After 15 historic ballots, US parliament elects new Speaker

The US Parliament on Saturday elected Republican Kevin McCarthy as Speaker after a historic 15th ballot.

After four days of lobbying and facing opposition from members of the party (Republican Party), which the US media nicknamed ‘Never Kevins’, Mr. McCarthy clinched the seat highly enried with 216 votes; putting him over his challenger, Hakeem Jeffries, a democrat who got 212 votes.

The emergence of a new Speaker comes at a price including allowing any member of parliament to move to be removed from office.

Another compromise made by Mr. McCarthy, according to CNN, included moving 12 appropriations bills individually. Instead of passing separate bills to fund government operations, Congress often passes a massive year-end spending package known as an “omnibus” that rolls everything into one bill.

Conservatives are against this, arguing that it can’t afford oversight and allows MPs to remain on irrelevant pet projects.

He also agreed to Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the powerful House Rules Committee. Also, lawmakers will have seventy-two hours to review the bill before it comes to the floor.

An investigative committee would be created to investigate the federal government’s “armaments”; and restore the Holman rule, which can be used to reduce the salaries of government officials.

While many argue that Mr McCarthy’s compromise could make him a weak leader in one of the most powerful political seats, the AP said he could also be a survivor of one of the more brutal battles for the hammer in US history.

“Not since the time of the Civil War has a speaker’s voice been dragged through so many election rounds,” the AP said.

McCarthy was the speaker

In a tweet after his appearance, he tweeted “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will not give up. And I will not give up on you, the American people.

In her Saturday morning speech after he got out, the hard work began, he said, adding that his main responsibility was not to the party, nor to the congress but to the US – “our country.”

The new speaker says it’s time for parliament to become a check and balance on President Joe Biden’s policies.

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As part of his plans for his tenure, Mr. McCarthy intends to win economic competition with China by bringing back jobs taken by the latter.

“As the Chinese Communist Party, we will create a bipartisan select committee in China to investigate how to bring back the hundreds of thousands of jobs that went to China and then we will win this economic competition,” he said.