NC Newsline: “As Scalise’s support eroded, a push began among some in the House GOP to give Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry of North Carolina more legislative authority, especially with the White House preparing to send Congress a supplemental funding request to help Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and U.S. border security.
Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack told reporters he believes the chamber should try to empower McHenry to do more on the floor than he has so far, though he acknowledged there isn’t much precedent….
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A U.S. House procedure expert said during an interview with States Newsroom on Thursday that while the role of speaker pro tem was created following the 2001 attacks, it was done so against the constitutional backdrop that the House elects its speakers.
“But it uses those broad terms of ‘necessary and appropriate’ to give the flexibility to that person in the event of an unforeseeable catastrophic event,” said the expert, who spoke on background with States Newsroom to discuss the authorities of the speaker pro tem.
Before the role of speaker pro tem was created, the House Clerk would have stepped into the role in the event of a vacancy, but the expert said “that was something that was not viewed favorably” by the task force that looked at continuity of Congress issues following 9/11.
The rule — which says the speaker pro tem “may exercise such authorities of the Office of the Speaker as may be necessary and appropriate to that end” — is “purposely vague,” the expert said.
“So it gives a little flexibility, but within that tight window of we must do the election, the election is paramount,” the expert said. “What you must remember is that the constitutional imperative is that the House chooses its speaker, not the former speaker chooses its speaker.””