Speaker McCarthy: 100 Days of Challenges and Hurdles Ahead

Rep. Kevin McCarthy went through an intense 15-ballot election and was eventually named the House speaker. He summed up his experience by talking about something his dad said to him when he was young: “Your beginning doesn’t matter, it’s your finishing that counts.”

Kevin McCarthy from California has been in charge of the House Republican majority for about 100 days, but it’s been difficult for him to move on from his shaky beginning which is now known as the main feature of his speakership.

So far, McCarthy has had a lot of success in the new Congress. The Republicans in the House have passed lots of bills – some with support from people on both sides. This includes important measures that are meant to help fight crime and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden was forced to sign these bills into law.

Congressman McCarthy recently helped more visitors to come to the Capitol by taking pictures with them. He also hosted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and talked with people from both political parties, even though China didn’t agree with it. On Monday he will give a speech at the New York Stock Exchange too – meaning his influence is growing.

It has been 100 days since the new Congress started and House Leader McCarthy is like a bright light on a theater stage – with everyone expecting to watch something exciting, but then realizing that there’s no play.

McCarthy is the Speaker, which means he’s the second in line to become President. But, his power is not very strong because there are lots of lawmakers who can vote and decide to remove him from his job.

Kevin McCarthy, who is the leader of House Republicans, has not been able to get them to help with border security or prevent a debt crisis. This will be a challenge for him that could make or break his next 100 days in charge. A professor at USC said “this is what Kevin McCarthy finds himself doing”.

According to what he said, it won’t be easy for the new House Speaker, McCarthy, because there is not a lot of room for him to move. Also, because the past Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi was really good at her job, anyone coming after her will have to do things differently. Under the Republican party she worked with, there hasn’t been a lot of power in this role.

McCarthy is making changes in the speaker’s office to suit himself, including taking control of a room next to the House floor for private meetings. Even though he has already white hair, McCarthy does not like most often used protocols of Congress and sometimes chooses not to appear in the Capitol rooms on TV for interviews or news conferences. He wants to use all the powers given him as speaker.

The Republicans thought they were not being respected when they took control in January. But then, with some changes in laws, they shocked everybody. Even President Biden had to agree to it and sign the bills into law. The most surprising was the law that changed Washington’s criminal code which made Democrats angry because it seemed like the White House agreed with Republican ‘tough-on-crime’ ideas.

Democrats agreed to work together with Republicans on a few things. They are trying to figure out how the U.S. can compete with China, reveal information about where COVID-19 came from and make sure that the dangerous national pandemic emergency is over soon.

Some people who were not happy with Kevin McCarthy at first, ended up being quite pleased with the result. Rep. Andy Biggs, the former head of a group called Freedom Caucus said that he was surprised and happy with how Kevin McCarthy handled things and felt like everything worked out well in the end.

Conservative people are okay with how the House of Representatives is being run by McCarthy. Eric Cantor, a former GOP leader praised him for keeping everyone in the group together and making sure that everything is balanced.

Because President Trump gave his support to Congressman Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy became the speaker of Congress. But it’s not certain that he will stay in this position since things can easily change and Trump’s approval could go away.

McCarthy is walking a tightrope between those who believe in Reagan-style optimism and those aligned with Trump’s extreme ideas. He is staying close to Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, an important friend of Trump. Greene is working hard to make prison time easier for the people charged with breaking into the Capitol building on January 6th.

McCarthy allowed Fox News to show people some videos of the riot that happened on Jan. 6, 2021. He was one of the lawmakers who voted against accepting that Joe Biden had won the election over Donald Trump. The House Democratic committee wrote a memo saying the new Republican party leadership is not fit for their position.

Congresswoman Judy Chu, who works in California and is a part of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, thinks that last week was one of the worst weeks in Congress’ history. She thinks things still haven’t gotten better yet either.

Now, the Republicans in the House of Representatives are looking into Joe Biden and his family. The Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, James Comer from Kentucky said that this is a “tough job” but he’s doing great at it.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, a member of the Freedom Caucus that did not agree on the weekend speaker’s choice, thinks this may make McCarthy “the best speaker” in his lifetime. Clyde is proud and believes McCarthy has what it takes to fight and he says that should scare the White House and Senate because the House is now in control.