First, the easiest vote of consequence (as opposed, say, to voting for a resolution to declare National Kumquat Day) that a House majority should have is in choosing the Speaker. And yet, it took the current majority 15 rounds. This does not bode well, at all, for the legislative efficacy of this House. And yes, I know that the GOP hasn’t exactly shown itself to be full of policy wonks of late, but this display was especially bad.
Second, may I note that one of the main skills needed in an effective Speaker of the House is the ability to assemble the needed votes to pass a bill or resolution before going to the floor? Kevin McCarthy did a particularly poor job of that, as evidenced by his loss in the 14th round of voting, which came as a surprise to him after he had confidently told the press that he knew he could win because he could count.
Third, it should be noted that one of the reasons being in the majority in the House is considered to be a good and significant thing for the majority party is because the speakership has a lot of power. Yet, this no longer appears to be the case (pending a full understanding of what McCarthy gave away so he could have a title and cool offices). The Speaker’s ability to guide the party’s agenda is central to majority power, especially as expressed via the Rules Committee and, specifically, the conditions under which floor debate takes place. If the rebels have managed to substantially curtail those powers, they may have slit their own majority’s throat.
So, fourth, I have to wonder if the crafty Freedom Caucus rebels haven’t inadvertently given more power to the minority party insofar as whatever has empowered individual members of the Freedom Caucus to cause chaos on the floor will, at least in part, be available to the Democrats as well. Again, we don’t really know the specifics of these deals, but if, for example, one of the concessions makes it far easier for individual members to offer floor amendments to bills, that tool will be open to the Democrats as well. At a minimum, it will give the Democrats the ability to force Republicans to take votes they don’t want to take and to slow down bills Republicans want to pass. In short, empowering individual members, which seems to be a generic goal of the rebels won’t just empower Republicans. Giving away power to individual members of Congress isn’t going to be limited to members of the majority.
To restate the basic point: it is almost as if the rebels think that they can empower themselves, but only within the bubble of the majority because they know that being in the majority is good without understanding why being in the majority is good.
I mean, sure, having the most votes is the ultimate power, but that requires unity, and it isn’t as if the Republican Party has spent the first week of the 118th Congress showing how unified it is.
