Two years after the storming of the Capitol, the American Congress is again in turmoil
Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (d) observes a minute's silence, two years after the assault on the Capitol.
AP - Matt Rourke
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Two years after Donald Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the blocking of the election of a "speaker" in the House of Representatives is seen by many as a new assault on democracy.
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A minute of silence to commemorate an attack on democracy.
Two years after the storming of the Capitol, during which a crowd of supporters of Donald Trump had tried to prevent the certification of the election of Joe Biden, the elected officials of the House of Representatives gathered this Friday to pay tribute to those who defended Congress, January 6, 2021.
But for many, the US Parliament today faces a new assault on democracy, reports our correspondent in Washington,
Guillaume Naudin
.
The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is still looking to find a "speaker" this Friday.
Republican Kevin McCarthy, favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi in this post, is dependent on the goodwill of members of the most conservative fringe of his party, who are taking advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the November mid-term elections to ask their terms.
From “never Joe” to “never Kevin”
Unsurprisingly, these slingers are largely those who refused to recognize Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump.
There is for example Matt Gaetz, elected from Florida.
There's Scott Perry, elected from Pennsylvania, and Paul Gosar, from Arizona, who, according to the congressional inquiry into the storming of the Capitol, participated in the entourage of Donald Trump in preparation meetings for January 6 2021, with the goal of preventing Joe Biden from becoming president...
Of the twenty rebel Republicans who refuse to put Kevin McCarthy at the head of the House, almost all still refuse to admit defeat to Donald Trump.
Fourteen of them who were already elected to Congress at the time refused to certify the electoral count in January 2021. Pro-Trump hardliners who nevertheless refused to listen to the latter when he asked them this week to stop filibustering.
The Democrats see in this unprecedented situation for 160 years the stranglehold of the faithful of former President Donald Trump on the Republican Party.
“
The chaos in the House of Representatives is just another illustration of how an extreme fringe (…) prevents them from governing
,” assured the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.
The anniversary of the Capitol assault "
should serve as a signal to the Republican Party to reject the Trumpism that has led it from failure to failure
," he said in a statement.
Kevin McCarthy has reached out to free wills blocking his election, offering them sizeable concessions in behind-the-scenes negotiations.
In vain.
This blockage has very concrete repercussions.
Without a "speaker", elected officials cannot take an oath or vote on a bill.
But the 434 members of the House of Representatives, the scene of this singular spectacle, will continue to vote until a president is elected.
A deal with the Democrats?
Third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice-president, the "speaker" needs a majority of 218 votes to be elected.
The chosen one from California currently peaked at 201. Will the 1856 record be beaten?
That year, it took two months and 133 votes for the elected members of Congress to reach an agreement.
A way out could be offered by the Democrats.
According to Politico, a few of his elected officials have already engaged in preliminary conversations with the other bench.
The online media The Hill advances the name of an elected official from Alaska and another from Ohio who say they are indeed ready to work on the formation of a coalition.
The idea would be to weed out the most radical fringe of Republicans and then find a "consensual" candidate, bipartisan, who could take the presidency of the House and put an end to the longest crisis at the head of this institution since the start of the civil war.
An arrangement is possible, therefore, but not immediately.
According to Politico, for now, "
the Democrats are reveling
" in the misadventures of the Republicans and "
are determined to let them struggle
" for a little longer.
(
And with
AFP)
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