Washington Correspondent
The return to school had been tumultuous on Tuesday, the first day of the session of the new American Congress.
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican candidate running for office, could not afford more than four dissenting votes in his caucus, which has held only a narrow majority since last November's election.
He missed twenty.
Instead of the 218 votes needed to win the election, McCarthy only got 203 votes in the first two rounds.
He did even worse in the third round, losing the support of twenty fellow Republicans.
This situation is very rare, and had not occurred for a hundred years.
The election of the Speaker of the House by the majority party is usually only a formality.
In the absence of a president, the Chamber cannot decide on the agenda, nor make appointments to the various parliamentary committees.
The crisis also indicates the depth of the divisions within the group…
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