Nancy Pelosi Is Wrong

The speakership does not belong to the majority party.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is one of the great figures in American history – a living legend who has made and continues to make enormous positive contributions to the United States. She is also, like all too many, tragically wrongheaded in her approach to the crisis that has paralyzed the House of Representatives, and therefore Congress.

An interview on Monday October 9 before a live audience brought the following exchange on the question how the Democratic caucus might vote in the then-anticipated election for speaker following the removal of Kevin McCarthy on October 3: 

Scott Shafer: How are you and your caucus thinking about that vote?

Nancy Pelosi: Well, just so you know, I mean, I think it’s important to note because the things people say, I think, “No, that’s not how it works.” You have an election. Somebody wins. The party that wins, selects, nominates and chooses the Speaker of the House. So when I see on TV, they say, “The Democrats and eight Republicans took down the speaker.” No, Republicans took down their speaker. All the times I was elected leader or speaker for 20 years, I never had one Republican vote, nor would it have been appropriate. It’s up to the party to elect its leaders, whether it’s the speaker or the leader. It’s up to the party. So I haven’t the…I would be the last person to ask about what’s going on in the Republican caucus. Or second last, but right up there. Right up there. And I just hope and pray that they can come to their own unity. But it’s very difficult because people said, “Well, why didn’t you all vote for them and this or that?” We said, “Well, that isn’t our role, it’s up to them to select.”

Consider the bolded sentence toward the middle of this response: “It’s up to the party to elect its leaders, whether it’s the speaker or the leader.” Pelosi’s mindset is consistent with the rules that both the Democratic caucus and Republican conference have long adopted, whereby each defines the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be the party’s most senior post when the party is in the majority – just above that of party leader.

Here is the relevant passage from the rules that the Democratic caucus adopted at the start of the current 118th Congress:

And here is the corresponding passage from the Republican conference rules:

That both the Democratic caucus and the Republican conference have adopted this same convention is perhaps the single-most bipartisan thing about the House of Representatives.

Although the parties have incorporated it into the leadership structure of their parties (contingent on their status as majority party), the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives is not inherently a partisan position. It is a national position, one that is defined in Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the Constitution. In pointing this out, I do not mean to be pedantic. Neither do I mean to suggest that the speaker must not play a partisan role. I simply object to the idea that the speakership “belongs” to the majority party and that a minority party, no matter how sizable, must not attempt to play any role in determining the outcome of the election to fill it. 

When I first wrote about this in the evening after McCarthy lost the position on October 3, my primary concern was that someone as awful as Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan might succeed him. Two high priority consequences of Jordan or someone like him in that role (among many others) were and are the prospect of a costly and pointless government shutdown and the complete cutoff of aid to Ukraine, which likely would seal its defeat to Russia. I proposed that the Democratic caucus – which lacks the votes to elect Leader Hakeem Jeffries – join with the Republican members of the Problem Solvers Caucus to elect the group’s Republican co-chair. An outspoken opponent of the extreme members of his party and co-chair of the Ukraine Caucus, Brian Fitzpatrick would prevent a shutdown and secure U.S. support to sustain Ukraine.

I next wrote on this topic a week later, picking up on Leader Jeffries’ October 6 column in the Washington Post. In that essay, Jeffries proposed that the Democrats and reasonable Republicans come together to implement a bipartisan scheme of governance for the House of Representatives. Republican members of the Problem Solvers Caucus have expressed interest in this idea. Reporting yesterday suggests that the Democratic caucus insists that the Republicans initiate negotiations:

Jeffries said Democrats want “a bipartisan path” to reopening the House but didn’t outline what that would look like. Democrats unanimously nominated Jeffries to be speaker, but there’s no chance of him winning when Republicans have a 221-212 majority. Still, Democrats say the onus is on the GOP to negotiate with them and make concessions if they want help electing a speaker.

There are no serious discussions taking place on a coalition speaker picked with bipartisan votes, according to senior lawmakers and aides in both parties.

“No Republican has come to leadership to have a serious conversation of substance,” said a senior Democratic aide. “This is on Republicans to come to the Democrats to try to find a compromise.”

Following internal secret votes, Jim Jordan is currently the Republican conference nominee for speaker and Jeffries is again the Democratic nominee. Jeffries certainly would not receive the majority needed to win the speaker election. Jordan, facing stiff opposition from within the Republican conference, also is highly unlikely to secure the needed votes.

The bipartisan continuing resolution that the House passed on September 30 to avert an immediate government shutdown at the start of the fiscal year will run out on November 17. The continuing resolution pointedly excluded desperately needed aid for Ukraine. And on account of the speakership stalemate, there has been no Congressional action with respect to the war between Israel and Hamas following the latter’s terrorist attack on October 7.

Little time remains for continued dithering. And strict adherence to old customs around speaker elections simply does not fit this dangerous moment.