The U.S. House of Representatives will elect its new Speaker this Tuesday, thus beginning a new parliamentary term, the 118th Congress, which will run until January 3, 2025, when Joe Biden will live his last days as President of the country in case he does not revalidate the office in the November 2024 elections.
The position of Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the most prominent in U.S. politics, not only because of its representative figure at the international level – as evidenced by outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan – but also because of its lofty position in the national hierarchy.
According to the U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is second in the presidential line of succession – second only to the Vice President, in this case Kamala Harris – in the event of the incumbent’s incapacity, death, resignation or impeachment.
Number three in the line of succession is the President pro tempore of the Senate, followed by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General and other members of the Administration, with the Secretary of Homeland Security being the last in line.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives may also be appointed as a ‘designated successor’, a role played by a member of the presidential line of succession who, in the event that the White House occupant and his Cabinet meet in the same physical space, offers to move to a remote, secure and confidential location.
Normally the State of the Union address and presidential inaugurations are the main events for which a ‘designated successor’ is appointed. With this mechanism, the United States ensures that, in the event of a major misfortune, there is a member of the succession line who can take over the reins of the country.
However, since 1981, there is no record of any Speaker of the House of Representatives being appointed as a ‘designated successor’, with those charged with this role more commonly being individuals lower in the line of succession.
The U.S. lower house thus elects this Tuesday a not insignificant figure for its administrative and political structure, both in internal and external affairs. Outgoing Speaker Pelosi has been a clear example of this by highlighting her figure in both areas.
On the national scene, Pelosi has been one of the first political figures to demand a parliamentary investigation to clarify what happened on January 6, 2021, when a mob of supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump tried to break into the Capitol to stop the ratification of votes in favor of the elected Joe Biden.
On that ignominious day for American democracy, Pelosi and the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, tried to stop the assault from inside and, during almost four hours of tension, warned of the danger that the situation posed to the personal safety of officials and employees of the building.
Internationally, the figure of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is respected wherever he goes, although it is true that he may be sent to controversial destinations where the tenant of the White House prefers not to venture. An example of this may be Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan in September 2022, although in this case the Government disassociated itself from the trip.
The House of Representatives, currently made up of 222 Republicans, 212 Democrats and one vacant seat. The Republicans regained control of the lower house after the mid-term elections of last November 8 in which, however, they did not gain control of the Senate despite the polls that had predicted so.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
