119
votes
Accepted
What does it actually mean for the Republicans to have lost the House of Representatives?
The majority party in the House of Representatives gets to appoint the Chairman of every sub-committee in the House, there are many of these. These chairmen are all Republicans, but will soon all be ...
- 1,004
93
votes
Was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rejection of Republican representatives Jordan and Banks "unprecedented"?
According to House practices, a select committee is a committee whose members are appointed (selected) by the Speaker. Conventionally the Speaker will receive recommendations from the minority leader ...
- 67.7k
83
votes
Accepted
What is the political reason for the U.S. House to adopt a resolution that essentially reaffirms the Constitution?
My naive understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that the
Constitution is already the supreme law and nothing can be above it,
nor Congress Resolutions. If anyone acts against the Constitution, it
...
- 73.1k
74
votes
Accepted
Would it be sensible for the House Democrats to vote for McCarthy as speaker?
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." (Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte)
The Democrats, by refusing to assist the Republicans in electing a speaker of the house, ...
- 1,533
70
votes
Accepted
How can a single member of the House derail a Congressional bill?
The US house (and other systems) allows for expedited voting via "unanimous consent" - without a proper vote where each member's position is noted, the Speaker simply asks for a voice vote and motions ...
- 3,928
66
votes
What did the Democrats have to gain by ousting Kevin McCarthy?
Why would a Democrat vote for McCarthy?
McCarthy is not from their party; Democrats are not normally inclined to vote for Republican speakers
McCarthy single-handedly opened an impeachment ...
- 67.7k
63
votes
Accepted
Was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rejection of Republican representatives Jordan and Banks "unprecedented"?
Minority Leader McCarthy may have intended calling this action "unprecedented" as an attack, but Pelosi acknowledged that herself in her official statement:
“With respect for the integrity ...
- 25.9k
62
votes
Accepted
Why is the consensus that the Democrats are confident of overturning the House majority in the 2018 midterms?
Polling data -- which is what is being analyzed by organizations like FiveThirtyEight -- indicates that Democrats are likely to win a majority in the House of Representatives. Polling data is the best ...
- 1,685
62
votes
Would it be sensible for the House Democrats to vote for McCarthy as speaker?
McCarthy may be too moderate for some extremist Republicans, but he's not moderate in the classic sense, not in line with Democratic policies, and his anti-democratic antics may pose a threat not just ...
- 36k
61
votes
Accepted
Why did the House not call every witness suggested to them during the 2019-2020 Impeachment inquiry?
Because four were completely irrelevant to the question at hand, two were superfluous, and two actually did testify.
Let's go through the list for fun.
Hunter Biden. It would stretch credibility ...
- 17.2k
60
votes
Accepted
Can the Speaker of the House of Representatives disinvite the President to the State of the Union address?
The State of the Union speech is purely a tradition. There are no laws regarding it, although there may be rules within each house of Congress that address it.
The only requirement is specified in ...
- 23.9k
60
votes
Accepted
Why did House of Representatives need to condemn Trumps Tweets?
why the House of Representatives needed to pass a resolution to condemn Trump's tweets?
It did not need to. It wanted1 to.
Many people in government have criticized Trump's tweets before [...]. ...
- 31.2k
60
votes
Accepted
In the United States, why aren't both legislative chambers involved in the Supreme Court confirmation process?
The founders had two models in particularly in mind: the Ancient Roman Senate, and the UK parliament of Monarch/Lords/Commons.
In the UK, the House of Lords functioned as a Supreme Court. The ...
- 115k
51
votes
Accepted
If the US Senate votes to not pass a bill, can the House of Representatives overrule that vote?
No, the House of Representatives does not have the power to overrule a Senate veto. Article I, Section 7 is quite clear that a bill needs to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate in ...
- 27.8k
50
votes
Why was Liz Cheney removed from House Republican leadership?
I rather liked Byron York's piece, in the Washington examiner, on it
Cheney's current problems intensified after the first vote on her leadership, when she intensified her campaign against Trump. ...
- 45.8k
47
votes
Accepted
First day a 2022 US congress could vote to shut down Jan 6th commission? How quickly after could the commission be effectively curtailed or shut down?
Firstly, the Jan 6th Commission was never created in the first place. It failed to pass the Senate due to a Republican filibuster, leading to the creation of the House Select Committee to Investigate ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
45
votes
Accepted
Why is Beto O'Rourke still a US Representative despite not running for re-election to the House?
His current term to the US House has not ended yet; it ends on January 3, 2019, which is the start of the next Congress. This is mandated in the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
...
- 46.5k
43
votes
Accepted
30+ years ago, why was there often a huge split between the presidential and house elections but not anymore?
Southern Democrats
In 1972, most southern states were overwhelmingly Democrat. But these Southern Democrats had a different ideology than Northern Democrats. They were more conservative, ...
- 89.3k
42
votes
What does Ambassador Taylor have to do with the Trump impeachment inquiry?
Washington Post: Who is Bill Taylor, and why does his public testimony matter in the impeachment inquiry?
In brief, the Washington Post lays out his pertinence as follows.
As the top U.S. diplomat ...
- 1,852
41
votes
Is there a documented rationale why the House Ways and Means chairman can demand tax info?
This is explicitly stated in US tax law.
From 26 U.S. Code § 6103. Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information:
(f) Disclosure to Committees of Congress
(1) Committee on ...
- 16.5k
39
votes
What's to stop the House majority party from voting to expel every member of the House minority party from committees?
What's to stop the House majority party from voting to expel every member of the House minority party from committees?
That might work for a few months as most committees and subcommittees are not ...
- 12.6k
39
votes
Accepted
Why do they keep saying 217 is what's needed to elect the Speaker of the House?
Two seats are vacant at this time.
Current House Makeup Vacancies:
RI-01: Rep. David Cicilline (D) resigned 6/1/23. Special primary 9/5/23, special general 11/7/23.
UT-02: Rep. Chris Stewart (R) to ...
- 34.4k
38
votes
Accepted
Is 46 Republican House members retiring unusual?
It depends on how exactly you count. For example, not contesting a seat because you are running for Governor is not really "retiring", nor is losing your primary.
Among those not contesting their ...
- 115k
37
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose of the House investigation of what happened at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6th 2021?
The purposes of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol - according to H.Res.503 which established the committee are as follows:
Consistent with the ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
36
votes
Why would voting for a US House Speaker candidate from a majority party be "taboo" and punishable if you're a member of a minority party?
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." -- Napoleon Bonaparte (attributed)
I think that's the basic mantra here: if the opposing party is having a leadership crisis, don't ...
- 16.5k
34
votes
What if no Speaker is elected by Jan 6th after a presidential election?
If it goes on long enough, things get very weird.
The 12th Amendment provides (in part) as follows:
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open ...
- 9,056
33
votes
Accepted
Are US Representatives from wealthy districts more likely to "graduate" to the Senate than Reps from poorer districts?
This is a difficult question to answer because there's not easily accessible data on representatives who attempted to become senators but failed. So what I did was test whether the median income for ...
- 7,146
31
votes
What can be done about a US president who refuses to co-operate with an impeachment panel?
Article of impeachment
If there is evidence that the president is hindering the investigation into his own conduct then the House of Representatives could write and article of impeachment on that. ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
31
votes
Accepted
When and why did the House rules change to permit an inquiry without a vote?
As the answers in Does the US require a House vote to begin an impeachment inquiry? point out, House rules never required a vote to start an impeachment inquiry. In both previous impeachments, however,...
- 25.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible