WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 When Rep. Patrick McHenry took the House speaker\u2019s gavel for the first time, he slammed it down with such force at adjournment that it gained viral internet attention as the defining image of a House in turmoil.
But since his abrupt appointment as speaker pro tempore last week following the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the top spot, the North Carolina Republican has wielded the gavel with extreme care, making no attempts to test the limits of his unusual role.
Day after day, McHenry, in his signature bow tie, follows a standard routine \u2014 gaveling the House into session, receiving a prayer from the chaplain and having a lawmaker recite the Pledge of Allegiance, before quickly gaveling out again. In doing so, he is technically keeping the House active but in a suspended state as both parties wait for Republicans to reach consensus on who will be the next new speaker.
But as the House nears a second week stuck on pause, and Republicans struggle to unite around a candidate, many lawmakers are growing antsy. Some Republicans are urging McHenry to interpret his powers more broadly, if that\u2019s what it takes to get the House working again, even if it means setting a new precedent that could ripple down through congressional history.
\u201cWe are in uncharted waters, but it\u2019s also very clear that we do not want to have a speaker pro tem who is leading policy. That\u2019s not the role,\u201d said Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa. \u201cBut there is also not a need for the American people\u2019s voice to be silenced because Congress can\u2019t function.\u201d
McHenry has been tight-lipped about how he views his role as the speaker pro tempore, trying to push Republicans towards uniting behind a speaker. During a closed-door Republican meeting Thursday night where Majority Leader Steve Scalise withdrew his nomination for speaker, McHenry joked with lawmakers that he would lock them in a room and withhold food and water until they united behind a leader, according to Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was in the room.
\u201cThat\u2019s the goal,\u201d McHenry said earlier Thursday when asked if he would put a vote for speaker on the House floor.
As an unelected leader, McHenry is navigating a political crisis without precedent in U.S. history. House Republicans are gridlocked with no end in sight, a war is escalating in Israel and Palestine and the U.S. government is ticking closer to a shutdown. The 10-term lawmaker, who is a close McCarthy ally, is trying to both soothe tempers in the Republican conference while dealing with mounting pressure to act to show America\u2019s global strength.
\u201cThere is some thought that in the interest of national security \u2014 because we\u2019re in a dangerous time and we have to get a national security aid package to Israel \u2014 that we could somehow empower McHenry to have more authorities,\u201d said Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.
McCaul is pushing for action on a bipartisan resolution to express support for Israel. Under normal circumstances, such legislation, which bears no weight of law, would pass easily. But McCaul and others have had to contemplate arcane legislative procedures just to push it to the floor, underscoring just how dysfunctional the House has become.
Some Republicans are pushing for McHenry to bring the Israel resolution to the House floor, arguing that it is within his scope of powers because the resolution has no force of law.
Others say McHenry\u2019s powers shouldn\u2019t stop there.
One group of centrist GOP lawmakers, led by Ohio Republican Rep. David Joyce, is preparing a resolution that would explicitly grant McHenry some power to bring legislation to the floor, endowing his role with new and defined authority.
\u201cWhat\u2019s taking place in the world \u2014 it\u2019s important that we take time to empower the present speaker who\u2019s there under rules that were never really officially developed,\u201d said Joyce earlier this week.
McHenry was named to the role of speaker pro tempore by McCarthy as part of a process established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Never before used, the system was designed as a way to keep Congress functioning if leaders and lawmakers were killed or incapacitated. When he became speaker, McCarthy drafted a list of who should succeed him should something happen \u2014 and McHenry\u2019s name was at the very top.
But the crisis now facing the House is hardly what was envisioned \u2014 the office of speaker left vacant not due to death or incapacitation, but due to intense infighting within the House majority that has made governance next to impossible.
While Joyce is pushing to empower McHenry for a period of up to 90 days during which a speaker pro tempore would be empowered to advance legislation, it is not clear whether Republicans could unite around even a temporary leader.
Hardline conservatives and mainstream Republicans alike said Thursday they wanted to stay focused on electing a new speaker, and many are likely to resist handing McHenry more authority.
Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that McHenry\u2019s role was created for the sole purpose of electing a new speaker, on guard against a new precedent in the House that they fear could someday be abused.
Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, posted on social media that McHenry\u2019s \u201cjob is to guide the House toward the election of a new Speaker. That\u2019s it.\u201d
But outside the Capitol, experts in congressional law say Congress has the power to follow or violate its own rules, especially when there is no precedent for the current situation. House rules can essentially be overruled with support from a majority of members.
\u201cCongress has the power to do what it wants here,\u201d said Josh Chafetz, a professor of law and politics at Georgetown Law School.
It\u2019s an argument that may catch on in the House as lawmakers grow restless with their inability to act.
Republicans were left flummoxed after Scalise withdrew his nomination Thursday after spending the day in closed-door meetings trying to overcome opposition from hardline conservatives.
\u201cIt\u2019s really frustrating. I want to be here every day getting work done,\u201d said Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Virginia Republican, earlier Thursday. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not getting work done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n