The House of Representatives has now gone 16 days without a speaker and, after another day of furious discussions, palace intrigue and utter confusion among flailing Republicans, it appears no closer to getting one.
Despite fervent opposition from some Republicans, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said late Thursday that he would push for a third vote on his bid to become speaker. “I am still running for speaker, and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race,” he said.
Jordan, House Republicans’ current speaker-designee, was prepared earlier in the day to put his campaign for the gavel on hold in the face of continued opposition from 20 or more members of his conference. Jordan instead endorsed a plan to temporarily empower interim speaker Patrick McHenry of North Carolina through January 3 and allow the House to take up pressing legislative business, including expected votes on aid to Israel and funding the government. In theory, the plan would also buy Jordan more time to build support for his speaker bid.
That idea was quickly quashed by an angry backlash from rank-and-file Republicans. Some called the plan unconstitutional while others said they feared ushering in what they saw as a coalition government with Democrats, whose votes would likely have been necessary. “It’s a giant mistake to give the Democrats control of a Republican majority,” said Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana. “We don’t deserve the majority if we go along with a plan to give the Democrats control over the House of Representatives. It’s a giant betrayal to Republicans.”
Late in the day, following a heated GOP conference meeting that lasted nearly four hours, Jordan said that he would push ahead with another vote on his speaker bid and try to win over the large bloc of holdouts.
“It was the latest abrupt turn in a Republican speaker drama that has played out for more than two weeks, underscoring the depth of the party’s divisions and disarray,” Luke Broadwater and Annie Karni of The New York Times write. “Unable to unite behind a candidate to lead them, the G.O.P. now can’t even agree on a temporary solution to allow the paralyzed House to function while they sort out their differences.”
The bottom line: A third vote on Jordan, reportedly set for 10 a.m. ET tomorrow, appears highly unlikely to end in a different result than the first two. Many Republican holdouts continue to insist they won’t support Jordan even after meeting with him today. As the chaos continues, the House remains paralyzed even as wars rage on in the Middle East and Ukraine and a potential government shutdown looms 29 days away.
