I did some reading up on this, and there is a difference between the situations now and January. Back in January, the House couldn’t formally start anything for the new Congress until the Speaker was elected. So no committees could be established, no hearings could be held, and new members couldn’t even be sworn in.
But now, all that stuff has happened, so technically committees can still hold hearings. But when the whole House is in session, the only thing they can consider is the Speaker election.
If this goes on for a few days, I wonder if any Republicans will have the chutzpah to hold those Biden Impeachment hearings while they still can’t yet decide on a Speaker…
It’ll go on until some legislation that gives a big break to billionaires needs to move forward in the house, and then all the GOP lickspittles will snap into line faster than they can cash a campaign finance check.
Yes. They will absolutely hold hearings to “own the libs” if they have any option to. It gives them something to pivot to when asked questions that they don’t want to answer (pretty much EVERY question these days).
Committees can still meet, and it’s possible that new budget legislation can be drafted, but it will halt once it gets out of committee, because the whole House can’t take any action until it has a Speaker again.
Because the hearings are scheduled by the committee chairs, and the committees are still functioning. It’s only the full House sessions that are stuck.
I did some reading up on this, and there is a difference between the situations now and January. Back in January, the House couldn’t formally start anything for the new Congress until the Speaker was elected. So no committees could be established, no hearings could be held, and new members couldn’t even be sworn in.
But now, all that stuff has happened, so technically committees can still hold hearings. But when the whole House is in session, the only thing they can consider is the Speaker election.
If this goes on for a few days, I wonder if any Republicans will have the chutzpah to hold those Biden Impeachment hearings while they still can’t yet decide on a Speaker…
It’ll go on until some legislation that gives a big break to billionaires needs to move forward in the house, and then all the GOP lickspittles will snap into line faster than they can cash a campaign finance check.
Yes. They will absolutely hold hearings to “own the libs” if they have any option to. It gives them something to pivot to when asked questions that they don’t want to answer (pretty much EVERY question these days).
Can the speaker pro tempore preside? I’m not sure I’ve seen a good resource on that (or who is third in line for the presidency).
So what does this mean Wrt the shutdown? No discussion can happen? And if there’s no new speaker in 43 days is there an automatic shutdown?
Committees can still meet, and it’s possible that new budget legislation can be drafted, but it will halt once it gets out of committee, because the whole House can’t take any action until it has a Speaker again.
But how the hearings can be scheduled if there is no speaker?
Because the hearings are scheduled by the committee chairs, and the committees are still functioning. It’s only the full House sessions that are stuck.