©Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images January 3, 2023 Members of the 118th Congress leave the House of Representatives after failing to elect a new president. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images- The United States House of Representatives currently has no sworn members and will not until a president is elected.
- The House cannot make laws because elected officials cannot introduce bills.
- It was the first time in a century that the house had been empty for more than a day.
The United States House of Representatives is currently open.
The 117th Congress, where Democrats narrowly passed several important bills, officially adjourned on Tuesday morning. A few hours later, the House reconvened to elect a new president for the 118th Congress.
But after the number of new members emerged, of which Republicans won a narrow majority, they were unable to elect a president despite three separate attempts on Tuesday.
The board voted to adjourn without further action. 434 elected lawmakers were sworn in to Congress in November (the recent death of Rep. Don McKechnie, D-Va., means there are 435 fewer than usual). Therefore, the interval between sessions, which usually lasts only a few hours, is extended to at least a day.
The Assembly will resume its session on Wednesday afternoon and the first order of business will be the election of the President.
Under federal law, members cannot be sworn in until a president is elected.
"After each election of Representatives, in the First Session of Congress, each Member of the House shall be sworn in before the President, and the President of the Members and Representatives present, and the Secretary. Any other business before that." says the law.
This includes legislators who have been in office for decades or who have just been elected for the first time.
Further, the House and its elected members cannot do anything, including making laws, assisting voters, or performing constitutional duties, until a Speaker is elected and the other members are sworn in by that person. Palace.
"Until an elected member is sworn in, he does not enjoy all the rights and privileges of a member of Congress," the house's procedure reads. Unsworn members do not have the right to vote or introduce bills.
These procedures allow "non-voting members" to engage in "organizational business" at the start of the session "as a speaker option".
The last time such a violation occurred was in 1923, when the House took several days to re-elect Representative Frederick Gillett, a Republican from Massachusetts.
Current, former and future members of Congress have pointed to the bizarre nature of the situation that Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, did not get enough votes to become president.
"Who can legally help one of our citizens in our daily affairs?" asked former Republican Rep. Billy Long of Missouri, noting the role members play in federal agencies that help their residents.
Becca Balint, a Vermont Democrat, posted a photo of herself 'swearing on the shoes' and said, 'She must be feeling like I'm wearing them tomorrow.
"To blow!!" Newly elected Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost tweeted.
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