Norway’s Hans Hoeg was chief of staff to Republican Thomas Massey when the two tried to rig a vote for a leader in Congress in 2011. Now the same thing is happening again.
Republican Kevin McCarthy did not get a majority as the leader of the House of Representatives in the US Congress on Tuesday.
And so there was a re-election for the first time in 100 years.
But the first two reruns did not lead to the election of a leader, and yet one Evening complete chaosEverything has been postponed until Wednesday evening, Norwegian time.
McCarthy was opposed by colleagues on the far right of his party.
All this brings back memories of the Norwegian Hans Hueg.
– They’re trying the same thing I did in 2013 and 2015, Høeg tells VG.
Drammenseren has a civil engineering degree from MIT, but he got it in 2013. Chief of Staff of the Republican Thomas Massey Member of the House of Representatives.
One of the first things Hoeig was determined to do was try to overturn what should have been a formality, namely when Republican nominee John Boehner was going to be elected “Chairman”, leader of the House of Representatives.
– We conspired at night and had 20 autographs from the actors who supported us.
What Massey and the Norwegian chief of staff tried to do was prevent Boehner from getting the majority he needed, thus delaying the vote.
In Our Man in Washington, Hogg describes that Massie hoped his re-election would create uncertainty, create a kind of “Lord of the Flies” situation, where they could get Boehner out.
But during the vote itself, Massey and the “Rebels” didn’t get enough support anyway.
– Many people panicked when they realized that they had to vote in turn, were called by name, and registered.
In January 2015, they failed again. But when Boehner resigned that fall, Massey was one of the driving forces.
Much of the criticism of Boehner is reminiscent of what McCarthy is going through now: He has been accused of being controlled by special interests and lobbyists, after many years in Washington, DC.
But this time, Macy, still on the far right among Republicans, is on McCarthy’s side.
The person holding the position of “Speaker of the House” wields significant power, effectively deciding which bills will be put to a vote. But the Rules Committee in Congress is more important. Macy realized that.
Republicans who now oppose McCarthy are calling for the reinstatement of a rule allowing individual representatives to call for the leader’s resignation.
But McCarthy does not extend any further. There must be at least five representatives calling for resignation at the same time.
– I think McCarthy gets elected in the end. Hans Hoeghe thinks he may be making some concessions about influencing the rules committee, and how bills are voted on.
note: McCarthy is still combative. When asked if he would resign after not having a sufficient majority, he replied: – It won’t happen.
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