Will the House be able to elect a new Speaker?

Yes, they should.

There are rules to selecting a Speaker. Those rules will be followed.

First, you have got to find someone who wants the job.

I want the job. They haven't called me yet...

If the Speaker doesn't have real power, what is the point of having a Speaker? A Speaker without true power is a figure head. You will only get total chaos if the Speaker doesn't have real power.

You might oughta contact the personnel office. They might be getting a little desperate.

Bingo, you either lead or you are screwed. We have had total chaos for too many years because the House and Senate seem to think they should tamp down the programs of the President. Like it or not, POTUS represents all of the country and POTUS is acutely aware of every agreement the US has entered into. I understand that the Governor of Nebraska might not understand all the ins and outs of Federal agreements, but he/she could get clarification if he/she actually want to understand. If they don't care, and would rather assume it's arrogant mismanagement, then their constituents should insist their Governor become informed, unless the population is even less engaged than their Governor.

What you don't know can come home and bite your butt. And Ignorance is really not bliss, ignorance means you leave your house unlocked because you don't believe there is such a thing as harmful people. Good Luck.

Of course the Speaker has real power.

They preside over the House. They can decide who speaks and when. They can order the Sergeant at Arms to silence people. They have great influence in deciding the membership in committees including nominating 9 members of the rules committee. They can punish members by denying committee assignments. And they are third in line to be president.

The downside of the Speaker position is that it nearly destroys any chance you have of being elected president.

I will make this sacrifice to take the job (which is not restricted to elected members of the House and is open to any American adult).

OK, its true anybody can be House leader, but when was the last time that happened? Also, I agree the Speaker has real power, its too bad the Freshman congressmen think they can co-lead with the leader.

No, a minority of members should not be allowed to dictate how the Speaker can perform his/her duties. Let me rephrase that. The Speaker should not permit or allow a minority of members to dictate how he/she can perform his/her duties. If the minority wants to provide their input for consideration that's fine. Consideration doesn't mean you get your way.

Have you been paying attention to the house for the last 6 years?

I agree with you. Because Speaker Boehner failed miserably to lead, the House fell into total chaos. Speaker Boehner allowed a tiny minority of the House to push him around and tell him what to do. If Boehner had a pair of balls, he would have nipped that in the butt and put that tiny minority of the House rightfully in their place. I guess that's why he continued to demonstrate that he was weak and a total pushover

Yes, I have been paying very close attention to the House over the last 6 years and longer. I paid attention to Nancy Pelosi when she was the Speaker as well as John Boehner while he was Speaker.

I just found out that he was spending a lot of is weekends raising money for others.

What a cuck.

Poor slob should have called the Koch Brothers.

quite right.Agree

Why not? There are rules set in place. This isn't one of them.

There is nothing in the rules to restrict the behavior of a "minority of members", or to prevent them from exerting whatever political leverage they might have.

the speakers biggest "power" is the control of legislation and motions that come before the body. He can raise em or bury em. He can, by default, render a members position irrelevant.
BONER never had the cojones. Everybody looks back on Pelosi as a real leader.Even the GOP hs to gree.

HOWEVER, with the tectonic splits going on in the GOP,( "RINO" v"GOP" v "Conservative") we are beginning to see the beginning of a "test plot of coalitions" similar to those of the Dems before the Civil Right ACt"

Those are both tea parties compared to the splits we saw before the Civil War, and the cost of not addressing them. And lets get one ******* thing very clear, the Left is exactly half the problem.

Nor the smarts. Obama is very lucky, had Congress had good leadership (and lets be honest, the Senate sucks justs as bad) he would have been laid out as the incompetent prick that he is.

Bad leadership, that is one of the calling cards of our time.

All I can hope for is that all the fractured 'fairy tales' will be looked with clear eyes. Sometimes I may have been the lone independent, other times part of the majority of decision makers. No one wants the US to get the short end of the stick, and that's why a sober House will support the best policies for our Country's well-being. Well of course, there is this time when Draco and friends want to destroy a candidate simply because she doesn't belong to 'American Freedom brigade and Defenders of Apple Pie and Chevrolet. She can't, she really can't because she has enough grey matter to separate the wheat from the chaff.