The leadership crisis paralyzing the US House of Representatives dragged into a 15th day Wednesday with feuding Republicans failing to unite around a speaker and no clear resolution in sight.
Jim Jordan — the far right’s choice to replace ousted Kevin McCarthy — lost 20 Republicans on the first speaker ballot in the lower chamber of Congress Tuesday, falling well short of the 217 votes required.
“My sense, from talking to people in the House tonight, is that in the next vote, he might actually get fewer, not more votes,” Republican former speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News.
“If that happens, we can’t sit around and suck our thumbs and hope the world will wait until the House Republicans get their act together.”
The Israel-Hamas conflict, aid to Ukraine, and the threat of a government funding shutdown in a month have upped the stakes of the contest, with Republican aides hoping the urgent need for Congress to respond to the multiple crises would unite the fractured party.
Jordan’s allies had also expected a concerted pressure campaign to turn around his critics, and the conservative former wrestling champion told reporters the House would elect a speaker on Tuesday no matter how long it took.
But the effort to whip up the 17 extra votes he needs appears to have irritated his centrist colleagues and he was forced to postpone a second attempt as his support appeared to be weakening further.
“I think some of the pressure campaigns have backfired. They have not worked,” Florida congressman Byron Donalds told Fox News. Lawmakers are now scheduled to vote again at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), with Jordan going up against the Democrats’ standard bearer, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, once again.
– No clear alternative –
Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, will be expected to show significant progress but the holdouts appear to be dug in.
His Republican opponents met after voting against him and nearly all reaffirmed their objections, with some predicting Jordan could hemorrhage another 10 Republicans.
The Ohio lawmaker has little of the goodwill among the rank-and-file that McCarthy spent years cultivating and it is unlikely that they would indulge him in the 15 rounds of voting that it took to get his predecessor elected.
Party strategists worry that Jordan going backwards could herald days of further deadlock, as there is no obvious alternative with the support and the profile to corral a party that has become synonymous with division and dysfunction.
“And why run for the mayor of a city that’s just been nuked?” asked online politics outlet Punchbowl News.
There is momentum behind a push to appoint caretaker speaker Patrick McHenry for a limited period — expanding his purely ceremonial powers so that he can bring legislation to the floor. Lawmakers are expected to vote on a motion to formally elect McHenry — probably until the end of the year or until a permanent speaker is elected — if the second speaker vote doesn’t go Jordan’s way.
“After two weeks without a speaker of the House and no clear candidate with 217 votes in the Republican conference, it is time to look at other viable options,” Ohio congressman Dave Joyce said in a statement reported by politics newspaper The Hill.
“By empowering Patrick McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore we can take care of our ally Israel until a new Speaker is elected.” – Frankie TAGGART
