Original title: Insider trading in the US House Speaker election will further tear the United States apart
After 4 days of chaos and 15 rounds of voting, the dust settled, and Republican McCarthy finally became the new speaker of the US House of Representatives. From the first few rounds of voting with fewer votes than one round, to the final victory with difficulty, the American media found that these votes were actually “bought” by McCarthy through power exchange. Such positions obtained through insider trading and compromise with party hardliners will further tear apart the U.S. Congress and American society, exposing the shortcomings of the U.S. political system.
On the 9th local time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a set of internal rules to guide the operation for the next two years by a vote of 220 to 213. This set of internal rules includes allowing any member of Parliament to propose a motion to remove the Speaker at any time, limiting federal spending budgets, and so on. These contents are part of what McCarthy promised to the ultra-conservative members of his party who opposed him in order to be elected Speaker.
CNN reporter Serfaty: McCarthy made a lot of major concessions, some of them procedural, but very important to the (extremely conservative) “Freewire” caucus members. Those concessions forced McCarthy to give them more power, and he lowered the threshold from five to one, requiring only one MP to propose the removal of the Speaker, something he has said before that he would never agree to.
In addition to the above mentioned, McCarthy also promised ultra-conservative lawmakers, agreeing to seek substantial cuts in government spending, to achieve a balanced federal budget within 10 years from October this year, and not to interfere in future Republican primary elections. In addition, McCarthy also allowed some conservative lawmakers to enter key House committees and promised to put their legislative priorities on the voting agenda.
Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University in the United States: It would be surprising if there were not a large number of “Freewire” caucus members entering key committees and taking leadership positions, which are all things McCarthy promised to get elected.
Power for votes. However, as a politician in an important position, McCarthy’s exchange of benefits will undoubtedly have a real impact on the American people. Some American media said in an article titled “What price will the United States pay for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s concessions?” Senate Majority Leader Schumer, a Democrat, warned that these trade-offs would lead to a shutdown of the federal government or default on its debt in the future, with devastating consequences for the United States.
The “New York Times” article stated that this political dispute shows that the US Congress may repeatedly fall into chaos in the next two years.
Gillespie, professor of political science at Emory University in the United States: I don’t think anything will change. This reflects a very divided political environment and a very divided society.