Kevin McCarthy inches closer to the votes needed to become Speaker of the House. The holdouts who changed sides have gotten in return rule changes which may move “the peoples’ chamber” back toward being the deliberative body the framers intended it to be.
I would like to see the federal government adopt a balanced budget policy, with limited exceptions. We cannot keep borrowing money and living on credit indefinitely. Plus the so-called “omnibus” bills which no one has the time to read before passing are abominations.
The real question is whether McCarthy has to give away so much power to get the job that the job is no longer worth having. That was the situation which ended us up with the worthless Paul Ryan as Speaker, who did basically nothing for several years. He was tolerated because no one else wanted the job.
Later … McCarthy finally got the votes he needed to win the Speakership on the 15th ballot. A handful of the holdouts were convinced to vote “present” instead of for another candidate, thus lowering the number of votes required to win the post. (Posted at 9:45 p.m PST)
