WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday floated the idea to elect Elon Musk to speaker of the House in the upcoming Congress. In a post on X, Sen. Paul said “The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress…Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk.” There is nothing in the Constitution that explicitly says the House speaker has to be a member of Congress. In fact, there are few requirements to become speaker of the House. The Constitution simply says, “The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers.”  However, the position, which is second in line to the presidency, has always been given to a House member. To be elected to speaker, a person must first be nominated. Then they must win a majority of votes from House members who are present and voting. Sen. Paul’s post went on to say, “think about it…nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).” The comment from Sen. Paul comes after a proposed government spending bill from current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)  was tanked amid pushback from Republicans, President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Lawmakers are scrambling to pass legislation before Friday at midnight to avoid a government shutdown. Johnson was elected speaker in Oct. 2023 after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the job.  Johnson won the Republican nomination in November to keep his speaker gavel following an endorsement from President-elect Trump. He will face a full House vote in the new year. The speaker is the majority political party leader in the House and is responsible for controlling the order of business on the House floor. They also negotiate between the House and the president as well as the Senate and are second in line after the vice president to the presidency.