Kevin McCarthy was elected to speaker of the house. Courtesy | Flickr

Congressional Republicans who fought the election of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the house have set their party up for failure. 

The holdouts, as they are now known, held some strong and necessary beliefs, which included the adoption of a rule that says legislation must be sent to representatives at least 72 hours before it is voted on.

The 72-hour rule will give members more time to think about their votes and, perhaps, legislate better. 

On the other hand, concessions such as giving several of the holdouts key positions, such as that of the Rules Committee, seems unfair and like a personal agenda rather than a party, and more importantly, country agenda. 

Reps. Chip Roy, R-TX, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., were appointed to the House Rules Committee. These two did not originally support McCarthy’s speakership. Another Republican representative on the committee is Thomas Massie, R-KY. As Fox reports, Massie “backed McCarthy during the speakership vote but is known as a troublesome Republican who often causes issues with leadership, was also appointed.”

This is just one committee. The oversight committee also seats several members of the House Freedom Caucus who voted against McCarthy. 

It seems unfair to reward members of such a small group of the entire conference to these seats of authority. Furthermore, these concessions are concerning because some Republican House members did not know the backdoor dealings that were taking place. 

CBS reports that Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., was concerned about the backdoor dealings taking place, given that GOP members did not know what concessions were being made. Mace supported the rules package; however, this one instance shows just the lack of stability that this debacle created.

In addition to the chaos of the dealings, one of the rules concerned lowering the number of representatives needed to bring a motion to vacate the chair forward. This small group wanted to bring the number down to a single representative, according to the Hill. Even some Republicans, such as Rep. Don Bacon, R-NE, are concerned about this power.

Giving one person the ability to bring a motion to vacate forward also brings forward a greater uncertainty and unevenness to the House of Representatives.

 If one Republican gets upset with an action taken by McCarththy, then he or she can bring up a motion to oust him, which is going to create great contention. It has already been on full display in the speaker battle. It is just a matter of time before a member gets upset and calls on the ousting of McCarthy. This could happen multiple times and will make the work of the House much more difficult. 

Republicans campaigned on bringing necessary change to Washington, D.C., and fighting for the people. However, the speaker battle, and the ones that could eventually ensue, are based on people and their personalities. Republicans need to present a strong and united message if they want to get anything done and earn at least some respect from the general public, but debacles like the one for the speaker’s gavel do the exact opposite. It is time for the party of order to come together and order itself back as one united Republican Party.