The Bradenton Herald (TNS), by Brendan Rascius
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has a novel suggestion: choosing Elon Muskas to be the speaker of the House of Representatives.
It is not necessary for the Speaker of the House to be a congressman. Paul, a Republican, posted on X on December 19. If you think about it, nothing is more likely to upset the swamp than electing Elon Musk.
He went on to say that appointing Musk to the position of leader will drive the entire establishment insane.
The millionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, however, is second in line for the president; might he be elected speaker of the House? Here’s what you need to know.
Who can become speaker of the House?
It turns out that the speaker of the House is not need to be a congressman. The U.S. Constitution just says that the House of Representatives will select its speaker and other officers in order to address the issue.
But according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) research, throughout the nation’s nearly 250-year history, no non-member has ever been elected speaker.
Many votes for outsiders have been cast over the years, but none of them have been able to secure the numerical majority needed to choose the speaker.
Votes were cast for non-sitting members of the House, including senators, in the 1997, 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2021 speaker elections, according to CRS.
Additionally, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz gave then-candidate Donald Trump one vote in the 2023 speaker’s race.
Johnson under fire
Paul’s suggestion comes as Speaker Mike Johnson is facing criticism from other Republicans, which could endanger his job. Johnson has been under fire for his handling of a budget package that is necessary to keep the government afloat at the end of the year, which some Republicans claim makes too many compromises to Democrats.
In a post on Truth Social, president-elect Donald Trump criticized the bill, claiming that it would provide sweetheart privileges for Liz Cheney and government censors and make it simpler to conceal the records of the dishonest January 6 committee.
Instead, he demanded a temporary spending bill that increased the debt ceiling and included no democratic giveaways, saying that doing so would be a betrayal of our nation.
Musk also made it clear that he was very opposed to the spending measure. Musk was appointed by Trump to head the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
He wrote, “Have you ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” in one of his numerous posts on X regarding the 1,500-page bill.
Johnson told The Hill that he discussed the measure with Musk and DOGE co-head Vivek Ramaswamy on December 17.
Johnson claimed to have reminded the two that the Republican lead was still extremely narrow. Therefore, Democratic votes are required for any bill.
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