Quote:
Originally Posted by nfotiu
To answer a little more about why this is a big deal.
In the last 100+ years, the majority party elects a speaker nearly unanimously and it's no big deal. Without a speaker, they can't do anything, and the government runs out of funding on Nov 17. Usually parties all fall in line with what the party leaders and majority of house want. The problem here is there is the gang of 8 hardliners/disruptors/destructionists led by Matt Gaetz who are more than happy to shut down/blow up the government for "reasons". Since the Republican majority is so slim, the gang of 8 has the power to either have their chosen one as speaker, or handcuff the current speaker by not supporting anything but their fringe desires which would shut down the government.
There are still a handful of Republican congress people who actually want the government to continue to operate, and know that someone like Jordan will be more than happy to shut down the government for months instead of bringing forward bills that will pass the house/senate/president. The option of going with a speaker willing to work with Democrats to get things through when the republicans have the majority is a no go for the far right.
So there is basically no scenario to move forward other than giving into the destructionist republicans or the moderate democrats. and so far no path to keeping the government functioning past Nov 18.
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In more normal times, members of Congress felt pressure from their constituents and would actually act due to that pressure. But I think now, they no longer give af about this pressure and more people from their constituents care more about sticking it to the other side than having the government open. The US, as we knew it for the past 50 years will be completely changed and unrecognizable in the next 15 as a result of what's happening down there.