ROANOKE, Va. – The Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel adds urgency to an already challenging week for fractured House Republicans as they try to agree on who should succeed Kevin McCarthy as the new House Speaker.
The already tense conflict grew more complicated over the weekend after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel that has killed more than 1,000 people, including 11 Americans, according to the White House.
The House can’t pass emergency military aid for Israel until lawmakers seat a new speaker.
10 News Political Analyst, Ed Lynch, believes the House will be able to get someone in the seat this week.
“I don’t think it will be delayed at all really because they wouldn’t get to it today or tomorrow anyway. They’ll probably have a new leader on Wednesday or Thursday. It does put additional pressure. They want to make sure that they’ve got a new leader on Wednesday or Thursday,” Lynch said.
The violence in Israel is also drawing into question the U.S. response, especially with already sending millions of dollars to help Ukraine.
Lynch argued there are two ways Congress will think about this issue.
“There will be those, Republicans and Democrats who will say Israel is in much greater danger than Ukraine, it is a much closer ally thank Ukraine…let’s take some of the money we were planning to use on Ukraine and give it to Israel,” Lynch said. “The counterargument to that would be....these are both attacks on Democratic countries by decidedly non-democratic dictators. It is the duty of the United States to assist democracies when they are under attack so we need to send money to both.”
It will be a task for a divided and narrow majority. Republicans need 217 of their 221 members to agree on a new speaker, as they don’t expect any Democratic support.
It is unclear when the House will hold a floor vote to elect a new speaker.