US President Joe Biden considers it a shame that the Republican Party cannot elect a speaker to the House of Representatives of the US Congress.
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“It’s not my problem. It’s shameful,” Biden was quoted as saying by a presidential pool journalist.
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The head of the White House also noted that “the rest of the world is watching” what is happening in Congress.
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On Tuesday, Republican Kevin McCarthy, after three consecutive votes, failed to be elected to the post of speaker of the House of Representatives. McCarthy was unable to get the required 218 votes in his support, despite the fact that his Republican Party in the House of the majority – 222 people.
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It is only 14 times in history that congressmen have failed to elect a speaker in one round, and this has not happened since 1923. Elections will continue until one of the candidates receives the required number of votes, and legislators have the right to add new candidates to the ballots at any time.
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Most of the 20 lawmakers who voted against McCarthy’s candidacy were supported by former US President Donald Trump in the November elections and did not recognize the results of the 2020 presidential race, where Biden won. The newspaper notes 19 of them are members of the “ultra-conservative caucus” of “far-right” Republicans in the Freedom House House of Assembly.
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On Wednesday, Trump urged his party members to support Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker, as well as to “close the deal” and “take the win.”
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Before the election of the speaker, the new composition of the House of Representatives cannot take the oath and start legislative activity.
