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Tag: Kevin McCarthy
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Ex-GOP congressman warns Republicans aiming to be speaker are “dangerous”
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Former Republican Representative David Jolly warned that the GOP members running for the House speakership position could be just as “dangerous” as Representative Jim Jordan while speaking to Newsweek on Sunday.
On October 3, Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, became the first House speaker in U.S. history to be ousted from the role by a floor vote, after a motion to vacate was brought against him by GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. Since then, successive GOP candidates for speaker have failed to garner the necessary majority of votes, an issue worsened by the party’s razor-thin margin of control in the House.
Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana was the first candidate chosen, but he ultimately failed to get the votes needed on the chamber floor and withdrew from consideration. Jordan of Ohio, the candidate initially endorsed by Trump, was next up, but he also failed to garner the needed votes, losing more and more support in three consecutive rounds of voting.
Nine Republicans announced their candidacy to be the next House speaker including: Representatives Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Pete Sessions of Texas, Austin Scott of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, and Gary Palmer of Alabama.
Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, speaks at the U.S. Capitol on Friday in Washington, D.C. Inset, former GOP Representative David Jolly of Florida is seen on March 13, 2014, in Washington, D.C. Jolly warned that the GOP members running for the House speakership position could be just as “dangerous” as Jordan while speaking to Newsweek on Sunday.
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Jolly, who served Florida’s 13th Congressional District from 2014 to 2017, told Newsweek via phone on Sunday that Jordan is “one of the more dangerous Republican leaders in his willingness to undermine democracy and as he sought to assist Trump in stealing the election in 2020, I’m sure he would try to do so in 2024.”
He continued: “So his elimination from the speakership race, I think is a net positive all around. That does not mean that there’s a wide gap between him and who comes next, to be honest. If you look at the field of current candidates for speaker, they probably lack the tactics of Jordan, but I think many of them would arrive at the same destination.”
Jolly explained that the candidates may not start off at such a dangerous spot as Jordan, but may end up there.
“I made that point for those who thought Jordan was so much worse than McCarthy. My point was McCarthy always ended up where Jordan started. It just took him longer to get there,” he said. “McCarthy blessed the impeachment of Joe Biden, he covered for Trump on the January 6th stuff, [and] he negotiated in bad faith with Biden and then broke his promise. So it’s not as though other leading Republicans are significantly and qualitatively less dangerous than Jordan, but Jordan just starts from a very dangerous spot.”
Although the Republicans hold a slight majority in the House of Representatives and have been struggling to find a nominee that can garner at least 217 votes necessary to win the House speaker vote, Jolly said he is “cautiously optimistic” and that he believes Republicans are close to resolving this issue.
He added that “all of the high-profile potential speakers have been vetted and lost,” so the Republicans will go with a candidate that “the country largely doesn’t know.”
Jolly, who left the Republican Party in 2018, questions if the “hardliner” Republicans will agree to anything.
“The next speaker will have to compromise with [Hakeem] Jeffries, [Chuck] Schumer, and Biden. The next speaker will lose the appropriations fight coming up in 30 days,” he said. “The House Republican Conference hardliners are not grounded in reality. They are not grounded in the reality of governing. And, if they’re going to hold their speaker to that alternate reality, I don’t know how anyone gets to 217, but I think that this week will be the closest anyone could come.”
House Democrats have not moved from their position at electing their nominee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in all three rounds of voting, but Jolly said there is “zero” chance of swaying enough House Republicans to vote him in.
However, Jolly does see a scenario where there could be a consensus with Democratic support of a Republican nominee, but not without concessions. Jolly suggested Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, who is currently presiding as Speaker pro tempore, but is not one of the candidates running.
“So we would have to be in a scenario where things fell apart,” the former congressman said. “And to a lesser extent Emmer or Austin Scott. Simply because they did both vote to certify the [2020] election.”
Jolly said that for Democrats to vote for a Republican speaker they would most likely ask House Republicans to agree to “three pieces of legislation that would come up under an open rule where every member could offer an amendment. Those three would be Israel, Ukraine, and the final appropriations package.”
However, Jolly said he does not believe Republicans would agree to those concessions.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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“A Very Bad Place”: Kevin McCarthy Basically Admits His Party Is a Total Clusterfuck
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On Friday morning, Jim Jordan lost his third vote to become the next Speaker of the House. While still a far cry from the whopping 14 rounds Kevin McCarthy lost before ultimately winning the job in January, the current situation appears to be somehow even more desperate. That’s because Republicans are not anywhere near a consensus on who should lead the House—which was made readily apparent after they formally dropped Jordan as the nominee following a closed-door vote.
In a sign of just how shockingly disastrous things have gotten, even McCarthy, who earlier in the week was simply blaming everything on Democrats, admitted Friday that Republicans “are in a very bad place right now.” He specifically blamed the “Crazy Eights,” who voted to oust him earlier in the month, for the chaos, and added, “I’ve never seen this amount of damage done…it’s astonishing to me.”
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The decision to officially drop Jordan came shortly after said Crazy Eights put out a letter proposing that if the Jordan holdouts—whose numbers had grown with each successive ballot—“would be willing to ‘vote with the team’ and elect him the 56th House Speaker, we are prepared to accept censure, suspension, or removal from the Conference to accomplish this objective.” The letter was signed by representatives Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale.
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Such a proposition seemed unlikely to have any chance of actually working for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that after the letter was released, Ken Buck told a Politico reporter that he had never signed it and claimed he didn’t want his name on it and that he has no intention of electing Jordan.
According to CNN, representatives Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Austin Scott, Jack Bergman, Tom Emmer, and Byron Donalds have all said they will jump into the Speaker race, with Mark Green of Tennessee, Jodey Arrington, and Mike Johnson “considering running.”
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Bess Levin
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GOP Drops Jim Jordan as the House Speaker Circus Drags On
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After a week of fits and starts in Jim Jordan’s bid for House Speaker, Republicans huddled behind closed doors on Friday afternoon and voted for the Ohio lawmaker to step aside. The caucus’s decision to strip Jordan of the “Speaker designee” title came on the heels of him falling short, once again Friday morning, of the votes needed to win the gavel.
Jordan started the day projecting confidence that he would eventually win the Speakership in an early morning press conference that was light on substance and sprinkled with election denial.
“There’s been multiple rounds of votes for speaker before—we all know that,” Jordan said, a seeming reference to Kevin McCarthy’s drawn out battle back in January. He signaled a willingness to push ahead with as many votes as it took. “Our plan this weekend is to get a speaker elected to the House as soon as possible so we can help the American people,” he said.
But Jordan’s prospects quickly dimmed as the House voting was underway as the defections grew. Ultimately, Jordan garnered 194 votes—well shy of the 214 he needed Friday, given a number of absences on both sides of the aisle. The mood among Republicans was bleak as the vote concluded. “I think everybody realizes the times that we are in,” Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman told reporters, noting the crisis in the Middle East. “We need to get the House back open.” McCarthy, too, was blunt about the situation. “We are in a bad place,” he said following the vote.
That the Republican conference didn’t rally around Jordan had seemed inevitable for days, however. Whereas McCarthy’s opposition in January was effectively just from his right flank, Jordan’s detractors span the party. On Thursday, members reportedly made it clear to the Ohioan that no amount of negotiation would sway them. And a bizarre last ditch attempt by the group of eight lawmakers who voted to oust McCarthy earlier this month, offering themselves up for punishment in exchange for backing Jordan, fell flat.
Behind closed doors, the realities of Jordan’s prospects came into even sharper focus. According to Politico’s Olivia Beavers, a mere 86 Republicans reportedly voted for Jordan to continue with his bid, compared to 112 members that voted for him to step aside. (Five cast “present” votes.) With Jordan now out of the running, the GOP caucus is back at square one. They will convene for yet another candidate forum on Monday evening; a number of Republicans, like Tom Emmer, Kevin Hern, Byron Donalds, Jack Bergman and Mike Johnson have already begun to throw their hats in the ring. A vote on the Speaker designee is expected Tuesday.
That’ll be three weeks since McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote on the House floor, a period of time in which the Republican majority has demonstrated their inability to govern. Whether any Republican has the sway and support to win 217 votes remains a question. The only thing Republicans accomplished this past week was exposing just how deep the fissures are within the party. Even an attempt to empower Patrick McHenry, who is serving as Speaker tempore, left the conference bitterly divided. “That seemed like a reasonable way to get out of this but it doesn’t seem like the Republicans want a way to get out of this… The Republicans are just not a working coalition,” Democrat Steve Cohen told Vanity Fair Friday afternoon.
Of the state of affairs, Cohen reflected, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
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Abigail Tracy
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Did Matt Gaetz Put A Knife In The Cannabis Industry
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People are consuming more marijuana than ever, but the industry is still suffering significant growing pains. As the industry expands, bad players are being weeded out but New York and California have truly botched the legal system. The marijuana industry is primarily filled with small businesses like dispensaries, craft product makers, farmers and more. On the key issues preventing them from moving to profitability is banking and taxes. After a 3 year downturn (despite increased sales), the cannabis industry saw a ray of hpe in the SAFER Banking bill….but then the US House of Representatives devolved into one of the hottest messes in its storied history. So did Matt Gaetz (R-FL) put a knife in the cannabis industry?
RELATED: Unlicensed Shops in NYC Are Doing Better Than The Naked Cowboy
The Biden administration has been extremely slow in delivering on his campaign promise of increased federal legalization and an easier way to do business. The House passed SAFE Banking 7 times in bipartisan fashion, all failing in the Senate. This year, the Senate, with key sponsors of Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote the bill SAFER Banking and managed to get it out of committee.
WIth some bipartisan support, including Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the bill looked like it will pass the Senate and head to the House before going to the White House with hopes of Biden’s signature. The industry crossed fingers with hope and cannabis stocks inched upwards.
Then Representative Matt Gaetz ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker and shut down Congress. For the last two weeks, GOP Representatives have been caught up in a vortex of a floor fight which shows little hope of abating soon. After twice losing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced he is pushing for a third floor vote for speaker. Until a speaker is elected, House bills remain stalled.
Senator David Daines (R-MT) is saying the the Senate will hold off on floor action until there’s a sense the House can pass a bill. But if they year ends, everything starts back at the beginning, and adds months of waiting to the beleaguered cannabis industry.
RELATED: Why Gen Z Is Putting Down Beer And Picking Up Marijuana
One issue around the lack of a SAFER Banking act is it makes it harder on the regular workers of businesses to get car, house and other traditional loans. Without SAFER Banking, this is seen as a negative and count against a regular worker who is holding onto a steady job. Even with a well paying job, banks are more likely to look at through a “no” lens.
So in a way, Matt Gaetz is also harming the working man and small business owner.
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Terry Hacienda
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Jim Jordan Is Failing to Unite the Rudderless GOP
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For the second time in two days, Jim Jordan failed to win the House Speakership. With just 199 votes in his favor for House Speaker, the Ohio lawmaker fell short of the 217 threshold needed to win the gavel on Wednesday afternoon. Despite the best efforts of Jordan and his allies to win over Republicans reluctant to back the MAGA hard-liner, the hopeful Speaker bled GOP support relative to a day prior. Ultimately, a total of 22 Republicans voted against Jordan in the second round of voting, leaving his Speakership bid on its last legs.
After Jordan failed to hit the needed threshold in the second round of votes, his camp dug its heels in. “We’re going to keep going,” Russell Dye, Jordan’s spokesperson, said Wednesday. “We’ll continue to talk and listen to our colleagues,” Jordan said, indicating he’d push for a third round of votes, which could begin by noon Thursday. But even as Jordan insisted he wasn’t leaving the fight, his antagonists—and even some allies—were mapping out alternative paths to a semblance of governance.
In addition to floating Jordan alternatives, a cross section of Republicans have begun a push to empower Patrick McHenry in his role as Speaker pro tempore, the idea being at least the House could do business while the Republicans tried to clean up its mess. “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’s Dave Joyce, who has considered introducing a resolution to expand McHenry’s limited powers, told NBC News. (Another Republican, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, has already introduced a similar resolution.)
But even as a growing number of Republicans threw their weight behind the McHenry resolution, others were wary. “This place was designed to have an elected Speaker by means of the roll call of the members, not some resolution because we’ve hit a snag,” Byron Donalds told Vanity Fair Wednesday. “I do think that the original framing of how the Speaker was chosen is important. And we have to maintain that.”
Other GOP lawmakers have resorted to recriminations. “Listen, I had subscribed to the belief that we shouldn’t have left the conference until we knew that someone had gotten to 217 and I helped craft the rule that would have enabled us to do that. That was not ultimately the choice and that’s fine. That’s the way it goes,” Marc Molinaro told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “But at this point, again, because of that very reason we are back behind closed doors for conversation. I think that does embolden the need to empower the Speaker pro tempore to allow us to get back to work.”
McHenry, for his part, isn’t entertaining the notion. “I want to elect Jim Jordan as Speaker and that is what we are going to the floor to do,” he told reporters ahead of the second round of votes. When pressed again whether he would support a resolution to expand his powers as Speaker pro tempore, McHenry was dismissive. “I am voting for Jim Jordan,” he said.
Democrats, meanwhile, have demonstrated unity, with all 212 members again voting for Hakeem Jeffries, who told CNN’s Manu Raju on Wednesday that his caucus had not yet decided on whether it would back a resolution to empower McHenry, as its first priority was stopping Jordan. “Our role is to protect a clear and present danger to our democracy and the poster child for MAGA extremism from becoming the Speaker,” he said.
Jordan, a cofounder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus and a frequent Fox News guest, has proven to be a top attack dog for Donald Trump, who endorsed his candidacy. Jordan amplified Trump’s election-fraud lies and voted against certifying the 2020 election results, while more recently spearheading a push to impeach Joe Biden over unfounded claims of corruption. It’s Jordan’s brazen MAGA bona fides, in other words, that account for his rise within the Republican ranks.
Jordan’s struggle marks the latest hiccup in a bloody leadership fight that has gripped the House Republican caucus since the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. Jordan’s failure, which was expected ahead of the second round of voting Wednesday, is no doubt a boon for Scalise and McCarthy allies; Jordan was far from their top choice to succeed McCarthy and clinched the nomination by the skin of his teeth. Last week, after a last-minute challenge from Austin Scott, Jordan secured his party’s nomination in a vote of 124 to 81—a far cry from the 217 he needed. And in a second vote to determine who would support Jordan in a floor vote, 55 Republicans said they would still oppose the Ohio lawmaker.
Despite this less-than-ideal-math, Jordan projected confidence after his nomination. “I’ve been working it for 10 days. We’ll keep up,” he told reporters Friday, adding: “I think we’re going to get 217.” Jordan also mounted a comprehensive pressure campaign with the help of allies—like Trump and even Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
But it quickly became clear this week that the arm-twisting backfired with a handful of holdouts. It seems that, ultimately, Jordan’s politics might be too unpalatable even to his own party—despite his celebrity within the conservative media ecosystem. Now, all eyes are on McHenry—a reluctant Speaker, not unlike Paul Ryan. Whether House Republicans can coalesce around him remains to be seen as the caucus appears more divided than ever.
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Abigail Tracy
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If GOP won’t unite, Rep. Mike Turner says a deal “will have to be done” with Democrats for new speaker
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If House Republicans won’t rally behind Rep. Jim Jordan or another GOP member to become speaker, GOP Rep. Mike Turner said Sunday that “obviously” a “deal will have to be done” with Democrats for a leader of the lower chamber.
Turner, a Republican from Ohio who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday that Jordan, the right-wing Judiciary Committee chair, is his pick for McCarthy’s successor. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said the same during an appearance on “Face the Nation” last weekend.
Mace was one of eight Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives who voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy from his role as House Speaker, in a historic revolt by right-wing lawmakers that came in response to McCarthy’s reliance on Democrats to pass funding to avoid a government shutdown. Turner voted alongside the vast majority of Republicans to keep McCarthy as speaker, which is second in line for the presidency.
Since then, the GOP has split as it attempts to elect a new leader. Republican lawmakers on Wednesday selected Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their nominee for House Speaker, with Scalise beating out Jordan in a vote among Republicans by 113 to 99. Scalise later withdrew his name from consideration, and House Republicans on Friday nominated Jordan, with members saying Jordan won 124 votes.
A speaker needs to be elected by a majority of the full House, which in this case is 217 votes, since there are two vacacines. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, meaning they cannot lose more than four votes. The vote in the House is set to be held Tuesday, and Democrats have advised their caucus to vote for the top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries.
The House has not been able to proceed with business as usual since McCarthy’s removal, and calls have grown tremendously for representatives to settle on a replacement in light of the Israel-Hamas war. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier Sunday that the Biden administration will be requesting more than $2 billion from Congress as part of a bundled aid package for Ukraine and, now, Israel. But the legislature is paralyzed until a new speaker of the House is elected, which Turner called “a tragedy” in his appearance on “Face the Nation.”
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“Kevin McCarthy was fired because he had sought a bipartisan solution to keep the government open and those who wanted to close down the government instead they closed down the House of Representatives with the aides of Democrats,” Turner said, characterizing the move as “a very bad deal for America” and “a bad deal for Hakeem Jeffries.”
“It’s gonna be hard for them in the future to come- if they want to work in bipartisanship when they fired the guy that was sitting there for doing so,” said Turner. “So, at this point, I would prefer there to be a Republican solution, because when they rejected bipartisanship, it’s kind of hard to then go back to it.”
Turner said he believes Jordan would “be an excellent speaker,” and, “if not, we have other leaders in the House.”
“And certainly, if there is a need if the radical, you know, almost just handful of people in the Republican side … make it for us unable to be able to return to general work on the House, then I think obviously, there will be a deal we’ll have to be done,” he added.
Jeffries, the top House Democrat, discussed the race for speaker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, saying that “there have been informal discussions” between House Democrats and Republicans aiming to work toward creating a bipartisan governing coalition. Jeffries said he believes the conversations should start formally this coming week.
“We have made clear publicly and privately that we are ready, willing and able to enter into a bipartisan governing coalition,” he said, adding, “we are ready to be reasonable in finding the common ground necessary.”
Jeffries said Democrats are looking to change some of the rules that dictate how the legislature can operate, so that bills with strong bipartisan support can move to a floor vote.
“We want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial Democratic support and substantial Republican support, so that the extremists aren’t able to dictate the agenda,” he said, noting that a small group of Republicans currently wield huge influence in the chamber and are “able to determine what gets voted on in the House of Representatives.”
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House Republicans nominate Steve Scalise as next speaker
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House Republicans nominate Steve Scalise as next speaker – CBS News
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Steve Scalise, GOP’s Pick for Speaker, Still Has a Floor Fight Ahead
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After a week of leaderless chaos in the House of Representatives, Republicans took the first step back toward normalcy on Wednesday afternoon. In a secret ballot vote of 113 to 99, Steve Scalise triumphed over Jim Jordan to secure his party’s nomination for Speaker.
Scalise’s path to victory was seen as largely cleared earlier in the day when the Republican caucus knocked down a proposed rule change that would have required either candidate to secure 217 votes before a full House vote. Instead, candidates just needed a simple majority of the conference to move forward. “We have a lot of work to do,” Scalise told reporters shortly after the vote.
Scalise’s nomination was applauded by a number of Republicans as they exited the meeting. “I say we unify as a party to get the Speaker designee elected as an official Speaker of the House,” Michael McCaul told reporters, noting the burgeoning crisis in the Middle East. “We can’t afford this dysfunction, the nation can’t afford this…. We need a Speaker in the chair. We’re in dangerous times right now.”
Even Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of the leading architects of McCarthy’s ouster, applauded Scalise’s victory. “I’m excited for him. I can’t wait to go vote for Steve Scalise,” the Florida congressman said. “Long live Speaker Scalise.” Tim Burchett, who also voted to remove McCarthy, echoed the unity message. “I’m going to vote for Scalise on the floor.” But the Speaker fight is far from over. Doubts remain that Scalise can muster enough support to actually win the gavel. Rather, Republicans are bracing for a redux of Kevin McCarthy’s drawn-out fight for the Speakership back in January, just with a different main character.
As they exited Wednesday’s vote, a number of lawmakers who cast their ballots for Jordan told reporters they planned to do so again, on the House floor; Max Miller was among them. “I don’t think I’m the only member of Congress who feels this way…actually, I know I’m not the only one,” Miller said. “You’re going to see that play out on the House floor.”
When asked by reporters whether he would vote for Scalise on the floor, Jordan dodged the question. He said, “The conference is still divided,” and added that he hopes “it can come together.” (It was later reported that Jordan would back Scalise.)
The realities of any candidate’s rocky road to 217 votes was thrust into stark relief over the past few days, particularly following the candidate forum—in which both Jordan and Scalise presented their visions for the Speakership—on the eve of the conference vote. Just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the scene outside the Ways and Means Committee room in the Longworth House office building was chaotic. The media melee was three rows deep in certain spots. At various points, the sound of applause drifted out from behind the closed doors as Republicans sought to clean up a mess entirely of their own making.
Exactly one week earlier the GOP conference made history when a rogue faction of eight voted to oust McCarthy as House Speaker. The intent was to inch closer toward crowning the next House leader, but as lawmakers trickled out it appeared that House Republicans were no closer to coalescing around a McCarthy successor than they were in the immediate aftermath of the California congressman getting unceremoniously stripped of the Speaker’s gavel. “I don’t know how the hell you get to 218,” Troy Nehls told reporters as he left the meeting, referencing the vote threshold to elect the next House leader, barring any vacancies. Nehls predicted a potentially long week ahead, noting the deep divisions within the party.
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Abigail Tracy
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House GOP gears up to pick speaker nominee, but it’s unclear if any candidate can get the votes | CNN Politics
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CNN
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House Republicans are set to meet behind closed doors Wednesday to pick a nominee to be the next speaker – but it remains unclear whether any candidate will have enough the support to win the gavel following Kevin McCarthy’s abrupt ouster.
As of now, neither House Majority Leader Steve Scalise nor Rep. Jim Jordan – the two declared GOP candidates in the race – have locked down 217 votes, the necessary number to be elected speaker by a majority vote of the full chamber. The uncertain vote math has raised questions over how and when the GOP majority will be able to elect a new speaker, particularly as infighting continues to roil House Republican ranks.
Until a speaker is elected, the House remains effectively paralyzed following McCarthy’s ouster, an unprecedented situation that has taken on new urgency amid Israel’s war against Hamas. Raising the stakes further, the longer it takes Republicans to elect a new speaker, the less time lawmakers will have to try to avert a government shutdown with a funding deadline looming in mid-November.
Following a candidate forum Tuesday evening, Rep. Mike Garcia, a California Republican, said he thinks it’s “50/50” on whether the GOP will be able to elect a speaker Wednesday.
Asked whether anyone could get 217 votes, he said: “I think that’s a great question right now.”
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky rated the odds even lower. “I’d put it at 2%,” he said when asked by a reporter what the chances are there will be a new House speaker by Wednesday.
After his removal as speaker in a historic vote last week, McCarthy announced he would not run again for the post. But allies of the former speaker could still nominate him during Wednesday’s closed-door meeting, though McCarthy has said he has told members not to do so.
Currently, a candidate needs only a simple majority of the conference – or 111 votes – to win the GOP nomination for speaker, a much lower threshold than the 217 votes needed to win the gavel on the House floor.
A number of Republicans now say that threshold is too low because it does not ensure that the nominee will be able to win the floor vote for speaker.
As a result, there has been a push to raise the threshold to secure the GOP nomination from a majority of House Republicans to a majority of the full House in a bid to avoid a protracted floor fight like the one in January when it took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to win the gavel.
House Republicans are expected to vote on whether to raise that threshold during Wednesday’s meeting.
Here’s how the meeting is expected to unfold:
- Republican members will gather behind closed doors Wednesday morning.
- First, they will vote on whether to change conference rules to raise the threshold to nominate a speaker and any other changes.
- Then, members will stand up to formally nominate a candidate and give a short speech.
- There will be a secret ballot and members can write in candidates. Results are counted by hand.
- If there are more than two candidates, the candidate with the lowest number of votes gets knocked out. Republicans would then vote on the top two.
It’s not clear when the House will hold a vote of the full chamber to elect a new speaker. It could happen as soon as Wednesday – though only if Republicans pick a nominee for their conference first.
The timing of the House floor vote is technically up to Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, who is serving in the top leadership spot on an interim basis. However, he is expected to defer to whoever the GOP nominee is, and the timing of the vote will be their call.
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Republicans appear no closer to choosing a new leader after candidate forum
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House Republicans remained unable to agree on who should be the next speaker, one week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was removed, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely.
On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, outlined their visions behind closed doors at a lengthy candidate forum. Rep. Mike Garcia, of California, estimated that around 30-40 House Republicans asked questions of the two during the forum.But Jordan and Scalise appeared to be splitting the vote among their Republican colleagues.
Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, said that he asked both candidates what they would do on the eve of November 17, when the current continuing resolution to fund the government expires. He said Jordan told members he would act before the deadline and push a long-term continuing resolution that would trigger a 1% cut in funding later.
Lawmakers said Scalise emphasized pressuring the Senate to take action on House-passed appropriations bills. The House has so far passed four appropriations bills, but they contain cuts that Democrats and the Biden administration are sure to reject, as well social policy riders that Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said were “irrelevant” and “harmful.“
McCarthy, meanwhile, who had openly positioned himself to reclaim the gavel he just lost, told his colleagues during the private meeting not to nominate him this time. Instead, he read a poem from Mother Teresa and delivered a prayer.
“I don’t know how the hell you get to 218,” Rep. Troy Nehls, of Texas, said afterward, referring to the majority vote typically needed to seize the gavel. “It could be a long week.”
House Republicans took the majority aspiring to operate as a team, and run government more like a business, but have drifted far from that goal. Just 10 months in power, the historic ouster of their House speaker — a first in the U.S. — and the prolonged infighting it has unleashed are undercutting the Republicans’ ability to govern at a time of crisis at home and abroad.
Now, as House Republicans push ahead toward snap elections Wednesday aimed at finding a new nominee for speaker, the hard-right coalition of lawmakers that ousted McCarthy has shown what an oversized role a few lawmakers can have in choosing the successor.
“This is a hard conference to lead,” said Rep. Steve Womack, of Arkansas. “A lot of free agents.”
Both Scalise and Jordan are working furiously to shore up support. Both are easily winning over dozens of supporters and could win the majority of Republicans, about 110 votes.
But it’s unclear if either Scalise or Jordan can amass the 217 votes that would be needed in a floor vote to overcome opposition from Democrats. There are currently two vacancies in the 435-seat House.
Many Republicans want to prevent the spectacle of a messy House floor fight like the grueling January brawl when McCarthy became speaker.
“We’re in a similar situation that we were back in January,” said Doug Heye, a former Republican leadership aide, adding the political optics of the feud look “terrible” to American voters.
Some have proposed a rules change that Rep. Patrick McHenry, of North Carolina, the interim speaker pro tempore, is considering to ensure a majority vote during closed balloting Wednesday before the nominee is presented for a full floor vote.
McCarthy himself appeared to agree with a consensus approach. “They shouldn’t come out of there until they decide that they have enough votes for whoever they bring to the floor,” McCarthy said.
But short of a rules change, Republican lawmakers would be expected to agree to a majority-wins process — whichever candidate wins the internal private vote would be given the full backing of the Republicans on the House floor.
It’s no guarantee — with trust low among House Republicans and tensions high, those normal protocols could be challenged. Both Scalise and Jordan indicated they would support the eventual nominee, lawmakers said. But many lawmakers remained undecided.
“I am not thrilled with either choice right now,” said Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican who voted to oust McCarthy.
While both are conservatives from the right flank, neither Scalise nor Jordan is the heir apparent to McCarthy.
Scalise as the second-ranking Republican would be next in line for the gavel and is seen as a hero among colleagues for having survived severe injuries from a mass shooting during a congressional baseball practice in 2017. Now battling blood cancer, the Louisianan is not a clear lock.
“We’re going to go get this done tomorrow, and the House is going to get back to work,” Scalise said as he exited the meeting.
Jordan is a high-profile political firebrand known for his close alliance with Donald Trump, particularly when the then-president was working to overturn the results of the 2020 election, leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump has backed Jordan’s bid for the gavel.
Scalise and Jordan presented similar views at the forum about cutting spending and securing the southern border with Mexico, top Republican priorities.
Several lawmakers, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, of Florida, who engineered McCarthy’s removal, said they would be willing to support either Scalise or Jordan.
“I think it’s a competitive race for speaker because we’ve got two greats,” said Rep. Andy Barr, of Kentucky.
Barr said he was working to help secure votes for Scalise, but would be comfortable with either candidate.
Others though, particularly more centrist conservative Republicans from districts that are narrowly split between the parties, are holding out for another choice.
“Personally, I’m still with McCarthy,” said Rep. David Valadao, a Republican who represents a California district not far from the former speaker’s district.
“We’ll see how that plays out, but I do know a large percentage of the membership wants to be there with him as well.”
McCarthy headed into the evening forum insisting he was not, at the moment, a candidate for speaker.
But the California Republican gave a nod to his own short track record as speaker — being ousted by the far-right flank after he led Congress to approve a stopgap spending bill to prevent a disruptive federal government shutdown.
“I think it’s important whoever takes that job is willing to risk the job for doing what’s right for the American public,” McCarthy said.
For now, McHenry is effectively in charge. He has shown little interest in expanding his power beyond the role he was assigned — an interim leader tasked with ensuring the election of the next speaker.
The role was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to ensure the continuity of government. McHenry’s name was at the top of a list submitted by McCarthy when he became speaker in January.
While some Republicans and Democrats are open to empowering McHenry the longer he holds the temporary position, that seems unlikely as the speaker’s fight drags on.
McHenry told reporters it’s “my goal” to keep to the schedule to have hold a House speaker election on Wednesday. He quickly gaveled the House in and out of a brief session Tuesday, with no business conducted.
Ellis Kim contributed to this report.
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House Republicans Have Opened the Gaetz of Hell
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Well, House Republicans should have been careful what they wished for. With Kevin McCarthy vacated, largely thanks to Matt Gaetz (with a possible assist from Donald Trump), Republicans are now in complete and utter disarray. McCarthy’s replacement will need to garner 217 votes to be confirmed. But on Monday, after a private conference meeting on who that might be, it quickly became clear that none of McCarthy’s possible successors would pass the muster. Which, believe it or not, could put McCarthy right back where he started.
One reason for this is geopolitics. On Saturday morning, Americans woke up to news of an invasion by Hamas and subsequent carnage in Israel and Gaza—the deadliest in many decades. Israel is, of course, America’s closest ally in the region. And that’s one of the very few things that both parties seem to agree on. But the governing body that controls the purse, i.e., the House of Representatives, is currently without a leader and is instead being governed by Speaker pro tempore named Patrick McHenry, who is most famous for not standing on a plastic crate and wearing an adorable bow tie. Does McHenry have the same powers that an elected Speaker does? Probably not, but no one really knows for sure because the House hasn’t filed a motion to vacate since 1910 and no Speaker, before McCarthy, ever got removed in a floor vote.
It also doesn’t help that support for McCarthy’s reinstallment may be picking up. Representatives John Duarte and Carlos Gimenez have, against all logic, said they will only entertain a McCarthy Speakership, according to Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman. And the former Speaker, for his part, has promised to “allow the conference to make any decision” on his replacement—even if that means reclaiming the gavel, which presents a big turd to the punch bowl for the two front-runners. One of those front-runners is the jacketless Jim Jordan, a man whose brainless rage fueled the national embarrassment known as the Benghazi probes and is now fixated on so-called “weaponization” of government. Republican strategist Rick Wilson described him to me on my podcast, Fast Politics, as looking like he has “rabies,” which is indelicate, sure, but may explain why he’s so removed from reality. In any case, Jordan does not have the polish of a Paul Ryan, or even the likes of McCarthy or Trump. And that’s a problem, because one of the biggest responsibilities of being Speaker is fundraising; it’s hard to imagine high-net-worth Republican donors having the same goodwill with Jordan as they did with his slightly more sophisticated predecessor.
But beyond that, Jordan would need the 18 vulnerable blue-state representatives to vote for him. That is, members like Mike Lawler, who represents New York’s 17th, a D-plus-three congressional district that he won by less than 2,000 votes. And they might not be so inclined to support Jordan considering his distinguished past of election denial, or his involvement in controversies like the Ohio State University sexual abuse scandal. Putting Jordan in the job could cross the Rubicon way past the point where the GOP could even pretend to be genteel.
The other front-runner is Majority Leader Steve Scalise who allegedly once called himself “David Duke without the baggage.” He is number two in the Republican congressional leadership and seems, at least on the face of it, way less dramatic and crazy than Jordan. (Though Scalise, too, is an election-denier.) But while seeming less crazy may help Republicans in their quixotic quest to keep the House, it won’t appeal to the burn-it-all-down caucus, whose support is unfortunately vital in the race.
Which could leave Republicans stuck with McCarthy—a guy who presumably considers himself to be a moderate but for sure as hell didn’t act like one during his nine-month Speakership. He launched a Biden impeachment inquiry without a House floor vote, despite promising otherwise; tried to cut government spending by up to 30%; and empowered both Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene by putting her on Homeland Security and white nationalist adjacent dentist Paul Gosar by putting him on House Oversight. Sure, maybe McCarthy speaks in less extreme terms than Jordan, but his political philosophy appears driven by a fearful subservience to the MAGA wing.
For Democrats, it might actually be better politically to have a Speaker who is unapologetically MAGA, presenting a clear contrast. Of course, a Jim Jordan Speakership would be a nightmare for democracy, for political discourse, for many of the values that I hold dear. But Jordan winning 217 votes would make clear that there are zero moderates left in the Republican caucus, that literally every member of the house is a right-wing zealot.
Things are, in other words, looking pretty bleak. As the carnage in the Middle East dominates the news cycle—and the House’s fiscal responsibilities come into immense focus—it’s unclear how the party will escape from that sand trap, whether it’s by electing a hard-line MAGA replacement who endangers their control of the House or by reelecting McCarthy, who could very well be vacated once more. What is certain amid all the bickering, backstabbing, and nail-biting is that the only member of Congress who is presumably happy about this House of horrors is the Gaetz of Hell.
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Molly Jong-Fast
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House Of Representatives At Standstill As Leaderless Republicans Mull Speaker Options
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WASHINGTON — Normally, it would be no problem for the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a resolution supporting Israel, but the House is essentially shut down after Republicans threw out their leader last week.
Republicans are set to meet Tuesday evening ahead of a planned internal vote on Wednesday to nominate their next speaker of the House, but it’s not clear which of the candidates can win the near-unanimous Republican support needed to get the gavel.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted last week after allowing the House to vote on and pass a bill avoiding a government shutdown. Reps. Steve Scalise (La.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) are running to replace him. Some Republicans think McCarthy should get his old job back.
On Tuesday, McCarthy suggested he would prefer to stay out of the race.
“They got candidates already,” McCarthy told HuffPost when asked if he would serve as speaker again.
After McCarthy’s ouster, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) became an interim speaker, though his main job is to oversee an election for a new speaker. With no clear alternative to McCarthy in sight, McHenry sent lawmakers home for the weekend.
As for the Israel resolution, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) introduced it Tuesday with the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), following the massive attack on Israel over the weekend by Hamas, a group which has been designated by the State Department as terrorists. In unveiling the resolution, the pair noted it had 390 co-sponsors. That’s 90% of the current full House membership of 433 members.
The resolution says the House “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists;” “condemns Hamas’ brutal war against Israel;” and “reaffirms the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security,” among other things.
Usually such resolutions are voted on under a process reserved for non-controversial bills like renaming post offices for local famous figures, but that requires a two-thirds majority for approval. Even that process has been sidelined by the lack of a speaker.
It’s unclear exactly what McHenry’s powers are while he retains the gavel. While the rules put in place at the beginning of the 118th Congress remain intact, McHenry’s ascension is unique in that it came after McCarthy’s historic ouster and the legislative language outlining his speaker pro tempore role can be interpreted as restricting his activities to those needed to select a new speaker or more loosely.
McCaul said the resolution would likely not see a vote until a speaker is installed.
“I expect this bipartisan resolution to be one of the first, if not the first, items considered on the floor once we elect a new speaker,” McCaul said. “And I expect it to receive overwhelming bipartisan support.”
The House overwhelmingly passed a Republican resolution reaffirming U.S. support for Israel in July after Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called Israel a “racist state” for its systematic mistreatment of Palestinians.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said there’s a contingent of his colleagues insisting that McCarthy return to the speakership, and also a “side quest” from some Republicans who want to change the party’s internal rules on how it nominates its speaker candidates. Massie suggested he was skeptical his colleagues would be able hash things out in private.
“For this to converge, I think we’re going to have to have some public votes,” Massie told HuffPost.
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said that rather than fighting over their speaker, Republicans should hash out a plan for when government funding runs out next month.
“I think we need a plan more than a person right now,” Westerman said. “We got to figure out how we’re going to govern going forward and we need some buy-in around that.”
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McCarthy not ruling out another bid for speaker
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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is not ruling out another bid for the job from which he was ousted just last week, telling reporters Monday, “I’ll let the conference see who unites them.”
His remarks came during a news conference Monday about the atttacks on Israel by Hamas that began over the weekend and have so far resulted in over 1,300 deaths and thousands of injuries.
McCarthy was asked multiple times whether he’d seek the speakership again. He did not rule out the idea, but repeated that it would be up to the GOP conference. But he also suggested that Republicans would have to take action to prevent the the next speaker from being ousted by such a small percentage of the conference. Eight of the 221 Republicans currently in the House joined all 212 Democrats to remove McCarthy.
“Is our conference just gonna select somebody,” he said, “only to try to throw them out in another 35 days if eight people don’t get 100% of what they want and the other 96% does?”
The question, he said, is “whether you want to be a conservative who will govern.”
Currently, it just takes one member to bring a motion to vacate the chair, which enabled Rep. Matt Gaetz to introduce the resolution last week. Under McCarthy’s predecessor as speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a motion to vacate could be offered on the House floor only if a majority of either party agreed to it.
“The idea you’d allow eight people to do that with no consequences — no one’s gonna be successful.” McCarthy said. He also told reporters, “If this conference, regardless of who’s gonna be speaker, if it allows a few individuals that love a camera more than they love the American public, we are not gonna govern.”
After he was removed as speaker, McCarthy initially said he would not run again. But more rank-and-file Republicans have been publicly calling for him to be restored to the office, beginning with Rep. Tom McClintock, of California, last week.
Arguing that no other candidate is likely to win more than 96% of the vote of the GOP conference, McClintock said in a statement, “The only workable outcome is to restore Kevin McCarthy as Speaker under party rules that respect and enforce the right of the majority party to elect him.” He called on several of the eight lawmakers who voted McCarthy out “to disenthrall themselves from their decision and to repair the damage before it is too late.”
On Monday, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, of Florida told CBS News he’d support Kevin McCarthy as speaker: “If he’s willing to fight, I’m willing to fight with him.”
Rep. Marc Molinaro, of New York said, “I’ve made no secret of supporting Kevin McCarthy. He earned my trust, and I’d welcome his return.”
Rep. Brandon Williams, of New York, included McCarthy in the group of members running for speaker as a candidate whom he’d support if he can win the votes. “I want a Republican that can get 218 votes on the House floor. Steve (Scalise), Jim (Jordan), or Kevin (McCarthy) are all excellent candidates and I would support any one of them who can get to 218,” he told CBS News. “The world is dramatically different today than it was just one week ago.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, of New York, also thinks McCarthy should be reinstated. Asked whether he expects someone to nominate McCarthy again, he responded, “We’ll see.”
After the attacks on Israel began, Rep. John Duarte, Republican of California told Politico, “A short window is all we need in the House to reinstate Kevin McCarthy and change the rule.”
McCarthy has also blamed Democratic House members for not giving him enough support to overcome the eight members of his own party who voted to remove him. But the former House speaker was extremely critical of President Biden, whom he accused of weakening the U.S. and embracing a policy of appeasement that emboldened and strengthened Iran, which has provided broad support for Hamas. He called on the U.S. government to rescue American hostages, resupply Israel, increase pressure on Iran with more sanctions and focus on the U.S.’ own intelligence failures. He also claimed Democrats were not doing enough to confront anti-Semitism in their own ranks.
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Matt Gaetz More Than Willing To Lose Job Over Speaker McCarthy’s Ouster
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) says being kicked out of congress for ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would be well worth the trouble.
Gaetz tried not to entertain the possibility of losing his house seat during an appearance on “Meet The Press” on Sunday, where he called the idea of being expelled from the legislature “crazy.”
Asked if McCarthy’s removal was worth potentially losing his job over, however, he told host Kristen Welker, “Absolutely.”
“Look, I am here to fight for constituents, and I’m here to ensure that America is not on a path to financial ruin,” he said.
Gaetz then tried to bring the conversation back to the federal budget, calling McCarthy and others willing to fund the government in full “agents of chaos.”
Hard-right Republicans ratcheted up their revolt against McCarthy last week, after months of disagreements over his willingness to bargain with Democrats.
Citing a last-minute deal to prevent a government shutdown in late September as the final straw, the hardliners voted to remove McCarthy from the speakership on Oct. 3 with the backing of the ex-speaker’s other political adversaries ― the House Democrats.
Gaetz demurred when Welker asked if the move to oust McCarthy “undermined” the security of the United States later in the interview, especially amid intensified conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“I don’t think other countries think about Kevin McCarthy’s speakership quite as much as Kevin McCarthy does,” he said. “We’ll have a new speaker next week and we’ll be prepared to do our work.”
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“Get Their Act Together”: House GOP Speakership Chaos Complicates Israel Response
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Turmoil in the House of Representatives, which has been without a Speaker for nearly a week, is potentially hamstringing U.S. action on an unfolding war in Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows “mighty vengeance” in response to an unprecedented Hamas attack.
“There is nothing the House can do until they elect a speaker, and I don’t know if that happens quickly,” former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the job last Tuesday following a revolt from several far-right members, told Fox News on Saturday.
McCarthy’s ouster was a historic first, so it’s unclear exactly what powers current Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry holds. However, the consensus is that they are fairly limited, especially when bringing bills to the House floor or receiving enhanced security clearance.
The House Majority Leader is traditionally part of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders who receive sensitive intelligence briefings. McHenry currently isn’t cleared to receive Gang of Eight briefings, but President Joe Biden does technically have the authority to give him clearance. A senior administration official told NBC News Saturday that the prospect was under consideration.
Without a formally elected Speaker, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was briefed Saturday evening on the unfolding situation in Israel, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman reported. However, Jeffries said Sunday that the Gang of Eight had not met for an intelligence briefing. The Democrat from New York is reportedly working on a briefing for all House members this week.
On Sunday, Jeffries called on the GOP to “get their act together” so “we can move forward to get the business of the American people done both as it relates to our domestic needs…as well as our national security considerations in terms of being there for Israel, being there for the Ukrainian people.”
Oklahoma Representative Kevin Hern, who announced Saturday that he wouldn’t seek the speakership, called on the GOP caucus to rally around a new speaker. “The Republican party has been always supportive of Israel, and we’ll continue to be so, but we have to get our leadership put back in place so the Republican conference can move the Congress forward,” he said on Fox News.
The current GOP frontrunners for the speakership, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan and Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise pledged their support for Israel on Saturday. The House GOP caucus is scheduled to hold an internal candidate forum on Tuesday, followed by an internal election on Wednesday.
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Jack McCordick
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Pressure to fill House speaker vacancy builds amid crisis in Israel | CNN Politics
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CNN
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The House speakership drama enters a new week under increased urgency as Israel declared war Sunday following unprecedented surprise attacks by Hamas.
Kevin McCarthy’s unprecedented ouster as speaker leaves the House iin uncharted legal territory regarding what it can do under acting Speaker Patrick McHenry. When Congress reconvenes Monday, lawmakers will be under pressure to elect a new speaker swiftly amid the crisis in Israel, which has prompted calls from within the Republican Party to speed up their timeline given the national security implications of keeping the role vacant.
As the Biden administration looks to provide additional assistance to Israel, officials were unsure Saturday about what could be accomplished without a sitting speaker. While McHenry is serving as speaker pro tempore, he has little power outside of recessing, adjourning or recognizing speaker nominations, and it’s unclear whether he can participate in intelligence briefings on the crisis in Israel.
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that he had conversations with the White House and the National Security Council on Saturday, but he has not yet met with the Gang of Eight – which typically includes the top leaders and heads of the intelligence committees in both parties and both chambers.
“I do anticipate that we’ll have the opportunity to have a secure briefing at some point next week,” Jeffries told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
Jeffries said it is his understanding that the Biden administration can make some decisions regarding aid to Israel without waiting for Congress and urged the administration to do so, adding that he expects “it will provide whatever assistance it can.”
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul told Bash Sunday that there is currently $3.3 billion in foreign military financing already appropriated that the president can use.
The Texas Republican also called McCarthy’s ouster “dangerous.”
“I look at the world and all of the threats that are out there and what kind of message are we sending to adversaries when we can’t govern, when we are dysfunctional, when we don’t even have a speaker of the House?” McCaul said on “State of the Union.”
McCarthy on Saturday slammed his Republican colleagues for removing him from office last week, and stressed the impact of a speakerless House on national security. “Why would you ever remove a speaker during a term to raise doubt around the world?” McCarthy asked in a Fox News interview.
McCarthy announced shortly after his ouster that he would not seek the speakership again, making room for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to launch their bids for the seat. Former President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Jordan. Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern announced Saturday that he had decided not to run, saying “I believe a three-man race for Speaker will create even more division and make it harder to elect a Speaker.”
House Republicans are scheduled to hold a candidate forum on Tuesday and an internal election on Wednesday. But it’s unclear when the floor vote will happen, and the timeline is contingent on whether moderate GOP lawmakers can rally around Scalise or Jordan, who are among the hardliners of the party.
“We have to get a speaker elected this week so we can get things on the floor like replenishing the Iron Dome,” McCaul told Bash on Sunday – referring to Israel’s rocket defense system, which was developed with help from the United States. He added that the House should look to pass a resolution condemning Hamas “by unanimous consent whether or not we have a speaker in place because I think we cannot wait. We have to get that message out as soon as possible.”
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Donald Trump Endorses Staunch Ally Jim Jordan for House Speaker
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Ending speculation that he would actively seek the newly-vacated House speakership, former President Donald Trump endorsed Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for the top job on Friday, jumping into what for now is a two-way race between Jordan and Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, who currently serves as House Majority Leader.
Dubbing Jordan a “STAR,” Trump called the Ohio congressman “STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment,” adding that he “will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”
So far, only Jordan and Scalise have officially jumped into the race that began on Tuesday when California Representative Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership—a historic first.
Jordan, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, is a hardcore Trump loyalist and
isa divisive figure within the GOP. From his congressional leadership perch, he has launched investigations into the Biden family and is one of the leaders of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president.It’s unclear how much the endorsement will actually help Jordan, as the GOP needs to unite a fractious caucus before the speaker vote next week. “It likely hurts more than helps,” one GOP lawmaker, speaking anonymously, told Axios Friday. “Likely Jordan accelerates getting the votes he was going to get anyway but hardens those he wasn’t getting faster.” Another said Trump’s endorsement “works both ways. Some will be impressed, some are sick of him and would like him to stay in Florida.”
A conservative lawmaker who supports Jordan told Axios that “the real question is can Republicans in districts Biden won vote for a Trump-endorsed Speaker?” noting that House members in vulnerable seats are going to have to publicly cast votes on the House floor—one that could potentially haunt them in 2024.
On Friday, McCarthy, who has said he will not seek the job again, declined to say who he might support as his replacement. Asked for his opinion about Trump’s endorsement, McCarthy simply noted that “only members vote” in the speaker election. “I think the members can sit down, and they can make the decision,” he said.
McCarthy added that Jordan and Scalise sought his advice before a forum for speaker candidates next Tuesday. “They’re both good friends,” he told reporters. “I’ve talked to both of them.” The House will vote on Wednesday.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who led the charge against McCarthy, has praised both Jordan and Scalise as good options. Either, he said Wednesday, would be a “monumental upgrade” from McCarthy. According to The Washington Post, Speaker Scalise or Speaker Jordan would be the most ideologically conservative Republican to hold the post in recent history.
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Jack McCordick
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Kevin McCarthy’s Defeat Could Cost Republicans the House
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Few Americans are shedding tears for Kevin McCarthy. The former House speaker engendered little public sympathy as he tried, and ultimately failed, to wrangle a narrow and fractured Republican majority into a functioning governing body. His ouster on Tuesday has, in the short term, paralyzed Congress and increased the likelihood of a prolonged government shutdown in the coming weeks.
Republicans are only now beginning to contemplate the significant political ramifications of tossing McCarthy. Retaining their narrow majority in the House next year was already going to be a challenge. But the GOP will now have to defend its four-seat advantage without a leader who, for all of McCarthy’s political shortcomings, was widely recognized as its best fundraiser, candidate recruiter, and campaign strategist. “They just took out our best player,” a rueful Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma told me on Thursday, referring to the eight renegade Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy.
Cole, the chair of the Rules Committee and a 22-year veteran of the House, was a McCarthy loyalist to the end. He could become his successor if neither of the declared GOP candidates, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Representative Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chair, are able to secure the votes needed to become speaker. Cole has declined offers to run for the job himself—he told me the chances that the gavel lands in his hands are “very low, and if I have anything to say about it, zero”—but as someone with good relationships across the party, he’s seen as a solid backup.
For now, Cole is, like other McCarthy allies, still seething at the unprecedented vote to overthrow the speaker and is backing efforts to change the House rules so that whoever replaces McCarthy does not face the same ever-present threat. “We put sharp knives in the hands of children, and they used them,” Cole said.
In an hour-long phone interview, he told me that the hard-liners’ revolt against McCarthy could “very easily” cost the GOP its majority next year. “I think these guys materially hurt our chances to hold the majority,” Cole said. “That’s just the reality.”
McCarthy is neither a policy wonk nor a brilliant legislator. But his strengths were underappreciated, Cole said. Committees he controlled raised more than half a billion dollars for the House Republican majority in recent years. McCarthy has also played a leading role in persuading promising Republicans to run for pivotal House seats. “This guy was by far the best political speaker that I’ve seen,” he told me. (Democrats and more than a few Republicans would dispute that assertion, pointing to the fact that Republicans won a much slimmer majority under McCarthy’s leadership in 2022 than they were expected to.)
“This is going to cost us candidates,” Cole said, and “God knows how much money.” The spectacle of an internal leadership war bringing the House to a halt also undercuts the GOP’s credibility as a governing party, he lamented. “They just messed up the House. They had no exit plan, no alternative strategy, no alternative candidate.”
Both Jordan and Scalise are more conservative than McCarthy, as is a third potential candidate, Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who heads the Republican Study Committee, the GOP’s largest bloc of conservative members. None of them, however, can match McCarthy’s fundraising prowess. Cole told me he’s “leaning pretty strongly” toward Scalise, the second-ranking House Republican. Donald Trump has endorsed Jordan, but Scalise is nevertheless considered the favorite to win the party’s nomination for speaker in a secret ballot based on his years in the leadership and because he’s more palatable to Republicans in swing districts. The internal vote, expected next week, will test how much sway the former president has in a leadership battle that typically plays out more in private than in public. (GOP lawmakers reportedly recoiled at plans for Fox News to host a televised debate between the candidates, who normally make their pitches behind closed doors.)
Scalise is well-liked within his party, but he’s undergoing treatment for blood cancer, which Cole acknowledged was a concern for some Republicans. “People are worried,” he said. “They’re worried that we’re going to put him in a job where he hurts himself.” In 2017, Scalise underwent several months of rehab after being shot by a would-be assassin targeting Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice.
Jordan is by far the more bombastic of the two. A former college-wrestling champion, he helped found the House Freedom Caucus and made his name as a conservative foe of former Speaker (and fellow Ohioan) John Boehner. Jordan’s antagonism toward the leadership alienated many rank-and-file Republicans then, but he struck something of a truce with McCarthy, his onetime rival. McCarthy didn’t stand in the way of Jordan’s promotion to become the top Republican on first the House Oversight Committee and then on the Judiciary Committee, a perch from which he’s launched aggressive investigations into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Jordan returned the favor by backing McCarthy’s bid to become speaker, sticking by him during all 15 rounds of voting in January and during this week’s revolt.
Scalise would likely have an easier time than Jordan winning the 218 Republican votes needed to secure the speakership in the public House floor vote. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, who led the effort to topple McCarthy, has said he would support either candidate. Jordan’s close ties to Trump and his disdain for bipartisan compromise could make him a problem for politically vulnerable Republicans, particularly those from New York and California who represent districts that Biden carried in 2020. His nomination would also likely revive questions about his handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against a wrestling-team physician at the Ohio State University when Jordan served as a coach. Jordan has denied wrongdoing, but former student athletes have said he knew about the physician’s abuse and failed to report it.
The scandal could haunt Republicans come election time if Jordan is the speaker, but the issue animating the leadership race is whether to, as Cole put it, “take away the knives” and restrict the procedural tool, known as the “motion to vacate,” that Gaetz used to remove McCarthy. “We’ve driven out three speakers now with this weapon,” Cole said. Boehner resigned in 2015 after it became clear that he might lose the speakership in a floor vote, and his successor, Paul Ryan, was under increasing pressure from his right flank when he chose to retire three years later.
The Main Street Caucus, a coalition of more pragmatic and ideologically flexible Republicans, is pushing to change the rules, and a few members have said they’ll only support a candidate who promises to do so. Currently, any single lawmaker can force a vote on a motion to vacate. To raise that threshold, Republicans might need votes from Democrats, who refused to help rescue McCarthy. “I think it would get a lot of Democratic support,” Cole said. “We’d have to endure another hour of ‘I told you so.’ That’s fair enough.” Though he was critical of Democrats for voting to remove McCarthy, he said he understood why they did. “If we had the opportunity to take out [Nancy] Pelosi,” Cole said, “we probably would have done the same thing.”
He recounted a conversation with a long-serving House Democrat, Representative Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, who alluded to worries that dissident Democrats could use the same tactic to oust a future speaker in their party. “We have our nuts too,” Cole recalled him whispering in an elevator. (Pascrell did not respond to a request for comment.)
The outcome of the rules debate could determine when Republicans are able to elect a speaker, reopen the House, and repair the harm they’ve done to their chances in next year’s elections. For his part, Cole is hoping that whoever they choose can quickly win a majority in a floor vote next week. And if they don’t? “Then,” he said, “it’s really a chaotic situation.”
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Russell Berman
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