Harris, McCarthy, and No Help for Ukraine (Dec. 2-8)
Welcome back to Politics Explained! If you’re new here, we write about the happenings on Capitol Hill in short, concise, and easy to understand blogs. Events on the Hill from this past week continue to showcase the divide and discord between and within Democrats and Republicans. This week we’ve got the struggle to pass legislation for aid to Ukraine, Kevin McCarthy’s retirement, and Kamala Harris’s historic tie-breaking vote in the Senate. There’s a lot to cover from this past week, so let’s get started.
Aid to Ukraine has been blocked after Republicans demand for more emphasis on southern border control. In the southwest border of the United States, it’s reported that over 8000 crosses are occurring daily, creating a migration crisis. Last month, when President Biden sent a request to congress for aid to Ukraine and Israel, he also tied in a request for more aid to be sent to the Mexican border. In a move that was supposed to create support from the Republicans, it only made it clear to them that they could use the desired aid for war as a bargaining chip to get more control over the border. Now, Congress continues to try and figure things out, with only one more week before they all go on recess. The White House has emphasized that Russia may gain momentum from Ukraine’s lack of resources, which could run out by the end of this year. President Biden has expressed openness to negotiation, and all we can do for now is sit back and see what Congress comes to decide.
Wednesday morning, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that he will retire from Congress at the end of 2023 after 16 years in office. Back in October, McCarthy became the first Speaker of the House to be ousted from the position. At the time, he stated he would stay in the House as a member of the Republican party, but now is coming to a conclusion that the House would not be the best place for him to continue his work. In general, when a member of the House becomes the Speaker, they cannot be a part of any committees or floor debates. So when McCarthy was ousted, he had no committees to come back to. McCarthy has said that he promises to continue to be involved in Republican politics and help the younger generation of Republicans in their work to become a part of Congress. With Kevin McCarthy and George Santos both leaving office, the Republican party only has a 2 seat majority in the House, which could make it more difficult to pass legislation.
Kamala Harris sets historic tie-breaking vote, finally passing a record that was previously held by John C. Calhoun, Vice President to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson from 1825 to 1832. For more context, the Vice President of the United States is also the President of the Senate, meaning they can vote in Senate matters, but only when there is a tie. In the case of Kamala Harris, she’s had to put in a tie-breaking vote 32 times, giving her the new record. Diving deeper into this, what’s a historic development is also a sign of the divide within Congress, and reminds us of how slim the majority Democrats have in the Senate is. The fact that there’s been a record breaking amount of times where the Senate couldn’t vote to a majority speaks to the trend of disagreement and polarization* we’ve been seeing on Capitol Hill.
*Definition of the Week: division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs.
