Thread by @ChadPergram

1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Not Having a House Speaker

 The House is on the edge of history: going for a protracted period of time without a Speaker.
 
It is impossible to overstate just how significant this problem could be.

2) The Speaker of the House if the “Constitutional Officer” of the legislative branch of government and is the first such figure listed in Article I of the Constitution.

3) The House cannot truly function without a Speaker. And the House can do no legislative work on the floor without a Speaker.
 
Yes, committees can continue to function. Some committees will be naturally distracted because there is no Speaker.

4) Some committees could grind to a halt because they don’t want to pursue anything without a Speaker in charge. Moreover, some lawmakers may question the wisdom of committees continuing their work if the House is stymied at electing a Speaker.

5) House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) says impeachment will continue.

6) But some Republicans who are dubious of impeachment have privately wondered to Fox about the wisdom of that when the Republican-led House can’t even hold on to its own Speaker and must fund the government without relying on Democratic votes.

7) The House won’t vote on Speaker until Wednesday at the earliest. Republicans plan a candidate forum on Tuesday, October 10. And remember, the House must continue to vote. And vote. And vote. Until it elects a Speaker.
 
The record is two months in in 1855-1856.

8) Fox is told that this operation may take a while – considering the fact that McCarthy’s race in January took 15 rounds over five days in January.

The House is even more divided now. So landing on a winning candidate by Speaker may take a while.

9) Thus, the Speakership may be vacant for an extended period.
 
What are the consequences of that?
 
The government runs out of money in mid-November. The absolute, doomsday, Death Star scenario is to have the government shut down without a House Speaker.

10) The House could not even vote to re-open the government because it doesn’t have a Speaker.
 
There are also national security consequences here.
 
The Founders did not envision having the legislative branch of government without a Speaker for an extended period of time.

11) Such a scenario could sow chaos throughout the federal government is the House is paralyzed. Moreover, there’s an optics problem for the U.S. to the rest of the world. Don’t think that China, Russia and North Korea aren’t tracking this closely.

12) Moreover, the lack of a Speaker for an extended period of time means could rattle the markets. There could be financial fallout. The Dow dropped more than 500 points at one point today – partly because of the pandemonium over the Speaker.

13) There could be other economic consequences, too.
 
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is now the “Speaker Pro Tempore.” The House engineered this position after 9/11 for “continuity of government.” McCarthy is not truly the Speaker.

14) But will “kind of” run the House until it gets a Speaker. He will also preside over the Speaker votes next week. However, since McHenry is not THE Speaker, he is not in the line of succession to the Presidency.