Congress is in shambles and failing America when it needs it to function most

• War broke out in the Middle East with one of the US' closest allies, but Congress can't do a thing.
• Without a House speaker, very little additional aid can be approved to aid Israel or even Ukraine.

The United States Congress is tragically failing when the world — not just the country — needs it to function most.

The Senate's top foreign policy leader stepped down amid a wave of felony allegations, and the upper chamber can't advance so much as a military promotion because of one senator's pique. The House is leaderless, in chaos, and whoever takes the mantle of speaker will serve at the pleasure of the most extreme faction in the chamber.

It's gridlock at the moment when two allies are in desperate need of support.

The House is ungovernable

On October 2, just under nine months after Rep. Kevin McCarthy made concessions to far-right House members to attain the speakership by making it easier for any one member to begin the process of removing a speaker, a single member took advantage of the rule change.

Eight Republicans and the entirety of the Democratic Caucus ultimately banded together to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy from being speaker — it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

After a war broke out war in the Middle East between Israeli troops and Hamas forces over the weekend, there's a high demand from Israel for US financial and military assistance. While President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that some aid has already been sent, sending more will likely depend on the cooperation of Congress.

The war in Israel isn't even the only overseas fight that Congress has been tasked with subsidizing: Ukrainian and Russian troops are still locked in heated combat, despite the US having already sent close to $113 billion to assist Ukraine in fending off Russian military advancements.

Even if congressional leaders have any desire to dole out additional aid to Ukraine or fund the Israeli military's counter-operations against Hamas forces, without a speaker of the House, there's currently no way for the House of Representatives to even begin the bureaucratic legislative process to dole out any requested aid.

The Republican Party in the House has been deadlocked for days over which member to replace McCarthy as speaker, with most coalescing to support one of two candidates: Rep. Steve Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan. Republicans hold such a slim majority in the House that, while they only need a simple majority to elect a new speaker, just a few out-of-line members make it difficult to quickly come to a conclusion.

To make things even more complicated, just as House Republicans most need to come together to find a new speaker, one of the caucus' members, Rep. George Santos, was just indicted in New York and charged with fraud and identity theft.

If Santos resigns, which he hasn't shown any indication of doing, it would leave Republicans with an even slimmer majority and make it even more difficult for the party to legislate.

On top of being unable to push through any legislation to fund wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, without a speaker, the House also can't even work right now on vital appropriations bills to keep the US government funded at all. Warring GOP factions in the House very nearly led to the government shutting down at the end of September. The continuing resolution brokered by McCarthy to keep the lights on directly led Rep. Matt Gaetz to begin the process of ousting the former speaker.

Even when the House of Representatives had a full-fledged speaker prior to McCarthy's boot, many of the GOP members appeared more focused and intent on trying to move forward an impeachment against Biden than ensuring millions of government workers (including those in the military) continue to get paid and the government remains operational.

The House is Congress' disaster right now, but the Senate's giving it a run for its money

With two major international conflicts that Congress is now being tasked with supporting and chaos in the House, it's critical that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee operates as seamlessly as possible to fill the multitude of ambassador vacancies — at the moment, several Middle Eastern countries such as Israel, Oman, and Kuwait do not have US ambassadors.

That, however, may not be entirely possible at the moment after Democratic committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of bribery. More than thirty Democratic senators have since called on him to resign, though he's maintained he's innocent.

Additionally, in the Senate, GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville has unilaterally prevented more than 300 military service members from being promoted en masse by the Senate, per tradition, due to his frustration over the Pentagon's decision to reimburse service members who travel out of state for abortion-related services.

Tuberville, a former college football coach who has no military experience himself but said "there is nobody more military than me," has directly led to military leadership vacancies in the Middle East and some officers simultaneously staffing multiple positions (some as interim replacements) at once.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could, in theory, file a cloture motion leading to a direct vote on a singular military promotion as the Senate did in late September. However, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is currently out of commission recovering from a knee replacement, meaning there's one less possible Democratic vote on any contentious votes.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has also personally had a hand in slowing down the Biden Administration's effort to fill the State Department's "Coordinator for Counterterrorism" position, having blocked a nominee in June, accusing her of wrongdoing during her time as ambassador to Lebanon.

Cruz isn't the only one. Politico noted on Wednesday that there are several unnamed senators who are also blocking diplomatic nominees from moving forward.

It ultimately appears like the Biden White House, an institution more known in recent weeks for dog bites rather than diplomacy, is the only functioning branch of government at the moment.

But with Biden also distracted with a presidential reelection campaign, possible impeachment proceedings, and his son embroiled in controversy, long-term stability is no guarantee.