In the recent vote for speaker of the House, Democrats took justifiable pride in their consistent support for Hakeem Jeffries. But at what cost? Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to the Freedom Caucus will hurt Democrats at least as much as mainstream Republicans.

Among other concessions, a single caucus member can now place McCarthy’s speakership in jeopardy. Caucus members will now have power to tie up legislation on the Rules Committee, and on other committees to spend the next two years in unending investigations.

It is now a virtual certainty that caucus members will provoke a debt-ceiling crisis in the fall. Granted that McCarthy did nothing to win support from Democrats, but had just six of them cast their votes for him, he would have won the speakership without concessions to the Freedom Caucus.

Now imagine something more: Had Democrats cast their 212 votes for a Republican instead of Jeffries, and brought just six courageous members of the Republican Party along with them, they could have elected a speaker with unquestioned experience and integrity, one who might well have brought back honor to their party. The speaker of the House could have been Liz Cheney.

Scott Gould
Cape Elizabeth

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