OK, House Republicans: You’ve got nine candidates for speaker, and time to hear them campaign. Choose one and then elect him.
It’s been more than three weeks since Rep. Matt Gaetz and his band of malcontents sided with every Democrat to oust Kevin McCarthy; get the House running again.
It’s what the public wants, as a new major poll shows two-thirds of Americans want this nonsense to end ASAP.
Which means not going to another floor vote until you know it’ll be a done deal: Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) is entirely right that no caucus meeting will have done its job unless the requisite 217 members leave the gathering committed to voting for the same guy.
And if that proves impossible, the sane majority of the caucus need to work out a deal with enough Democrats to elect someone — or to give Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry the power to reopen the House for business while the GOP factions keep negotiating.
Those unpleasant options have to remain live so the Nyet Caucus finally realizes it can’t get its way by continued hostage-taking.
It’s the Republican Party, not the Gaetz Party: If a handful of members refuse to support the party, they’ve effectively resigned their membership, leaving the bulk of House Republicans to do their duty to millions of Americans they represent.
The threats at home and abroad are too important, too pressing, for a few sociopaths to paralyze half the Legislative branch.
Action to fund the federal government and address inflation, the border crisis and the wars in Europe and the Middle East can’t stay on hold.
Again: The caucus has through Tuesday to figure this out.
Whether or not Mad Matt & Co. deign to put on their big boy/gal pants, the stakes are too high for this dysfunction to continue.