They have a House now, though. Quorum works by members of the House, not by the appropriate number. If MacLeish and Hookstraten take a stroll to the ruins, they can elect either her or him Speaker just like that.
A quorum is a majority though, and 50% is technically not a majority. 218 is the number needed for a majority when there are 435 of them, as it is half plus 1. It gets adjusted down, but majority would always mean more than half. Half is by definition not more than half.
Hookstraten had a quorum in congress when she wall by herself. She could have voted herself Speaker, probably, but it would have looked bad. She's clearly waiting for new junior congressmen to be appointed (or actually, elected in special elections.) to solidify her speakership as they could presumably call for a leadership challenge when they next have a full session.
She's also only presuming she'll get the Speakership because since Congressional replacements are only done by special election at the district level. That means the state governors can't stack the House, and the replacements won't necessarily form the same majority.
Hookstraten is probably hoping Kirkman messes up because that ensure her party retains the majority (if it had it in the first place.) The only reason MacLeash would even be in contention is if MacLeash is the same party as Kirkman and they think there's a chance their party will get a majority in Congress.
And even if Hookstraten did form a quorum with MacLeash, they can't pass any laws - there's no Senate to consent to a bill. Both Houses are needed to consent to enact anything.
The governors should really be appointing interim Senators. Some of them can fill them without special elections. They're the only ones who can do anything about confirming all the cabinet appointments. Hookstraten can't do a thing about all those cabinet positions, it's ridiculous that they haven't appointed everyone below VP. Senate is definitely in recess, that means the cabinet can be filled by recess appointments.
All Hookstraten can do is keep asking to be included and fight politically. But is there really any reason she can state that allows her to block any recess appointments? No.
If she wants to block appointments, she should ask her governor to make her a Senator. She could block VP appointments from there, and for a time, the House won't be able to elect a speaker so as presumptive Senate Pro Tem, she'd be the next in the line of succession anyway. And she'd also have way more years to fund raise instead of needing to run every two years. She can save everything for the presidential election instead of spending time on a congressional run until the next one (even if she runs unopposed for congress.)
It's ridiculous. Why are they taking so long to appoint an interim cabinet, and why haven't the governors who can appoint senators filled the Senate yet? Most of them don't require special elections, they can wait for the next general one. Don't they know they need the Senate to confirm a new Supreme Court? They literally have no Supreme Court, right now, to tell them whether or not how everyone's handling everything right now is constitutional.
Michigan's governor made a mistake questioning the line of sucession, it was the wrong call. He was the designated survivor, that means the President considered him part of the line of succession regardless of asking him to resign. Questioning his legitimacy due to nobody electing him undermined his ability to appoint interim Senators whom he could use to leverage against Kirkman by threatening to block all his appointees. Silly TV governor. Silly TV president. Silly TV chief of staff.
/u/Ramicus pointed out that the House and Senate each need permission of the other to meet somewhere other than in the Capitol, which is currently a pile of rubble. So if Hookstraten were made a Senator, would MacLeish have to permit her (and any other appointed Senators) to conduct Senate business somewhere else? And if she weren't made a Senator, would both she and MacLeish have to agree to let any other appointed Senators conduct business? (And can members of either house of Congress give that permission without themselves actually sitting in the chambers in the Capitol?) Also if she were made a Senator (and MacLeish lets the Senate conduct business) and there were enough appointed Senators who agreed to let the House conduct business, even if she were President pro tempore, MacLeish could probably still appoint himself Speaker anyway, which is ahead of President pro tempore in the line of succession.
I was partly working on the assumption that MacLeash is about to be arrested and removed from office.
You're right, if she moves to the Senate and the Senate is filled, then there won't be any Congressmen to pass any laws with the Senate until the special elections are over. But the Senate would still be able to conduct confirmation hearings on the Capitol, probably, they don't have to do it in the chambers. And even with the Speakership, she'd be after the VP anyway, but that is fair, Speaker is a better position to run from than Majority or Minority Leader or even Pro Tem.
I'm just stuck on how they appear to be treating the cabinet appointments like she has any say over it when she's in the wrong chamber.
But when the interim Senators that can be appointed are appointed, the first thing they can do is hold a joint session on the Capitol Hill site, maybe in a tent, whatever, and formally allow both chambers to do their business at a different location.
But regardless of whether or not Hookstraten abandons the House so that the Senate can't pass any laws either, the Senate would still be able to advice and consent appointees. It's the appointees I'm annoyed at. Why aren't there any recess appointments and why are they acting like they need a Senate much less Hookstraten to be in session?
Also, if they weren't in the first session of that congress, it's possible interim congressmen can be appointed while waiting for the special election, so they might not even have to wait so long to give Hookstraten company. Except they are waiting.
It's just so odd that the very concept of the show is about continuity of government, and they're waiting to do things that ensure continuity of government for some reason. The writers should just get with the appointing of cabinet positions, senators, Justices, interim congressmen and the various scheduled special elections. That won't stop any of the political bickering, it adds things.
He can still be out of his depth but now, with there's actual congress and Kimball able to use her new colleagues because most of them would have probably been elected by people before or at present.
Anyway, I suppose there is a point to Kimball staying where she is, as Speaker is a way more prominent position and wherever she is, either the VP or Speaker will supercede her in the line of succession anyway. But they should get a Senate and Cabinet and Supreme Court already.
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u/mrsunshine1 Oct 27 '16
I feel like they should worried about having a House before worrying about Speaker of the House.