New members have not been sworn in, committee assignments have yet to be doled out, and House rules are not in place as a result of the Republicans' refusal to choose a speaker.
The House prepares to vote on a new speaker. The Los Angeles Times and Kent Nishimura are pictured.
The student loan forgiveness program for House employees could come to a halt if a new House rules package isn't adopted before January 13, according to a December memo from the House administration.
The top-ranking Republican who served on the Ways and Means Committee during the 116th Congress will serve as interim chair until a new speaker is elected and can officially appoint new committee heads.
A lack of new committee leadership and rank-and-file assignments could prevent committees from reviewing legislation, moving bills to the House floor for a vote and taking up investigations into the Biden Administration.
In the absence of a speaker, Senate President Pro Tempre Patty Murray is second in the line of succession.
McCarthy was the first speaker candidate since 1923 to fail to win an election during the first round of voting. The House will return for a fourth round of voting on Wednesday and McCarthy has said he will see the election through. The process could drag on for a long time, but that has never happened. The House was without a speaker for two months in 1856.
After it could not come to a consensus on a new leader, the House changed its rules to require a plurality vote to choose a new speaker. McCarthy told reporters that he isn't considering a rule change.
McCarthy floated the idea of recruiting GOP members to vote present in order to lower the majority threshold for winning from 218 to 213. McCarthy would have to convince nine of the GOP holdouts to vote present in order to get the 11 GOP votes he needs.
Ahead of the fourth round of voting, Trump wants the GOP to unite.
Kevin McCarthy had a historic loss after he failed to win the speakership.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
