Californian elected official Kevin McCarthy overcame his first test as a speaker of the United States House of Representatives with the adoption, without difficulty, of the rules of the lower house of the American Parliament, from which he painfully wrested the presidency on 6 January.
Only one elected Republican defected, a remarkable score as the party tore itself apart last week. For four days, a handful of elected Trumpists had indeed blocked the accession to the perch of Kevin McCarthy, who was finally elected only on the fifteenth ballot and in an electric atmosphere, an unprecedented scenario for more than 160 years.
The elected official welcomed on Twitter the adoption of rules which “encourage elected officials to debate, increase transparency and reopen the Congress to the People”.
Congress has been broken for a long time. Over the years, a concentration of power within the Speaker’s Office has… https://t.co/sWh79Kv0U9
But his fellow Democrats noted that he had granted large concessions to the slingers to bring them back into line. “I am worried regarding the agreements reached behind the scenes”said the elected Jim McGovern. “These rules do not represent a serious attempt to govern, but a ransom demand for America from the far right”he added.
During the weekend, moderate Republican elected officials had expressed the same criticisms. “We have no idea of the promises that have been made and it hurts my heart”had notably declared the elected Nancy Mace, who, despite her reservations, voted with the majority.
Immediate right turn
The new regulations require elected officials to be present to vote on legislation, unlike a measure adopted during the pandemic. It also authorizes only one of them, once morest five so far, to introduce a motion of no confidence once morest the speaker.
Next, it provides for the creation of a commission of inquiry into “the instrumentalization” by the Democrats of the Department of Justice, a way to discredit the investigations targeting former President Donald Trump.
Finally, the project includes measures “to solve our problem of uncontrollable debt”, explained the elected official of Oklahoma Tom Cole. In particular, it requires that each new expenditure be financed by a cut elsewhere in the budget, and plans to cancel 72 billion dollars (67 billion euros) allocated to the tax administration (IRS).
The White House has said that President Joe Biden would veto if the latter proposal were to pass indefinitely, on the grounds that it would cause a $115 billion deficit by authorizing “the rich cheats to evade taxes”.
Defense budget cuts
According to the American media, Kevin McCarthy has made other promises, which will manifest themselves in particular during the votes on the debt ceiling. In particular, he would have agreed to freeze the amount of the budget for ten years and to reduce military spending by 10%.
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“It has been proposed to cut billions of dollars from the defense budget, I think it’s a horrible idea”commented on Sunday the elected Republican Tony Gonzales who finally joined the Democrats on Monday.
“With Russian aggression in Ukraine, the growing Chinese threat in the Pacific (…), how are we going to be able to look our allies in the eye and ask them to increase their military budgets if America reduces theirs? »he explained.
Especially since these cuts might weigh on aid in kyiv. “It’s all on the tableadmitted Jim Jordan, a loyal lieutenant of ex-President Donald Trump and rallied to Kevin McCarthy. Frankly, we have to look at the money being sent to Ukraine and wonder if there isn’t a better way to protect America. »
The scope of these measures is, however, largely symbolic: laws passed in the House have no chance of being adopted in the Senate, which the Democrats retain control of. The Republicans will therefore above all have a capacity for nuisance, through their power to investigate or block bills brought by the government of Joe Biden.
