In September 2015, the current Speaker of the House John Boehner, announced that he
would be resigning.
To everyone’s surprise, his expected replacement, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, declared
that he was dropping out of the race for the vacant position.
The next most likely candidate, Congressman Paul Ryan, has repeatedly stated that he will
not run.
So, what exactly is this position that nobody seems to want?
Just what does the Speaker of the House do?
Well, in many other countries, the role of Speaker is also called the “presiding officer”.
This person has a number of duties, but primarily is supposed to moderate debate on the legislative
floor.
In the United States, its existence is delegated by Article I of the Constitution, and technically,
anybody who Congress chooses can be the Speaker, including non-politicians.
This role is also the highest ranking legislative position, and comes second in the line of
presidential succession.
This means that is the President and Vice President die, the Speaker would become President.
But while the Speaker has certain ceremonial and administrative duties, their real job
is deciding which bills are allowed to be discussed and voted on.
In other countries, this role is intentionally given to a non-partisan member, so that political
affiliation doesn’t derail the ability to bring issues to the table.
But in the United States, the Speaker is a hotly political and partisan position, which
means that whoever holds it has the ability to shift focus along party lines.
This is largely the result of the Speaker being selected by the majority party in the
House, and they are expected to essentially represent their party.
This is important when attempting to pass legislation in the face of majority shift.
An example of this was how Congress rushed to pass Obamacare while Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat,
was Speaker of the house.
Had they waited until the congressional elections, Boehner would have been in power, and certainly
blocked the bill from reaching the floor.
In 2013, when Obama wanted to pass funding for the health care act, Boehner and other
Republicans in the House literally shut down the entire government in protest.
The Speaker also appoints a majority of the Rules Committee, which is considered one of
the most powerful committees in Congress.
Essentially, this committee decides exactly how the House can vote for a bill, and under
what rules to debate it.
This has the power to shift a bill’s intentions, and is usually aligned with the majority party
and the speaker.
By dictating which bills are seen, and influencing the specifics of how the bills can be debated
and voted on, the Speaker is an extremely powerful position.
In some ways, it can even rival the Presidency, as has been seen during President Obama’s
terms.
But currently, the position is vacant.
A big part of the reason is that many feel the Republican party is split along moderate
and extreme lines, and that while they hold a majority in the House, they would not manage
a majority of votes.
With such an important role to fill, it will be interesting to see how House Republicans
solve this potential crisis, and who steps up to the plate.
While the Speaker of the House might rival the president, President Obama has successfully
pushed through a great deal of controversial legislation in his last year.
Find out why in our video.
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