What’s happening in the U.S. House of Representatives is disappointing on many levels.

The inability to elect a speaker of the House has ground Washington, D.C., to a standstill as 20 conservative Republicans withhold their support of California Rep. Kevin McCarthy in an attempt to secure a legislative attempt at term limits for the House and Senate and additional power for rank-and-file legislators to be able to pass legislation. The holdouts also want to allow a single lawmaker to make a motion for a vote to replace the speaker — a situation that creates a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the House leader.

It’s a spectacle of the absurd that needs to come to an end.

Rep.-elect Nick Langworthy of New York has a vote in this even though he hasn’t taken his oath of office yet. According to reports, Langworthy is backing McCarthy — unsurprising given Langworthy’s former role as state Republican Party chairman. It would have been surprising for a loyal party member not to vote for the speaker preferred by the majority of Republicans. Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Bellafonte, likewise, has cast his votes to McCarthy. Both are votes to get government moving — and both are positions we can support.

Casting votes only goes so far, however, and we hope Langworthy and Thompson — particularly Thompson, who has built a solid resume in the House — are working behind the scenes to help resolve this mess. Republicans in New York and Pennsylvania struggle to garner support in state and federal elections, and being tied to the party infighting that has ground the House of Representatives to a halt is only harming the party’s argument to voters that it should be trusted with the reins of power not only in Washington, but in Albany and Harrisburg, too.