In the wake of the Hamas surprise attacks on Israel, and that country’s resulting heavy military response, calls for Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to pick a new speaker quickly have grown, including from GOP members themselves. The absence of a speaker may slow or limit any aid the U.S. could provide to Israel.
The Conversation U.S. asked congressional scholar Laura Blessing, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute, to explain what a major crisis abroad has to do with internal divisions within one U.S. political party.
