A Busy Day on Capital Hill Awaited Montana’s Representatives

History has to wait a little to be made in Montana as Ryan Zinke waits to be sworn in as first Representative for the new District 1.

The Former Secretary of the Interior and under the Trump administration and newly elected representative had to wait, as of reporting, a little longer than usual for the official swearing in of freshman representatives Tuesday in DC. Representatives usually take their oath during the first day of a new Congress, when the House organizes itself.

The tradition originated in the British House of Commons, and has been the practice in the U.S. House since at least the 1820s. The Speaker, in turn, administers the oath to the rest of the Members en masse. The Speaker or Speaker Pro Tempore must swear in members who miss the mass swearing-in ceremony on the first day afterward; on rare occasions, the House has authorized other Members or local judges to swear-in absent Representatives.

The hold up was due to no candidate for speaker of the house receiving enough votes to garner a majority, something that District 2 Representative, Republican Matt Rosendale had a hand in.

Rosendale was one of 19 Republicans on Tuesday who voted for someone other that Kevin McCarthy to be the Speaker of the House for the new junior legislation. Reports from the capital noted that Rosendale's vote for fellow Republican Byron Donalds, confused the clerk recording votes. McCarthy ended up with 202 total votes, falling short of the number needed to be named the new speaker.

The House will be required to have subsequent votes until someone is elected with a majority of votes.