After a record-breaking 22 days of chaos and confusion, the House of Representatives has finally regained a Speaker of the House (and their composure). They seemed to have been turned into a crumpled house of cards, toppled over by the brisk decision to remove their leader. This situation has been historically unmatched for the United States of America, a development eagerly spectated by citizens across the country. The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of Congress, taking responsibility for the creation and passing of federal laws. Within this chamber, the Speaker of the House serves as the peacemaker, ensuring communication between Congress and the President. The Speaker also maintains order during debates, making sure that legislators are heard. Most importantly though, the Speaker determines whether bills are passed or not, their signature being required in order to pass anything.
Kevin McCarthy had held the title of Speaker of the House since January of 2023, but ended up being ousted a mere ten months later. A member of the Republican party, McCarthy had been appointed to this position under the condition to allow for only one representative to call for the removal of the Speaker. This ended up backfiring, and leading to the end of his career as leader of the House of Representatives. The Republican Party had voted him in on strict terms, and Matt Gaetz (a Floridan representative) had decided that he’d overstayed his welcome. According to Gaetz, McCarthy had broken the trust of the Republican party, accusing him of being too “woke”. He claimed that McCarthy was scheming with President Biden to provide aid to Ukraine, and was appalled by his cooperation with the Democratic party when trying to keep the government functional. This cooperation was with the intent to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy’s solution being a funding bill. Along with these missteps, there has been a bubbling sense of hatred between these men due to previous misconstructions seen as collaboration with Democrats. In the end, Matt Gaetz called for McCarthy to be ousted, and voted out of the job dramatically; the echoing sound of a gavel declared his removal, the vote splitting 216-210. His career as Speaker was put to rest.
Now, the absence of a Speaker for three weeks caused the House of Representatives to come to a screeching halt, unable to conduct votes. There was no clear path as to who would be next in line for this vacant position. However, on October 25th, Mike Johnson was voted in as the new Speaker of the House. Johnson proceeded to declare that “The people’s House is back in business”, the responsibility for an intimidating amount of challenges now lying on his shoulders. He may have successfully outrun his opponent, Democratic Representative, Hakeem Jeffries, but now he must face his new and daunting role as leader of the House. Will this house of cards be able to stand sturdily once again, or will havoc become the theme of American politics?
