GOP failure to united behind leader could spark 'coalition speakership for first time in US history'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 get the analysis. We're joined by William Galston. William is a senior fellow at the

00:03 Brookings Institution. William Galston, always a pleasure to have you here on France 24.

00:08 Thank you for joining us. We need some guidance here. What happens next in your view? What

00:12 happens next on Capitol Hill?

00:15 Well, we know some of the very next steps. There will be a meeting of the House Republicans

00:24 next Tuesday night at which all of the candidates will, for the speakership, will present their

00:31 plans, their strategy for pulling the party back together. They have scheduled a vote,

00:40 and I suspect that it will be a series of votes, for Wednesday. And that's where the

00:47 real fork in the road occurs. If the Republicans can succeed in unifying enough to elect a

00:55 new speaker from their ranks alone, then they will do so. And we will then have a return

01:02 to the situation that existed before Mr. McCarthy was ousted. If they can't, they may have to

01:11 look across party lines for the support they need. And that would generate an entirely

01:17 new dynamic, perhaps even a coalition speakership for the first time in American history.

01:24 There is never a dull moment, and you've perfectly illustrated why this is such an historic moment

01:28 indeed, a first possible coalition speakership. Now, of course, it's worth remembering, I

01:33 think, that McCarthy himself elected back in January to the role of speaker, but that

01:37 took like 15 attempts to get him there, didn't it? It wasn't a straightforward event. And

01:42 obviously replacing him is going to be equally complicated.

01:47 Whether it will go the 15 ballots that it took back in January, I'm not sure. But I

01:53 would be amazed if anybody prevailed on the first ballot. But there's a deeper issue here,

02:01 and that is that the promises that Kevin McCarthy was forced to make back in January in order

02:06 to get elected speaker, in particular the rules changes that allowed a single member

02:11 of the Republican caucus to bring the motion to vacate the chair that ultimately passed

02:17 and expelled him from the speakership, whether anybody would be willing to take the speakership

02:23 without a change in those rules is, I think, a fundamental question here.

02:29 Because otherwise, the new speaker would be just as powerless as Mr. McCarthy was and

02:34 just as vulnerable to attack from a small, determined fringe of opponents. But in order

02:41 to get the rules changed, if that small fringe doesn't want a change in the rules, there

02:46 will have to be a discussion with the Democrats. And so this is a fork in the road that's coming

02:53 up for the entire House of Representatives as early as next week.

02:58 But if the Republicans can't figure out a way of turning a numerical majority into a

03:04 governing majority, then the institution as a whole will remain as dysfunctional as it

03:10 has been for the past nine months.

03:12 This is serious stuff, isn't it? William, my friend, tell me this, or clarify this for

03:16 me in particular. I can't work out whether this is a symbol of how democracy works in

03:20 the US or how it's not working, what is actually happening right now. But what is clear, I

03:25 think, is that this is going to stymie the government and things that the government

03:28 needs to do. And that is a serious issue, isn't it?

03:31 Well, it is certainly going to delay those things. Whether it stymies them remains to

03:36 be seen. But talk about serious issues. Aid to Ukraine is hanging in the balance, which

03:44 certainly explains why the president will go on national television, belatedly in my

03:51 view, in an effort to bolster support for it. There are signs at various levels that

03:56 grassroots support among Republicans for continued aid to Ukraine is declining alarmingly.

04:03 But there are lots of other things. For example, the funding of the government. We averted

04:09 one shutdown, but there's another one coming up in just 44 days. And the two parties are

04:16 very far apart on the best, the right way of funding the government. And not only that,

04:23 the Republicans in the Senate are not in agreement with the Republicans in the House on how the

04:30 government should be allowed to remain open and functioning. So there are a lot of very

04:36 serious issues that are stalled unless and until there's a new speaker.

04:41 William, I'm sorry, we need to leave it there. But I think there are so many more questions

04:45 I'd love to ask you. So maybe we'll get a chance to talk over the next couple of days

04:48 about this issue, which isn't going to go away quickly. William Goulston from the Brookings

04:52 Institution. Thank you once again for joining us here on France 24. We appreciate your time

04:55 and your analysis.

04:56 My pleasure.

04:57 Thank you, sir. Very much indeed.

Category

Transcript

Recommended