The Latest Breaking News from Kevin McCarthy

The late Madeleine Albright, a former U.S. ambassador and secretary of state, once referred to the United States as the “indispensable nation.” This catchy phrase has been invoked by U.S. politicians and analysts ever since, nearly a quarter-century after it was first uttered.

Republicans have long claimed they are dedicated deficit hawks, blaming Democrats for growing deficits and debt. But two votes they cast after electing Kevin McCarthy as House speaker prove that Republicans are charlatans when it comes to deficit reduction.

The absence of regular House rules during last week’s drawn out floor fight for House speaker produced an unexpected benefit: C-SPAN and other news organizations were able to show the country the whole dayslong battle in real time — including a near-fistfight between two congressmen — because of a pause…

Although the focus of most recent political news had been Kevin McCarthy’s increasingly desperate attempts to grovel his way to becoming America’s first invertebrate speaker of the House of Representatives, buried in the hoopla are genuine decisions to be made about how the nation’s democracy should function.