The resolution was needed to clarify that, as speaker pro tempore, Mr. McHenry does have the authority to act as the speaker in all ways until a new speaker is named, according to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Mr. McHenry was designated speaker pro tempore thanks to a post-9/11 rule created to ensure that the House could continue to function in case of a vacancy in the speakership. According to the rule, every elected speaker must list several members’ names to be tapped in order should the chair become vacant. Mr. McHenry was first on the list.

“It’s about the continuity of government,” Mr. McCarthy said. “I always believed the names I was putting on the list could carry on and keep the government running until you elect a new speaker.”

However, after Mr. McCarthy was removed from office by a vote to vacate the chair on Oct. 3, questions were raised about the limits of the speaker pro tempore’s power. The House rules state that a speaker pro tempore designated by the emergency list “shall act as Speaker pro tempore until the election of a Speaker or a Speaker pro tempore. Pending such election, the Member acting as Speaker pro tempore may exercise such authorities as the office of Speaker may be necessary and appropriate to that end.”

Don't really know, but it seems that the rules are saying that the Speaker Pro Tempore can only do (only has authority to do) what is required to elect an new speaker.

With pressure building for Congress to take action in support of Israel in its war with Hamas and to complete the appropriations process before the Nov. 17 deadline, advocates of the plan saw it as a way to reopen the House after 16 days of inactivity.

“If we're going to name a temporary speaker, we need to vest that person with the full power and authority of the office so they can ... do everything that would be permitted of a speaker,” Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) said.