The most important victory of the Republican Party in the mid-term elections in the United States, which establishes the next two years of a divided government in Washington, has been confirmed this Wednesday. Eight days after the polls closed, a victory in California has given conservatives the 218th seat that secures them the majority in the House of Representatives to which it is estimated that they can add three more seats of the seven that remain to be determined.
Even if with a much smaller lead than anticipated, control of that chamber is crucial for Republicans, especially since Democrats have managed to maintain a majority in the Senate, where a significant seat still remains to be decided on December 6. in a runoff in Georgia. And the Republican majority, slim though it may be, will mark the next two years of political life in the United States and will grip the agenda of President Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Blocking and investigations
Four years after losing the majority in the legislative elections held during the presidency of Donald Trump, the Republicans recover it and, with it, they have important tools in their hands, including the committee control. Although without the Senate their ability to legislate is limited, they can function as fI defy any Democratic legislative initiative sent by the Upper House, even preventing them from being put to a vote. And can slow downthe application of laws that have already seen the light exercising their executive control functions.
The Republicans have already announced their intention to launch various investigations in the House on issues such as the response to the coronavirusthe fbithe troop withdrawal from afghanistanthe situation in border with Mexico, and about Hunter Biden, the president’s son. And these investigations will help shape the political conversation and media attention in the next two years until the elections. 2024 presidentialfor which Trump announced his candidacy on Tuesday.
The weight of the extremist wing
The fact that the Republicans have scratched few seats in the total renovation of the House in the ‘midterms’ complicates, in any case, the scenario for them and, especially, for Kevin McCarthy, the man he has become nominated for the position of ‘speaker‘ that he January 3 will leave the democrat Nancy Pelosi. Because McCarthy first has to secure the 218 votes needed to be confirmed and the most extreme wing it has already threatened to use its power to extract concessions. Congressman Matt Gaetz, a close Trump ally, has in fact already announced that he will not vote for him on the 3rd and assures that there is a “critical mass” of opponents like him.
Even if he manages to get ratified McCarthy will have the challenge of keeping a bench together with different factions, where in recent years and in these elections the Freedom Caucus and extremist representatives have gained weight What Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Republican majority and the strength of that most radical wing can have, above all, serious consequences for the country. How it happened when Barack Obama was in office and the Tea Party became strong within the Republican Party and in Congress, it is now threatening to use the majority to not renewing the government’s operating budget Y do not raise the debt ceiling unless they get compensation for spending cuts or social programs. And also Republican voices have questioned continuing to approve aid to Ukraine.
Bipartisanship and polarization
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The president biden issued after confirming the Republican majority a release congratulating McCarthy and holding out a hand to bipartisan cooperation, saying himself “ready to work with the Republicans in the House of Representatives to achieve results for working families & rdquor ;. “The future is too bright to be locked in political wars & rdquor ;, she wrote. “The American people want us to do things for them, they want us to focus on the issues that matter to them and on improving their lives,” said the president, who in the first two years has managed to push through some important laws with bipartisan support, from in infrastructures up in gun control.
The president’s statement, however, also opened by reading the results of the mid-term elections as “a strong rejection of electoral deniers& rdquor ;, many of which have failed in states but that yes They have won strongly in Congress. And the intense political polarizationand the view already set on the 2024 presidentialdo not portend a great period of cooperation, but rather one where Biden will be forced to use more executive power.