Who can become House speaker? What to know as senator suggests considering Elon Musk

Brendan Rascius, The Bradenton Herald on Dec 19, 2024

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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has an unconventional idea: electing Elon Musk as speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Paul, a Republican, wrote in a Dec. 19 post on X. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk…think about it…nothing’s impossible.”

He added that choosing Musk for the leadership role would make “the collective establishment…lose their ever-lovin’ minds.”

But could the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX actually be elected speaker of the House — a position that would put him second in line for the presidency? Here is what to know.

Who can become speaker of the House?

As it happens, the speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress. Addressing the matter, the U.S. Constitution simply states, “The House of Representatives shall chuse their speaker and other officers.”

However, a non-member has never been elected speaker in the country’s nearly 250-year history, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

Over the years, there have been numerous votes cast for outsiders — though they’ve all fallen short of the numerical majority required to elect the speaker.

During speaker elections in 1997, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2021, votes were entered for individuals who were not sitting members of the House — some of whom were senators, according to CRS.

And in 2023, during the election for speaker, then-candidate Donald Trump received one vote from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Johnson under fire

Paul’s proposal comes as Speaker Mike Johnson is under fire from fellow Republicans, potentially putting his position in jeopardy. Johnson has faced criticism for his handling of an end-of-year spending bill — required to keep the government funded — which some Republicans say makes too many concessions to Democrats.

President-elect Donald Trump attacked the bill, writing in a post on Truth Social that it “would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney” and “would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee.”

He instead called for a “a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling,” adding, “Anything else is a betrayal of our country…”

Musk, whom Trump tapped to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also signaled his vehement opposition to the spending bill.

In one of his many posts on X about the 1,500-page bill, he wrote, “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?”

Johnson said he spoke to Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-head of DOGE, about the bill Dec. 17, according to The Hill.

“Remember, guys, we still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans,” Johnson said he told the pair. “So any bill has to have Democratic votes.”

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