By: Willie Tsai
On January 7th, Kevin McCarthy was finally elected to be speaker of the house of the 118th congress. What's more notable however is the process in which this occured. The process seemed endless, spanning days and 5 rounds of voting. What most political commentators forget to mention however is the cost this delivered to the American people. Insofar as there is no speaker, no one may be sworn in meaning no business can be conducted. As a result, the American public paid a price. The “farm bill” used to insure America’s agriculture sector came too late after sweeping floods in multiple states left Americans concerned for their futures. The pipeline safety bill couldn’t be passed in time to meet several legal requirements which will certainly have implications for the environment and community impact reviews that were supposed to follow. This was all caused by the personal political differences and disagreements of our most powerful. Political ideals have overtaken Washington with the American public at its mercy.
Sadly this isn’t the first time we’ve seen political disputes be the reason for American suffering. In 2021 simple voting rights laws that would protect the fundamental right to vote for millions of Americans were filibustered(stalled) because of political divides and a refusal to concede to an opposing political party's proposals. In September a seemingly no brainer resolution to increase mental health resources to public schools was blocked by Democrats in an effort to use it as political leverage
It is time the American public realizes, often times those who claim each day to fight for and represent us, only do so if we adhere to the same political party they do as well. It seems like it is only the beginning. Us as Americans must beg the question of “who will truly represent us?” when we cast our ballots in 2024.
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