ZWF: What comes next in the Speaker debacle
Zander's Weekend Facts #87: Sunday, October 8, 2023
Inside this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts, breaking down what comes after the first vote to remove a House Speaker in U.S. history, and a look at what Zander’s been reading this past week. Plus, a compilation of the top headlines you need to know about from the last seven days.
Also, go listen to the latest episode of the Zander’s Facts podcast! Episode 119 takes a look at ‘Project 2025’ from the Heritage Foundation and how the election of a Republican president in 2024 would bring with it an overhaul of the federal government. Download the Zander’s Facts podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, October 8, 2023:
A House Speaker is removed for first time ever
History was made - and not in the good way - in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
For the first time in the history of the United States, a Speaker of the House was removed by a majority of the chamber after eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was the Republican who filed a motion to vacate on Monday after he said McCarthy had crossed a line by putting a 45-day continuing resolution to continue funding the government and avert a government shutdown on the floor. The issue for Gaetz, along with other far-right members of the Republican conference, was that the bill did not include desired spending cuts and had all but one Democrat in the House vote for it.
Normally, one member of the Speaker’s party isn’t sufficient to file a motion to vacate the chair. However, because McCarthy made concessions to far-right members of his conference in order to secure their votes for his speakership back in January, the one-vote rule was adopted.
It ultimately came to backfire on McCarthy, resulting in him losing his job. While McCarthy is still a member of the House, representing his California district that includes Bakersfield, he has stated he will not be in the running to return to the third-in-line-to-the-presidency position.
With Republicans maintaining a slim majority in the House, that means the next speaker will still likely be a Republican. However, which Republican that will be is currently unknown.
Both House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) have tossed their hats into the ring. A planned candidate forum had actually been planned for Monday for the two candidates on Fox News, but was quickly scuttled after many House members disapproved of the event.
Democrats are extremely unlikely to vote for either without making a significant (and nearly unprecedented in the U.S.) power-sharing agreement, meaning Republicans must unify behind a single candidate in order to get them to the gavel. With Republicans holding a 221-212 current majority, they can only afford to lose four votes.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post published on Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) proposed a “bipartisan governing coalition” as the best way forward. While Jeffries will likely receive all Democrats’ votes in the Speaker race, he would still need a majority of the chamber to become the Speaker. Although some have theorized Democrats and some moderate Republicans may rally around a different candidate - potentially a moderate Republican - that would agree to some proposals from Democrats. But again, that is extremely unlikely and wouldn’t even become a possibility unless Republicans fail to rally around a candidate of their own.
The House is set to resume after a week off this Tuesday, and the only business they’ll be able to conduct is carrying out votes for Speaker. And unless a candidate within the Republican conference emerges as the clear front-runner over the next couple of days, we’re likely heading for another spectacle not too dissimilar of what we witnessed eight months ago.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from CNN - No end in sight for GOP chaos ahead of divisive speaker’s race
What Zander’s been reading
As the United States rejoined UNESCO in July after a six year absence, an effort is underway in Ohio to bring recognition to sites that may not look extraordinary, but have centuries of fascinating history.
Check out this week’s featured article at Slate - The Wonders
Rapid-fire Facts
These are top news headlines from the past week in rapid-fire fashion:
Israel-Hamas Conflict: A surprise attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas has left over 250 people dead and over 1,500 wounded. Hamas entered southern Israel on Saturday, kidnapping and killing Israeli civilians and soldiers. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel was “at war”, Israel launched air strikes in response that have killed over 230 and wounded more than 1,600 people.
Health Care Strike: Over 75,000 workers went on strike against healthcare company Kaiser Permanente last week. The strike, which lasted just three days before workers agreed to return to their jobs, was the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history. The several unions striking were asking for pay raises along with solutions to alleviate staffing shortages and a high turnover of personnel. With help from mediator Julie Su, the Acting Labor Secretary, the two sides agreed to resume talks while striking workers went back to work.
Trump Fraud Case: Former President Donald Trump was in a New York courtroom last week for a civil fraud trial where Trump is accused of inflating the value of his Trump Organization assets. Trump left New York during the third day of the trial after Judge Arthur Engoron issued a limited gag order. Trump had previously posted on his Truth Social platform a photo of Engoron’s principal law clerk Allison Greenfield with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and had attacked both Judge Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James. On Friday, an appeals court judge declined to halt the case after Trump’s lawyers asked to pause the trial.
September Jobs Report: Job growth in the U.S. economy defied expectations last month, with 336,000 jobs being added. September produced the highest payroll growth since January and nearly doubled the Dow Jones estimate of 170,000 jobs. Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%. Average hourly earnings increased by 4.2% in September, 0.1% lower than expectations and 0.9% lower than last year, but still higher than the rate of inflation.
Student Debt Forgiveness: The Biden administration announced additional forgiveness for student loan debt last week. As federal student loan payments are set to resume this month for the first time in over three years, the White House announced that 125,000 borrowers will have $9 billion in debt forgiven. Those who will have debt forgiven are either enrolled in Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, income-driven repayment plans, or have a total or permanent disability.
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the top headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
NFL Week 5: Sunday action in week five of the NFL season once again begins in London as the Jaguars take on the Bills at 9:30 am et on NFL Network. In the 1:00 pm et afternoon window, the Steelers host the Ravens, the Giants take on the Dolphins, and the Texans play the Falcons. At 4:00 pm et, the Eagles face the Rams, Bengals play the Cardinals, Jets take on the Broncos, and the Vikings host the Chiefs. Sunday night features one of the top games of the year as the Cowboys travel to take on the 49ers. Week five concludes on Monday night as the Packers face the Raiders. On Thursday night, the Bears won their first game of the year as they beat the Commanders 40-20.
College Football Week 6: A classic Red River Rivalry highlighted week six in College Football as #13 Oklahoma stunned #3 Texas 34-30 in their annual matchup at the Cotton Bowl. In the other top-25 matchups of the week, #23 LSU survived a road test at #21 Missouri 49-39, #1 Georgia clobbered #20 Kentucky 51-13, and #25 Louisville got a massive win over #10 Notre Dame 33-20. #11 Alabama took down Texas A&M on the road 26-20, UCLA beat #13 Washington State 25-17, and #16 Ole Miss squeaked by Arkansas 27-20. Elsewhere, #24 Fresno State fell to Wyoming 24-19, #15 Oregon State took down California 52-40, and #9 USC won a thriller in triple-overtime over Arizona 43-41.
MLB Playoffs: The MLB Postseason began on Tuesday with the best-of-three Wild Card round getting underway, while the Divisional Series’ began on Saturday. In the American League, the Houston Astros hold a 1-0 series lead over the Minnesota Twins while the Texas Rangers took Game 1 in their series with the Baltimore Orioles. Over in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks lead the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 and the Philadelphia Phillies won Game 1 over the Atlanta Braves. The first team in each series to win three games will move on to the Championship Series.
WNBA Finals: The 2023 WNBA Finals are set to begin later today as the Las Vegas Aces face the New York Liberty. The Aces held the league’s best regular season record and won the league championship last year. The Liberty are making their first Finals appearance since 2002 while they took down the Aces in the Final of this year’s Commissioner’s Cup. Game 1 of the series tips off this afternoon at 3:00 pm et in Brooklyn on ABC. Game 2 takes place Wednesday at 9:00 pm et on ESPN, with Game 3 next Sunday in Las Vegas at 3:00 pm et on ABC.
2030 World Cup: As the United States gears up to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, FIFA announced the host countries for the 2030 edition of the tournament on Friday. The 2030 World Cup will be played in six different countries in total, with Monaco, Portugal, and Spain hosting the majority of the matches. The first three matches of the tournament will be played in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, making it the first World Cup played on three continents. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930 and will host the first matches along with their fellow South American countries to mark the 100 year anniversary of the 1930 World Cup.
Wrapping up the Facts
Before this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts podcast. Download and listen to the latest episode of the podcast, along with every episode of Zander’s Facts, wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also listen to every episode of the podcast on this very website. All Zander’s Facts podcast episodes are now available on zandersfacts.com under the “Zander’s Facts” tab for your enjoyment! That includes the next episode of the Zander’s Facts Podcast, which comes out this Wednesday!
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The facts in print return next Sunday, October 15, 2023.
