Very few Americans believe Congress is doing a good job. Some of them have a simple solution: Throw the bums out and institute term limits. But that creates more problems than it solves.
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Articles on Speaker of the House
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If you hear the 118th Congress described as a bunch of slackers, you’re not getting the whole story.
Kevin McCarthy, the only speaker of the House to be ousted, has quit Congress. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as Shakespeare, understood the price of ambition like McCarthy’s: humiliation.
In the wake of the three-week internal GOP battle to choose a speaker, a scholar of Congress says that what looks like dysfunction is actually something else.
The problems faced by the House GOP in choosing a new speaker aren’t particular to Republicans. They’re a reflection of larger problems that have afflicted both parties in Congress.
The absence of a speaker of the House − a single individual but the linchpin in Congress − could produce a dangerous crisis in America’s constitutional democracy.
In the 1850s, a fight over the speakership took nearly two months and 133 rounds of voting. But for nearly a century, the majority party in the House has unanimously supported its leader. No longer.
A major crisis abroad may exacerbate internal divisions within one of the US’s major political parties.
Some Republicans have said they want to nominate Donald Trump for speaker, after the previous candidate was ousted.
Long gridlocked by fighting between the two major political parties, the US House is now split by conflict within the GOP, thanks in part to redistricting practices that boost extremism.
Democratic failure to rescue the speaker may mean they don’t get the budget and Ukraine aid they were hoping for.
Research shows that leaders who can embrace competing demands and focus on the long term are more likely to succeed.
The controversial Republican seems to be hanging on to his seat in the House, for now.
The breadth of the deals House speaker Kevin McCarthy did to gain the post are now becoming clear.
Despite all the limitations his concessions place on his speakership, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy still has a lot of power.
The House GOP has announced a slew of investigations, including a review of the conduct of the Department of Justice and its investigations of Donald Trump.
House Republicans have finally elected a leader after 15 gruelling votes.
Breakaway Republicans are blocking the election of a new speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The Congress that ended on Jan. 3, 2023, had 15 vacancies, a rate unmatched since the 1950s. If that rate continues, whoever leads the now-closely divided House will face trouble.
Given the Labor government’s small majority, the speaker’s role will be especially important in this parliament. The much larger cross-bench will be arguing for a greater voice.
Top contributors
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Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boise State University
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Associate Professor and Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL
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Research editor, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
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Teaching Fellow in International Security, University of Portsmouth
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Professor of Political Science, Baruch College, CUNY
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Foundation Professor of Law and Political Science, Arizona State University
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Rachel Hadas is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of English, Rutgers University - Newark
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Senior Fellow, Government Affairs Institute, Georgetown University
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Distinguished Fellow in Law and Government, Dickinson Law, Penn State
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Senior Associate Fellow on the Middle East at RUSI; Associate Professor in Politics & International Relations, Deputy Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL
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Assistant Professor of Government, Smith College
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Associate Professor and Chair of Department of Politics, Sewanee: The University of the South
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Visiting Research Fellow in International Studies, Queen's University Belfast
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Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota
