Jordan endorses temporary speaker plan, holding off on third vote
By Luke Broadwater and Annie Karni
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio told Republicans on Thursday (19) that he would suspend his bid to become speaker and support elevating the interim speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, to temporarily lead the House while he tried to garner support to win the post.
After falling short in two consecutive votes for the position, Jordan, a hard-line Republican who is his party’s nominee for speaker, told members during a closed-door meeting that he did not plan to force a third, according to lawmakers who attended the session. His candidacy has run headlong into opposition from a bloc of mainstream GOP holdouts, and he appeared to be losing more ground with each vote.
Instead, he said he would back a plan pushed by some centrist Republicans and Democrats to empower McHenry — the temporary speaker, whose role is primarily to hold an election for a permanent one — to carry out the chamber’s work through Jan. 3. In the meantime, Jordan said he planned to continue trying to build support to become speaker.
It was not clear whether the idea had the support to succeed amid vehement opposition from some Republicans who said it would effectively cede control of the floor to Democrats and create a damaging precedent. Republicans planned to hold an internal vote on the matter around midday Thursday before going ahead with it on the floor.
Jordan’s turnabout came after he fell well short of the majority he would have needed to be elected speaker Tuesday (17), and he was defeated again Wednesday (18) when the number of Republicans refusing to back him grew.
Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio said Thursday that he was continuing to talk with Republicans to see if any would flip to Jordan but was finding the divisions in the party too deep. Several members he talked to were still deeply embittered at how some of Jordan’s supporters forced out former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and declined to support Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, when he was initially named the party’s choice to succeed McCarthy.
The proposal to empower McHenry drew a backlash from hard-right Republicans, who condemned the idea as a partnership with Democrats who have been calling for the move. McHenry negotiated a deal with the White House on the debt limit earlier this year that was opposed by his party’s right wing.
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chair of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, said the plan “doesn’t seem to be the right way to elect a speaker to me.”
“It’s a giant mistake to give the Democrats control of a Republican majority,” said Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who backs Jordan. He added: “What they’re doing right now is walking the Republicans off the plank. 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.”
But many of Jordan’s detractors have pressed for the plan, saying it was the only way forward after more than two weeks in which Republicans have shown they cannot unite around a candidate for speaker.
“It’s smart to take a pause to regroup to ensure that members like myself have their concerns assuaged,” said Rep. Nick LaLota of New York.
The roadblock Jordan has encountered is a rare instance of the party’s more mainstream wing — normally those who seek compromise and conciliation — breaking with their Republican colleagues in defiance of the ultraconservative faction led by Jordan. It also underscored the seemingly intractable divisions among Republicans — as well as the near-impossible political math — that led to the ouster of McCarthy as speaker two weeks ago and that have so far thwarted the party’s attempts to choose a successor.
As the infighting continues, the House remains without an elected speaker with wars raging in the Middle East and Ukraine. And on the domestic front, Congress faces a mid-November deadline to pass a spending measure in order to avert a government shutdown.
-New York Times
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.