It has been an interesting week for U.S. democracy. In the last fourteen days, U.S. lawmakers have averted a government shutdown. Currently, the Biden administration is discussing how it wants to address a surprise attack in Israel from the terrorist organization Hamas.  

All of this, and the U.S. House of Representatives does not have a Speaker to assist. A Speaker of the House has not been ousted in America’s history. So, what happened? 

Budgeting 101

In order to answer this, we must examine the U.S. budget, which is passed by the Congress every year. Congress must pass all federal funding budgets, which are typically valid for a certain length of time. This process is often done yearly. Congress can also pass short-term funding bills, typically called continuing resolutions or CR, which will fund the government for anywhere between a week and a couple months. If a funding bill expires and a new one is not put in place, the government is not being funded. This means the government cannot pay its employees or maintain any federally-controlled lands, although essential employees can continue to work; such a time is often referred to as a government shutdown. 

On Sept. 29, the House of Representatives passed a CR with broad bipartisan support. However, some Republicans, among them Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), had promised to introduce a motion to vacate the office of now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) if a CR passed.  

Removal of the Speaker 

On Oct. 2, Gaetz filed his promised motion to vacate. When the motion came to a vote, all Democrats joined eight Republicans in voting to remove McCarthy. Those eight Republicans were Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Elijah Crane (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Matthew M. Rosendale (Mont.). 

After the motion to vacate succeeded, Gaetz claimed, “Kevin McCarthy is a creature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors. We are breaking the fever now.” 

The successful vote means that the House is currently lacking an elected speaker. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has been named interim speaker while the search takes place. 

Implications 

This leaves the Republican party with a leadership crisis. The Republican margin in the House is currently five votes, which means that five Republicans can defeat any measure if all Democrats oppose it. As such, this leaves radical Republicans with an outsized influence.  

Many Republicans are furious with Gaetz, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for Gaetz’s removal from the Republican conference. Joseph Postell, professor of political science at Hillsdale College, said that these legislators sought to gain outside media influence. Postell told the Washington Post that “[House Republicans] are no longer incentivized to bargain with one another. They are incentivized to remain in conflict.” 

What will become of the Republican Party in 2024 and beyond is yet to be seen. But this episode will give us a picture of how Republicans choose to address a leadership crisis, and may show us how they will choose to handle Donald Trump. House Republicans are trying to show America that they can effectively govern in the leadup to the 2024 election; in the days to come, we will see Republicans try to govern their own.

They were demanding more funding for things like text-books, elective courses, heating and air costs and the ability for some schools to return to a five-day school week from the four-day weeks necessitated by a lack of funding. The protest was also for more substantial raises for themselves, a $10,000 increase rather than the $6,000 approved in Oklahoma Republican Gov. Mary Fallin’s school funding bill, as well as other school staff. This protest followed a similar walkout teachers held in West Virginia in March. That nine-day strike ended with a five percent raise, which made Oklahoma teachers hopeful that their demands may be met as well.

The bill Fallin signed allocates $50 million for schools and raising teacher and staff pay. This number is much lower than education professionals had asked for, so many districts effectively shut down as the statewide walkout began. The teachers used the walkout as a platform to promote two pieces of legislation to move their conditions closer to what they have demanded.

On Friday, April 6, the state Senate approved a bill amendment that would require third-party retailers using platforms like Amazon to collect sales tax or to inform buyers of their owed sales tax. This could mean an additional $20 million each year for education funding. However, teachers claim Oklahoma schools need $200 million over the next three years. The Senate also approved a gambling tax that would be effective long term, though it would not add to education funding this year. Teachers are urging Fallin to sign these into law.

These Senate actions are steps toward the teachers’ goals. However, the Senate also repealed a hotel and motel tax, effectively cutting $43 million from the education funding bill.  

Fallin equated the striking teachers to a “teenage kid that wants a better car.” She expressed frustration throughout the duration of the protests, blaming the teachers for not accepting the pared down version of their requests she had passed initially.  

In the Oklahoma walkout’s second day, it became a march, with over 100 teachers, parents, students and supporters beginning a 110-mile march from Tulsa to join those protesting at the capital in Oklahoma City. Teachers across the state have been posting photos on social media with the hashtag “#okleg” at the capital with fellow teachers, parents, students and other supporters.

Melinda Parks teaches Advanced Placement World History and Advanced Placement European History and is the senior class staff sponsor at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City, where she has worked for 17 years. She is currently attending courses at the University of Oklahoma in pursuit of her doctorate in education.

Parks noted that since the first funding crisis for Oklahoma’s public education system about 15 years ago, the cuts have “just never stopped.”

“Some years, the cuts have been tougher than others,” said Parks. “Around 2008, we experienced a particularly bad round of cuts and then again when we had revenue failures the past couple of years. The past 12-18 months, the state’s revenue has increased, so education, as well as other core services, could feasibly benefit. There were several failed plans that were proposed that, while not perfect, would at least have gotten things moving in the right direction again.”

Because those proposed solutions were not ultimately implemented, the cuts continued, having a “terrible impact on morale” and driving many education professionals to leave the state or even to switch careers. Parks explained that Fallin’s $50 million bill is completely insufficient to fix this situation.

“A couple of weeks ago, a bill was passed, but it’s full of longterm problems and doesn’t even get us back to 2008 funding levels,” said Parks. “The inadequacies of this bill led to the walkout.”

Parks’ experience as part of this protest has been encouraging. She has joined other teachers, students and parents engaged in the democratic process in order to have their voices heard and promote a “productive dialogue.”

Parks cited her students and their educational experiences as her ultimate motivations for joining the walkout.

“My reason for walking is that my own students have never been in a fully funded classroom,” she said. “And when I say ‘fully funded,’ I mean by Oklahoma standards and not national standards. There are so many amazing things that we would like to be able to do as a district, but we can only afford absolute necessities—we deal in needs instead of wants. There are fabulous lessons that I would love to present to my students, but I cannot afford the materials to put an activity together. I have great students, and they deserve a better education than they are receiving.”

Photo Credits to Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman.

New student groups on campus are provided with $200 as a starting budget. If the group requires more funding, it must do its own fundraising. The starting budget is provided only for a group’s first year.

“Each organization is expected to be sustainable by your own fundraising efforts or dues. There are some organizations that collect dues from members. So we just like each person, each organization, to think about that as they’re going through the process [of organizing],” said Shelly King, Dean of Students.

However, groups can go to Student Life and request more funds. The groups must present a specific reason or event for which the extra money is needed.

“It’s not to say that you might come in and ask for funding for something. If you guys have a speaker that fits your student organization, you can go to Senate, you can come to Student Life or CUA and say, ‘Hey, let’s collaborate,’” said King.

CUA and Student Senate are fully funded by the Activities Fund. The Activities Fund comes out of student tuition. Senate and CUA are given set budgets from the College because they do programming for the student body as a whole, not only a specific group of students.

“The CUA budget is for everyone. Take full advantage of your activity fee by going to everything that’s programmed. Don’t leave college without [going],” said Kristin Wooldridge, Coordinator of Student Activities.

The budgets for CUA and Senate are usually the same every year. However, this year, Senate received a larger budget than in the past. The funds were specified to be given out to other groups on campus.

“This is the first year we dropped extra money in their budget, but typically Senate’s budget is the same every year. With the idea that they’re programming and they’re doing great, they know to come to Student Life and say, ‘Hey, we’re almost out of budget dollars, can we collaborate and can we kind of pair together and both sponsor this,’ and we’ve done that quite a bit,” said King.

Senate has always had money set aside to give out to student organizations that request it. Student groups that would like to receive more money can attend meetings and request more from cabinet members. The increase in this aspect of the budget came about because cabinet members from the previous school year requested it. The increase is also meant to go toward more Student Senate programming.

“Senate has always had that aspect [of giving funds to organizations]. They’re programming more because we like Senate to program. Not only give money away, but do more,” said Tracy Hart, administrative assistant.

This aspect of Senate may seem new, but in reality, it has always been in place. It has been a lesser known practice.

“I think they’re just telling people better about that,” said Wooldridge.

Senate often teams up with Student Life to provide more funds to student groups on campus who request it. It is often a collaborative effort.

“With other groups that will come, sometimes we’ll say, ‘You know what, if Senate gives money, we’ll match what Senate gives,’ up to a certain dollar amount,” said King.

While most organizations keep any surplus budget at the end of the fiscal year, Senate and CUA’s leftover dollar amounts are returned to the school. This is because the two groups do not fundraise independently of the College.

If student organizations are in need of more money, they can go to Senate or Student Life for assistance.

“Our student leaders, they’re very creative and when you’re trying to do some really good positive things, we don’t want the money to be a hindrance for you doing these great things for the student body. So let us step in and we’ll help fund some of it. Because we want students to enjoy and not be held back by their budget when they’re doing really great, quality things for our student body,” said King.