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Jon Fleischman

How Congress Elects Its Speaker – In A Manner Respectful To The Minority Party

Posted by at 12:00 am on Dec 04, 2009

Following up on my commentary of this morning, I would like to draw the following to the attention of FR readers (especially those Republican legislators who think that even as a minority party, we should be entitled to pride and respect)…

Here is a quote from a report of the Congressional Research Service, Party Leaders in the House: Election, Duties, and Responsibilities, that succinctly describes the process that the United States House of Representatives

Speaker of the House. The Speaker is elected by the House on the first day of a new Congress. Customarily, the caucus or conference of each major party first elects a candidate at early organizational meetings. When the new Congress convenes, each party places the name of its candidate in nomination, and the majority party’s candidate is typically elected on a party line vote…

Below is a short video demonstrating how Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker (it is disturbing to watch, but nevertheless instructive).  Note that the Democrats voted for Pelosi, and the Republicans for Boehner.  Clearly nothing was "taken away" from Pelosi’s moment, and everyone applauded the winner.  But everyone also maintained their pride and self-respect.

Assembly Republicans should make it clear that they would like a similar process to be used in the election of the Assembly Speaker.  Isn’t it enough that the Democrats are going to win the vote?

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.

3 Responses to “How Congress Elects Its Speaker – In A Manner Respectful To The Minority Party”

  1. steven_maviglio@yahoo.com Says:
    December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Wow, Jon, I never thought you’d applaud ANYTHING Congress does.

    So other than giving the Republicans 10 minutes of speech time, just what does this accomplish? What more “respect” has the minority party earned by this exercise?

    Answer: nothing.

  2. jon@flashreport.org Says:
    December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Um, not nothing. They will be able to say they proudly cast a vote for the REPUBLICAN leader to be Speaker.

    And equally as important, they can say that they did not cast a vote for someone that they do not agree with on the issues to be Speaker.

    Do you have a problem with the process used in the House to elect a Speaker?

  3. steven_maviglio@yahoo.com Says:
    December 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Casting a vote for Speaker doesn’t mean you agree with them. A Speaker is more than the leader of their party; the speaker is the leader of the body. Republicans have plenty of opportunity to disagree with the Speaker on issues, and they do so.