WASHINGTON As Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struggles to get his caucus in line and name him House speaker, the spectacle is more than just a personal embarrassment for him. Its a preview of how dysfunctional Congress may be in the next two years.

Whoever ultimately gets the speaker position will need to cobble together a functioning body that is willing to govern an exceedingly difficult task given that Republicans only hold a four-seat majority in the lower chamber. If the open warfare between conservatives, moderates and Trump loyalists this week is any sign, the GOPs problems are only beginning.

As hard as this is, this may be the easiest thing he does all year, because once hes elected speaker, then hes going to have to keep the group together, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told HuffPost when asked about McCarthys troubles.

The Republicans opposed to McCarthy say he wont do enough to stand up to Democrats and President Joe Biden . They want a speaker who will refuse to pass any bill that lacks full Republican support even though Democrats control the Senate, meaning no bill can actually become law without Democratic support.

At some point this year, Congress will need to pass bills funding the government and raising the debt limit, allowing the Treasury Department to pay debts Congress has incurred over the years. McCarthys opponents have already said theyll withhold support from those bills in order to extract major policy concessions from Democrats, even though theres no way the Senate would go along, and even though defaulting on federal debt could cause a financial crisis.

McCarthys allies insist this weeks fiasco doesnt portend disaster for the next two years.

I think this is gonna be hopefully a good learning experience, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House oversight committee, told HuffPost. We got to figure out how to get to 218 [votes], and its gonna be hard, but it can be done.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) likened the House GOPs quandary to the one Democrats faced four years ago when newly elected progressives threatened to go against the leadership. Democrats figured out how to govern with a narrow majority, and well do the same thing, he said.

Democrats won a 17-seat majority in 2018 before their margin shrank to four seats in 2020. A key difference between now and then is that McCarthy is no Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the former Democratic speaker famed for wielding an iron grip over her caucus and publicly rebuking members of the progressive squad several times. Its not clear that any other Republican could match her by taming a group of lawmakers bent on watching it all burn down. McCarthys strategy so far has been to reward his most inflammatory members with promises of committee seats.

Democrats disagreed only on the extent to which government ought to help people, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said.

They dont have common goals, Kildee said of Republicans. Some of them dont even believe in government having any kind of significant impact on the quality of life for people. They just dont believe in it.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a Freedom Caucus member who opposes McCarthy, seemed to revel in the scene on the House floor Tuesday.

So this is what the House looks like when everybody is here and were debating with bodies in the chairs, Roy said. The American people are watching, and thats a good thing. What were doing is exercising our rights to vote and have a debate and have a discussion about the future of this country through the decision of choosing a speaker.

Senate Republicans, who have been far more willing to work with Democrats, have seemed impatient with their House counterparts.

We need to be able to function as a team. Weve got a lot of stuff we need to get done around here, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) told HuffPost when asked about the House drama.

The House is essentially frozen without a speaker no members can be formally sworn in, no committee appointments can be made and no rules can be adopted. The immediate consequence is a delay to GOP plans for the new Congress: the passage of new legislation and investigations of Bidens administration.

McCarthy doesnt seem to have made any progress in winning over the necessary support to become speaker after three failed votes on Tuesday. The voting process is expected to resume on Wednesday. The House hasnt needed more than one ballot to elect a speaker since December 1923. In 1855, the process took 133 ballots and two months to sort out.

This isnt just today. This is going to be everyday in the House Republican majority, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) warned on Tuesday. Its not just that they wont be able to govern. Its that they are going to be an embarrassing public train wreck while they refuse to govern.