McCarthy Finally Makes Good on a Symbolic Promise

“Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed during his party’s campaign to win control of the House that things would be different when Republicans took over, with new policies on the agenda, new people in charge and ‘something that hasn’t been done in years’: a new ritual of reading every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor on Day 1,” the New York Times reports.

“That did not happen. On Day 1, Mr. McCarthy was embarking on an epic negotiation to win over right-wing holdouts in what would become a grueling, 15-ballot election to become speaker, preparing a broad set of concessions he would ultimately make to win the post. And he has been slow to get started on the ambitious policy agenda Republicans have laid out.”

“But on Tuesday, 35 days after the dawn of their majority and hours before President Biden was set to give his State of the Union address in the chamber, Republicans stood one by one for a 43-minute recitation of the document. It was the latest in a string of symbolic actions the party has taken — many of them aimed at signaling patriotism and a devotion to the nation’s founding principles — to show that the House is under new management.”