Republican Rep. Jim Jordan endured a disastrous loss in his first bid to become House Speaker in even more chaotic scenes from Congress.
Twenty colleagues voted against the firebrand GOP member and doomed his opening shot at the top job. Now the House is in recess while Jordan meets with the GOP holdouts to try to court votes.
It’s expected the House will move to second vote on Tuesday – Jordan can call as many votes as he wants and it’s not clear at one point he’d give up his bid for speaker. Kevin McCarthy went 15 ballots before becoming speaker.
Jordan and the House’s Number Two Republican, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, met following the failed vote, according to a source familiar. Jordan asked Scalise for help in courting moderate votes, and Scalise allegedly would not commit to doing so.
A Scalise spokesperson pushed back on this characterization of the meeting – arguing Scalise has been the ‘only candidate throughout this process who has publicly declared he will be supportive of whomever the conference nominates for Speaker, and his position has not changed.’
When Scalise had won the internal GOP conference vote, DailyMail.com reported that Jordan had publicly pledged to back him but made few moves to urge his supporters to vote for the majority leader.
Jordan quickly lost the support of four GOP lawmakers minutes after the vote began – Reps. Don Bacon, Mario Diaz-Balart, Jake Ellzey and Anthony D’Esposito – tanking his first bid for speaker.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan endured a disastrous loss in his first bid to become House Speaker
The number of defectors continued to rise with more Republicans voting for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer, Rep. Mike Garcia, former Rep. Lee Zeldin and others not included on the speaker ballot.
It is unclear if the Republican firebrand will move immediately for a second ballot, or if he will ask for time to get the 20 total Republican defectors who voted against him on his side.
The GOP dysfunction shows no sign of waning and some are worried that it will only get worse for Jordan during additional rounds of voting. Rep. Ken Buck – who voted for Emmer – told CNN that although he voted for him, ‘I don’t like Tom Emmer.’
Jordan could only afford to lose three Republican votes to get to a 217 majority with all Democrats expected to vote for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The House is currently led by interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, who has little power to bring up legislation on the House floor.
Congress has been paralyzed for two weeks, unable to conduct any business
The Republicans have been embroiled in a civil war since McCarthy became the first speaker in history to be ousted by colleagues two weeks ago when eight rebel GOP members voted to remove him.
Congress has been paralyzed, unable to conduct any business and with only a month until the government runs out of money again. The House is also unable to vote to provide desperately needed assistance to Israel after the brutal Hamas terror attack left over 1,300 civilians dead and at least 29 Americans killed.
House Freedom Caucus founder Jordan emerged as the favorite after Rep. Steve Scalise suddenly dropped out last Thursday. Jordan, who is seen as a far-right alternative to the more establishment Scalise, worked overtime over the weekend to try and flip Republicans to his side.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Jordan for the top Republican position, and reiterated his support in a post to Truth Social Tuesday.
‘Jim Jordan will be a GREAT Speaker of the House. As everyone knows, I have long ago given him my Complete and Total Endorsement!’
McCarthy himself was urging Republican holdouts to vote for Jordan – or event vote ‘present’ to lower the threshold for the majority – so the chamber could quickly get back to business. He publicly backed Jordan in the recorded vote on the House floor.
When asked by CNN on his way down to the House floor, Jordan said that members could be potentially voting all day on multiple ballots to confirm a Republican leader.
‘Whatever it takes to get a speaker today,’ Jordan said about whether he was ready to go as many rounds as former Speaker McCarthy – whose confirmation went five days and 15 rounds long in January.
In the first vote for McCarthy, 19 voted for a Republican other than him. By the 14th round of voting, only six holdouts remained.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee also noted that he had not asked Trump to help with the whip count on his behalf.
He would not respond to a question about a demand by his fellow Republican Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., for Jordan to admit the 2020 presidential election wasn’t stolen.
On the floor, Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., gave a nominating speech for Jordan praising his work.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a Jordan supporter, brought her new baby to the House floor Tuesday
‘He is an America First warrior who wins the toughest of fights – going after corruption and delivering accountability at the highest levels of government on behalf of WE THE PEOPLE.’
Democrats started chanting at the start of Rep. Pete Aguilar’s speech in support of Hakeem Jeffries – the sitting minority leader.
‘Hakeem, Hakeem, Hakeem’ started ringing out from the chamber by the enthusiastic Democrats.
They also began to yell out ‘he said no’ while Aguilar listed the many Democratic priorities Jordan has voted against, including Hurricane Sandy funding and others.
Aguilar slammed Jordan as an ‘insurrection inciter’ – referring to his vote against certifying the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Jordan and his allies spent the weekend pressuring holdouts to vote for him – with the unspoken threat that not doing so could put them at risk of a primary challenge given Jordan’s popularity with grassroots conservatives.
Rep. Don Bacon was the first member to cast his vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy – shunning Jordan
Another McCarthy supporter Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer refused to vote for Jordan on the floor
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, the top contender in the race to be the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, talks with House colleagues
Jordan and his allies spent the weekend pressuring holdouts to vote for him
House Republican chaos continued on Tuesday as firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan failed to get enough votes to replace Kevin McCarthy as the new speaker
While the House has been in turmoil its larger battles have been on hold – one month from Tuesday government funding will run out again. House Republicans had hoped to pass 12 single-subject government funding bills by then, but it’s nearly guaranteed they’ll need another continuing resolution (CR) to punt the funding deadline down the road.
McCarthy put a CR on the floor and it’s what prompted his ouster – Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had long promised to put a motion to vacate on the floor if McCarthy extended government funding at 2023 levels rather than pushing through 12 separate bills.
Even if the House can pass all its appropriations bills, then it has to work with the Senate to get spending legislation through the Democrat-led upper chamber. Jordan is not known for his ability to work across the aisle – another factor that could be drawing skepticism from moderates.
The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas has also added pressure as Congress must decide whether to offer more defense aid to Israel.
On the other hand, Congress is also divided over whether to offer Ukraine more aid in its fight against Russia.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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