Do we need a speaker to decide where the next speaker comes from? “Everyone’s talking about the election is stolen,” says Buck
Other members worry that Jordan has a long history of opposing spending bills. Military aid to Ukraine and Israel, funding for border security and an upcoming deadline to fund the government are all decisions that will be made by the next speaker.
The Republicans in the House want to end weeks of infighting by putting the nomination of Jim Jordan to be the next Speaker up for a public vote on Tuesday.
Jordan can only afford to lose a handful of Republicans to secure the gavel. Aides to Jordan believe that he will only get enough votes on the first ballot to move to a second vote. Additional ballots may be required but Jordan’s allies hope the public vote will force members to get in line.
“The American people deserve to have their Congress, the House of Representatives working,” Jordan told reporters in the Capitol on Monday night. “We can’t have that until we have a speaker.”
“It’s not acceptable for a small minority of the majority to dictate how the congress works,” said Don bacon, who will vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
“It’s not about Jim – it’s about Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise and how they were treated,” Bacon said. I respect those people who do not agree with me. We need a speaker. The world is on fire. I did not put us there. The group that took out Kevin and then blocked Steve put us in this spot.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., also said he will not support Jordan on the floor. Buck’s concerns about Jordan’s role in fueling theories that the election was stolen from Trump have come up.
“I do think that the the 20 Republicans who are in Biden districts have a problem if everybody in leadership is saying the election is stolen,” Buck told reporters Monday.
Rep. Jordan, the House GOP’s nominee to be the next speaker, and his opponent, Mario Balart, whose decision to withdraw his name to the House floor
Rep. Jim Jordan, the House GOP’s nominee to serve as the next speaker continues to struggle to get the votes to be elected by the full House, heading into a second vote on Wednesday.
Jordan had indicated before the vote that the effort to gain the gavel had shifted, but other GOP lawmakers said the same thing.
Mario Balart was a Republican who had supported Rep.Steve Scalise, R-La., who was forced to withdraw his name for speaker after he won an internal vote but failed to win on the House floor. He told reporters he’s still opposed to Jordan. “I think it gets more and more difficult for him every day.”
He predicted that there would be a “pick up” in the number of votes of GOP members voting for other people on the second ballot. He said the strategy from Jordan allies, which he described as intimidating and threatening people has “backfired dramatically.” He didn’t name Jordan as the one to blame, or specify any threats he received, but noted that the GOP conference needs to sort out a way forward.
GOP lawmakers are growing increasingly worried that the GOP conference won’t be able to muster the necessary votes for a speaker. There was a group that wanted to give McHenry more authority to run the House and allow votes on bills after McCarthy was ousted. Some have been in discussions with the House parliamentarian. There is concern that the chamber needs to be able to pass legislation to funding federal agencies and US allies because of the House’s paralysis without a speaker and a looming deadline to avoid another government shutdown.
He told reporters before the vote that he thought it was the best way to go, because he had a lot of support from conservatives to more liberal members. “But you know what? People are talking about this resolution. I told leadership to ask the question.
But the details of the resolution are not clear. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday he was open to discussions with Republicans who were interested in governing.