House reading clerks helped maintain order in tumultuous Congress amid speaker battle
Amid the nearly weeklong standoff between Republican supporters of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and conservative holdouts over his bid to become Speaker of the House, the lower chamber's administrative staff helped shepherd the body through the tense episode, earning themselves a measure of bipartisan acclaim.
While House Clerk Cheryl Johnson has attracted considerable media attention as the first black woman to steer the House through a speaker election, reading clerks Susan Cole and Tylease Alli also stepped into the spotlight.
Reading clerks perform the task of reading bills and motions aloud in the chamber and call roll during recorded votes. The minority and majority parties each appoint one reading clerk, though the party affiliation has minimal significance. Susan Cole has served as the Republican reading clerk since 2007, while Tylease Alli has served for the Democrats since 2021.
In each of the 15 votes taken for speaker over the past week, the pair called out the name of each House member and manually recorded their vote.
Cole called roll and took down the vote totals during the first vote for speaker. She subsequently alternated calling roll with Alli as the week dragged on. Cole, in particular, was often seen exchanging winks and nods with the lawmakers, confirming that she had heard them cast their votes. Alli, meanwhile, took the odd numbered votes.
The pair are two of just a handful of Americans ever to hold the position, which dates back to the post-Civil War era. While few of these individuals have made history, the advent of televised votes has somewhat elevated their profiles.
Cole attended Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., where she played basketball and softball, and previously served for nine years as the reading clerk for the Financial Services Committee, according to a 2007 article in The Hill.
According to Alli's LinkedIn profile, she served prior to her appointment as the Democrats' reading clerk as the chief clerk for the House Committee on Education and Labor (2019-2021) and as a clerk for the House Committee on Education and Workforce (2003-2019). She is a graduate of Michigan State University.