A Democrat member of Congress on Tuesday submitted a bill which would block non-elected individuals from being named Speaker of the House.
The legislation, introduced by Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Brendan Boyle, comes after reports that Republicans, if they re-take the House in 2022, could name former President Donald Trump as Speaker.
The U.S. Constitution does not directly state that the House Speaker must be an elected member of the chamber.
Boyle's bill, titled the Mandating That Being an Elected Member Be an Essential Requirement for Speakership Act, would explicitly limit eligibility to current House lawmakers.
“The Speaker of the U.S. House is second in the United States presidential line of succession. That Donald Trump’s name would even be tossed around as a potential speaker in the people’s house, should serve as an alarm bell that our current requirements need to be amended in the name of protecting our nation and our democracy,” Boyle said in a statement.
Former chief White House adviser Steve Bannon floated the idea of a Speaker Trump during a War Room broadcast last month.
“Our concept is that we’re going to have a sweeping victory, you can already see the momentum building in 2022,” Bannon said.
“And our theory of the case is Donald Trump does not need to run for Congress and should not run for Congress as an individual congressman. That’s ridiculous. What Donald Trump should do is after we win a sweeping victory, the House members should vote him as Speaker of the House, at least for some interim period of time.
“Not Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump. Where Donald Trump takes the gavel from Nancy Pelosi and he immediately moves to impeach Joe Biden.”
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