A history of reconciliation: How Democrats can bridge the political divide to fix the Speakership mess in the House 

Opportunity sometimes knocks twice. House Democrats missed a historic one when they voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker — they could have kept him in his seat in exchange for introducing House rules that encourage bipartisanship. 

With the House in turmoil, Democrats may get a second chance.  

McCarthy says he’s open to being Speaker again. In fact, there’s nothing he’d like better, especially if it means he could escape the grip of the extreme MAGA wing and the House could govern like it’s supposed to. House Democrats could back him, and if he doesn’t deliver, they could always vote to remove McCarthy again. 

There is precedent that makes such a solution plausible. This might be a good time to recall that we have worked out our differences across bitter divides many times in our history: 

• In 1787, small state delegates fiercely opposed any plan to change the equal representation under the Articles of Confederation, while large, populous states demanded proportional representation. They compromised: proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate. 

• In the runup to the 1860 Republican convention, three warring candidates sought the nomination for president. President Lincoln appointed all of them to his Cabinet. 

• In 1964, a civil rights bill passed the House and encountered widespread opposition in the Senate, mounting the longest filibuster in Senate history. Democrat Mike Mansfield implored Republican Everett Dirksen to join him “in finding … the resolution of this grave national issue,” and they did, passing the landmark Civil Rights Act. 

• Liberals and conservatives put aside bitter division over welfare programs and compromised, enacting welfare reform in 1966. 

• Bills to limit the food stamp program were introduced in the 1970s, and Democrats dug in to oppose them. Sens. Bob Dole and George McGovern found a compromise and the Food Stamp Act became law in 1977. 

• The 1935 Social Security Act was perhaps the most polarizing law in Congress’s history. In the 1980s the Social Security Trust Fund risked running a deficit, and measures to keep it solvent faced deep opposition. Sens. Patrick Moynihan and Bob Dole worked together to defuse partisanship, and Social Security reforms were passed and signed by President Reagan. 

• In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was divisive. Republicans argued it was overaccommodating and placed undue burden on employers. Yet both parties came together to pass it.  

• In 1997, conservatives opposed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program as a budget buster. Sens. Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch worked together and got it passed later that year. 

• President Obama’s Cabinet included two Republicans whose positions were markedly different from his own — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. 

• Obama extended the Bush tax cuts, angering Democrats who felt they favored the wealthy. A bipartisan compromise extended unemployment benefits and avoided middle-class tax increases. 

• The 2012 Jobs Act was, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, “a rare legislative victory where both sides worked together and passed [it] with strong bipartisan support.” 

• The 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act set discretionary spending halfway between what Senate Democrats and House Republicans wanted. Paul Ryan dropped his insistence that Democrats agree to reduce entitlement spending in exchange for Republicans agreeing to higher taxes. 

• In 2018, Republican senators were pandering to President Trump’s desire to undo everything President Obama accomplished. But Sen. John McCain warned them not to repeal key provisions of Obamacare. Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined him, and the repeal failed. 

We’ve bridged deep partisan divides many times before; we can do it again. Admittedly, today’s divide is wider and more intractable than in the past, because the differences are not about policy. They’re about staying in power at all costs — even smearing the opposition and lying to voters. A lot of damage needs to be repaired. 

The federal government is paralyzed. As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates lamented, Congress hasn’t passed a Defense Appropriations Bill since 2010, and can’t even confirm senior military officials, devastating our military even as we face Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and war in the Middle East. 

Once, Swiss Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud recalled, “When the world was in danger, they looked to the United States for leadership.” But, he said, “they could no longer do that because [America is] so polarized at home fighting over things that didn’t matter.” 

Republican demagoguery has incited violence since Trump’s election. Since 2016, threats against members of Congress and federal judges have skyrocketed. In addition, 15 percent of local elected officials were threatened last year, and threats are rising against election workers. 

It’s a new low, and it’s all the more reason to invoke our history of political cooperation when it counts. We must stop the slide into dysfunction now. House Democrats can use their votes to reinstate McCarthy as Speaker and help turn the House from partisanship and demagoguery back to the business of governing. 

Neil Baron is an attorney who has represented many institutions involved in the international markets and advised various parts of the federal government on economic issues.