Talk:Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

RfC on inclusion of Patrick McHenry in timeline graph
Should Patrick McHenry be included in the timeline graph at the bottom of the page, explicitly noting that he is the pro tempore speaker? 21:11, 10 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Yes. This has already been done for China with Dong Biwu and Soong Ching-ling. If there is instead consensus for non-inclusion, I would propose adding a footnote to the graph that indicates that he is the pro tempore speaker. Rowing007 (talk) 21:11, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * No. We wouldn't list all the other people who are routinely named speaker pro tempore during a session of Congress. There's no reason to treat McHenry differently. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 00:34, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
 * No. As he is not a Speaker of the House he does not belong in the TL. Also, the PRC examples mean nothing as, "other articles do it this way" is irrelevant, and as, McHenry is not "Acting Speaker of the House", but the speaker pro-tempore (he is a "temp") who has the authority of a speaker while the office is vacant. The only thing that could appropriately be put between McCarthy and the next Speaker of the House would be a gray bar labeled Vacant, and with no mention of McHenry. Drdpw (talk) 01:14, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify, McHenry is limited in his authority as Speaker pro tempore to those powers "as may be necessary and appropriate pending the election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore." (Which is another reason that he should not be listed.) I agree that "vacant" would be a more appropriate to include here than McHenry. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 02:58, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
 * No. SPT position is not "acting" or "interim", it is an extremely limited temporary role. Would support a "vacant" line, with an efn note with a brief explanation, link to article (there's going to be an event article), and link to the SPT.-- ☾Loriendrew☽  ☏(ring-ring)  12:48, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
 * No The nay argument seems conclusive: McHenry is a temp without even the title Acting. His role is little different from the MANY times a pro tem has been named while the Speaker was out of the District and a ceremonial functionary was required. If McHenry counts, then so would every other pro tem. TechBear &#124; Talk &#124; Contributions 16:20, 11 October 2023 (UTC)


 * No. He is not the Speaker or even “acting Speaker” (if he was, wouldn’t he be in the line of succession)?
 * Prcc27 (talk) 05:41, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * there is no acting Speaker. Yes, a speaker can appoint someone to perform current duties of chair but in current 118 session it is limited to 3 legislative days but that person is not in the line of succession. 207.96.32.81 (talk) 00:24, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I never said there was. Prcc27 (talk) 01:15, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Seal image diverges from official seal
The seal image on the page is in some key ways different to that used on speaker.gov : namely, that it 1) the official one shows the stars in a circle, while the page seal has them arranged in a pattern 2) the official one clearly shows the North American continent in detail 3) the design of the column is clearer and more geometric

As far as I can see the seal on the page is the former design from an old GPO document. As the one on speaker.gov is also public domain, should the page use vector version of that instead? Orderseeding (talk) 02:00, 20 October 2023 (UTC)


 * The text on the image on speaker.gov reads "Office of the Speaker", not "Seal of the Speaker" (compare the McCarthy version with the archived Pelosi version. See also this McCarthy picture from Sept. 30, 2023). It looks like the official seal hasn't changed, but the Speaker's Office designed a logo based on the seal for the website. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 19:49, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I apologize for the lack of clarity beacuse there are two versions on the website! You are correct that one is “Office of the Speaker” but I was referring to the one that is seal of the Speaker and that does explicitly state it is. https://www.speaker.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Logo-Horizontal-V1.png Orderseeding (talk) 19:45, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
 * The text on that one doesn't include the phrase "Seal of the Speaker", which is what's on the podium in the September 30, 2023, picture linked above or in this video from the same event. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 00:53, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Role of Democratic representatives during 2023 Speaker votes
The section on 21st century currently reads "McCarthy was eventually removed as speaker in October 2023 after a further split in the Republican caucus, with five House Freedom Caucus members joining with the Democratic Party minority to oust McCarthy."

Given that this is a highly contentious event, and the question of whether Democrats are obligated to support a particular Republican for Speaker (or any Republican) is becoming a political attack point, I believe extra care should be taken that there be absolutely no doubts of the neutrality in the language. Currently the language suggests two groups operating in concert ("joined with") rather than an action by Republicans that combined with a static lack of support that existed as a definitional matter (being a Democrat). I suggest
 * "...with five House Freedom Caucus members voting against McCarthy, which when combined with lack of support by Democrats, resulted in the ouster of McCarthy."

2601:240:CC00:5F40:B1B1:5059:BD6E:E99A (talk) 18:58, 23 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Appears neutral to me. Drdpw (talk) 19:19, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * We should follow whatever the reliable sources say. “Lack of support” is vague. Democrats did not just have “lack of support” for McCarthy, they voted to oust him. Saying “voting against McCarthy” is less accurate than saying something like “voting to oust McCarthy”. Prcc27 (talk) 23:00, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Infobox Photo
Is there a reason to have the cropped photo? I had changed it to the non-cropped photo, same as on his personal wiki page - that edit got reverted and reverted back and reverted again.

I think non cropped looks better. TheLoyalOrder (talk) 02:17, 28 October 2023 (UTC)


 * There doesn't appear to be a consensus yet on the photo to use here, but there's this discussion over at Johnson's talk page. I agree with you that his official portrait is a better image here, for now. PhotogenicScientist (talk) 16:47, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

Move most of content of "Notable elections" section to List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections
I propose moving most of the content of the "Notable elections" section to the article List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections.

The scope of this article is the speakership itself. Too much detail on specificities of the history of speakership elections clutters this article. Meanwhile, List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections is an article whose scope is dedicated to the subject of past speakership elections.

I tried move of content this but @Drdpw opposes, and I want to avoid edit warring. SecretName101 (talk) 18:35, 1 November 2023 (UTC)