know anymore. It’s like trying to understand a toddler.

  • Techmaster@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I stand by what I said last week. The Democrats probably shouldn’t have voted to remove, because it’s going to be months. The republicans don’t give a crap about the government shutting down.

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      9 months ago

      If McCarthy had ever given even one iota of compromise to the democrats they might have voted not to oust him, but instead he constantly split in their faces and poked their eyes. (Just to appease the magas who ultimately ousted him anyway.)

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      No. I’m sorry. You don’t vote to keep a speaker who worked with you (at the last minute) to pass a bill then turned around and badmouthed you the second the bill passed.