U.S. House At A Standstill Until Lawmakers Choose A Speaker

As readers most certainly know from the headline news, earlier this month members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position as the leader of the lower chamber of Congress.

Lawmakers still have not picked someone to replace Rep. McCarthy.

Indeed, the Republican House majority has not even settled on who they would like to be their standard bearer. (When a vote is finally called, Democrats are expected to unanimously support their current leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.)

The U.S. Constitution makes it clear the House cannot conduct any business without a speaker of the House. Committees, including the panels that oversee tax, trade, energy, and national security policy and other matters, are not even allowed to hold hearings.

This void obviously has hindered work on fiscal year 2024 spending bills. As a reminder, a continuing resolution that kept the federal government funded expires on November 17, as does authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides essential aid to businesses and homeowners who are affected by floods and hurricanes. Authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration also expires at the end of 2023.

None of these matters can be addressed until there is a speaker of the House in place. While the U.S. Senate was in recess last week, it continues to work on these policies, however, in the hopes that the House will be back up to speed soon.

Stay tuned to Connecting the Dots as this story develops.