# House Speaker Contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 12, 2022, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770 "2022-11-12T00:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 76
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1501 "2023-01-06T15:19:23Z")
McCarthy has created a dangerous security concern. One R can challenge him and call for a vote? What happens if the country is facing another covid crisis next year? The Speaker has to lead. They can’t constantly be worried about being challenged. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1502 "2023-01-06T15:22:57Z")
> [@The Hill](#): > > Norman said the concessions offered by McCarthy include a guaranteed floor vote to establish term limits for all House lawmakers; an open amendment process, providing rank-and-file lawmakers with more power to alter legislation; adoption of the so-called Holman rule, which grants Congress new powers over federal agencies; and a **72-hour rule — requiring three full days for lawmakers to read bills before they hit the floor.** Okay, I don’t like the first three, but what’s the problem with having a 72-hour rule? It makes a lot of sense to me, unless there’s something in this specific proposal that makes it objectionable. I seem to recall some pretty egregious laws – e.g. the PATRIOT Act – being rushed through Congress before most members, or the public, had a chance to see what was actually in them. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1503 "2023-01-06T15:25:28Z")
That’s what I was saying up thread, when I commented that if they continue to hold out, nobody has a majority- not them, not the rest of the GOP, and not the Democrats. If I was the mainline GOP, I’d start seriously looking at horse-trading with the Democrats to get a Speaker elected and how to marginalize the howler-monkey faction, even if it means the dreaded bipartisanship. Seriously though… everyone’s kind of seen this schism coming for a while now once Trump was out fo the picture (more or less), and everyone’s known that the GOP has a sort of choice to make- double down on the MAGA crazy/far-right wing stuff, or pull back toward where their traditional center is, in hopes of not having such lackluster election showings as they did in 2020 and 2022. This is just the first battle in that schism- basically who controls the GOP, and how that control is going to go down. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1504 "2023-01-06T15:25:32Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Once a member is expelled, the seat is vacant. The only way to fill it is with an election. Does being expelled prevent them from running again? Or being elected again? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1505 "2023-01-06T15:29:56Z")
Probably the most baffling concession is the guaranteed floor vote on term limits – not that McCarthy would offer it, but that anyone would demand it. The Supreme Court has already ruled that term limits are unconstitutional, so it would require a constitutional amendment. Which would take 2/3 of both chambers and 3/4 of the states, which won’t happen. So that’s an easy one for McCarthy to say sure, we’ll have a vote. And I had not heard of the “[Holman rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holman_rule)” so I looked it up – essentially, it allows the House to cut specific federal employees’ salaries in the appropriations bills. Just another way to make federal service even shittier. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1506 "2023-01-06T15:34:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > If I was the mainline GOP, I’d start seriously looking at horse-trading with the Democrats to get a Speaker elected and how to marginalize the howler-monkey faction, even if it means the dreaded bipartisanship. They’re worried about getting primaried in 2 years. And that is legitimately something that could and likely would happen. Being called RINOs or whatever. Ads from opponents accusing them of colluding with Democrats and so on. Everybody saw what happened to Liz Cheney. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1507 "2023-01-06T15:34:19Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > > [@squeegee](#): > > > > Once a member is expelled, the seat is vacant. The only way to fill it is with an election. > > Does being expelled prevent them from running again? Or being elected again? No and no. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1508 "2023-01-06T15:36:08Z")
So the only effective option is defenestration. From a high window. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1509 "2023-01-06T15:39:44Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > So the only effective option is defenestration Is that you, Vlad? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1510 "2023-01-06T15:42:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > > McCarthy is dishonorable and cannot be trusted. > > IS there a Republican who **can** be trusted? At this point if it’s not one of the ones who voted to impeach Trump the Rs can go pound sand. At a minimum it can’t be anyone who challenged the electoral count. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1511 "2023-01-06T15:43:07Z")
Da. [extra characters for Discourse] ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1512 "2023-01-06T15:44:39Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > you know you’re talking about Matt Gaetz here, right? [Yalta Conference - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference) Stalin (Not to imply that any of these are good people, just pointing out that it’s not a slam dunk argument to say, “Look who they hang out with”.) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1513 "2023-01-06T15:48:00Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Probably the most baffling concession For me, it’s the thing where anyone can call a vote of non-confidence on McCarthy at any time. Like dude, check the room? Twenty people have done that to you eleven times as of this writing and it looks like some of them believe it with the entirety of their existence. (I also feel compelled to note that I find it funny how the anti-abortion party sure is happy to take a rusty coat hanger to McCarthy’s unborn speakership.) “Let me be in charge and I’ll let you burn it all down if you decide you don’t like me!” sounds like a terrible plan when it is well established that they already do not like him and they will indeed burn it all down the first chance they get. Does he just want to put Speaker of the House on his resume even if he only gets to keep the chair warm for a few minutes? Did he hear about Kash Patel being CIA Director for fourteen minutes and decide he also wants to join the micro-scaramucci club? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1514 "2023-01-06T15:52:14Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > “Let me be in charge and I’ll let you burn it all down if you decide you don’t like me!” sounds like a terrible plan when it is well established that they already do not like him and they will indeed burn it all down the first chance they get. I suspect that his eyes have been on the prize of the Speakership for so long, that he’s unwilling (or mentally unable) to back away from it now, even as the Taliban 20 have worked to make the job an even bigger shit sandwich than it has been for Republicans in recent years. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1515 "2023-01-06T15:54:00Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > (Not to imply that any of these are good people, just pointing out that it’s not a slam dunk argument to say, “Look who they hang out with”.) My point was not “look who they hang out with,” but rather: it is a massive stretch to suggest that a group consisting of Gaetz, Boebert, etc. is begin “honest” about good governance (i.e. changing rules to “drain the swamp.” These people wouldn’t know good governance if it walked up to them on the House floor and repeatedly smacked them in the face with a fish. They represent the opposite of good governance. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1516 "2023-01-06T15:58:05Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > McCarthy is in danger of pissing off the 200 to suck up to the 20 and may see vote losses from the members elect who have had his back all along. As someone who imagined this back in the OP, in November, I still question whether or not they have enough spine to do anything other than make noises but still fall in line. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1517 "2023-01-06T15:59:02Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > And I had not heard of the “[Holman rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holman_rule)” so I looked it up – essentially, it allows the House to cut specific federal employees’ salaries in the appropriations bills. Just another way to make federal service even shittier. And a way to try to get rid of people they don’t like without going through an impeachment process by reducing or eliminating their salaries, as well as [defunding agencies and investigations](https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2023/01/house-republicans-look-cut-feds-pay-eliminate-agencies-reviving-holman-rule/381407/). . ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1518 "2023-01-06T16:05:34Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > As someone who imagined this back in the OP, in November, I still question whether or not they have enough spine to do anything other than make noises but still fall in line. I’m on the same page. What, specifically, is the bridge too far that would cause McCarthy supporters to revolt? They’ve stuck with him this far as he’s progressively degraded and debased himself and the Speakership as an institution, I just can’t see any of them saying “THIS is my breaking point!” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1519 "2023-01-06T16:11:06Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > These people wouldn’t know good governance if it walked up to them on the House floor and repeatedly smacked them in the face with a fish. The rest of us, however, would immediately recognize that as superior governance, and give the fish-smacker a medal. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/1520 "2023-01-06T16:12:36Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > I’m on the same page. What, specifically, is the bridge too far that would cause McCarthy supporters to revolt? They’ve stuck with him this far as he’s progressively degraded and debased himself and the Speakership as an institution, I just can’t see any of them saying “THIS is my breaking point!” It sounds like the breaking point might be when McCarthy is giving away _their_ toys–specifically, the leadership spots they feel entitled to. You can set the country on fire, no problem, but give away my subcommittee chair spot? Hell no! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=75) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=77)