From duck stamps to doomsday: the past year in American politics
THE YEAR began with the swearing-in of a new Congress, after Republicans won a slim majority in the midterms. In January Kevin McCarthy was eventually chosen as speaker of the House. You may remember Mr McCarthy. He was the House majority leader who supported Donald Trump through his presidency. After the January 6th riot, Mr McCarthy told the floor of the House that Mr Trump “bears responsibility” for the violence. Then when it became clear that the former president retained the support of the majority of Republicans, Mr McCarthy went to Florida to pay homage to Mr Trump.
By January 2023, uncertainty over whether Mr McCarthy was a true believer in Trumpism, combined with personal animosity against him, and that tiny majority, meant he had to endure 15 rounds of voting to secure the speakership. One concession he made to do so made his job particularly insecure. Any single member of the Republican caucus would be able to call for a no-confidence vote. Spoiler alert: as surely as nemesis follows hubris, this would be his undoing.
There was a lot of attention on the long-running Republican civil war in the House in 2023, but not a lot of legislation made it through Congress and to the president’s desk. In fact by some measures it was the least productive Congress since the actual civil war. Francis Fukuyama has described the federal government as a vetocracy, because the House majority, 41 senators, the president and the Supreme Court all have the power to kill legislation. When government is divided, as it was in 2023, the only laws that can be passed are uncontroversial things. Perhaps the legislative highlight of the year was the Duck Stamp Modernisation Act.
2023-12-28 14:06:38
Post from www.economist.com
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