Republican Jim Jordan keeps up floundering fight to be US House Speaker

[October 20, 2023]  By David Morgan, Moira Warburton, Katharine Jackson and Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hardline conservative Jim Jordan pressed ahead with his floundering bid for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, after his fellow Republicans abandoned a backup plan to allow the leaderless chamber to resume business.

The House will hold a third speaker vote when it opens for business at 10:00 ET (1400 GMT) on Friday, his spokesperson Russell Dye said. Jordan has come up short in two votes already.

"I'm still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race," Jordan told reporters earlier in the day.

Jordan met with some of the 22 fellow Republicans who have voted against him, but he did not appear to change any minds.

"We all told him that we're solid no's. That was the discussion," Republican Representative Vern Buchanan told reporters. "Now he's got a decision to make."

The chamber has been at a standstill since Oct. 3, when a small group of Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker's chair, leaving lawmakers unable to respond to eruption of war in the Middle East and a possible partial government shutdown less than a month away.

Earlier in the day, Jordan had suggested that Republicans vote to extend the authority of Representative Patrick McHenry, who is serving as acting speaker.

House Democrats and the White House have said they are open to that idea, but many Republicans rejected it. "At this point, we're not going to have any kind of other resolution on this," said Republican Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer.

But a senior Republican aide told Reuters this sentiment does not represent the majority of House Republicans.

"Just because they (the hardliners) don't like it doesn't mean it's dead," the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is a strong consensus that McHenry needs to be able to act."

Some members have suggested a formal vote is not needed to give McHenry expanded powers and believe that the acting speaker position inherently gives him the authority to act. McHenry pushed back on that idea on Thursday night.

"If there is some goal to subvert the House rules to give me power without a formal vote, I will not accept it," he told reporters.

URGENT LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS

The House's leadership vacuum has prevented Congress from acting on urgent legislative business.

Democratic President Joe Biden on Thursday in a primetime speech said that U.S. backing is critical for Israel and Ukraine, two U.S. allies at war.

Biden said he will request emergency spending that U.S. officials have said will total roughly $100 billion over the next year for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan and security along the porous U.S. border with Mexico. It may include $60 billion for Ukraine and $10 billion for Israel, sources said beforehand.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) faces reporters after it was reported that Jordan vowed to continue his floundering bid for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after earlier saying he would back a plan to empower Speaker of the House Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) to hold the post until January, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., October 19, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Jordan in two votes this week failed to secure the 217 votes needed to claim the speaker's gavel as he has faced opposition from Democrats and some Republicans.

'BULLY AS THE SPEAKER'

Republicans who have voted against Jordan the first two times have predicted he will also fail on a third vote. They cited differences on taxes and spending and accused him of undercutting the leadership bid of No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise last week. Others have objected to harassing phone calls and even death threats from his supporters.

One of those, Representative Drew Ferguson, said in a statement on Thursday: "The House Republican Conference does not need a bully as the speaker."

The prolonged leadership battle has laid bare divisions among Republicans who control the chamber by a narrow 221-212 margin. Investors say the turmoil on Capitol Hill is also contributing to market volatility.

McCarthy was ousted after reaching a deal with Democrats on Sept. 30 to keep the government open. Hardline Republicans objected to his move to pass a bill that needed Democratic votes to get over the line.

While McCarthy was the first speaker in U.S. history to be voted out by his caucus, the last two Republicans to hold the job also left office early under pressure from the right.

Jordan has made his name in Washington as a leader of a hard-right faction that has exercised enormous influence this year, bringing Washington to the edge of default and the brink of a government shutdown in a budget-cutting drive that has had limited success so far.

His backers say he would be an effective fighter for conservative policies in a town where Democrats control the Senate and the White House.

Unlike other leaders in Congress, Jordan built his profile as an uncompromising advocate for the party's right wing, clashing with Republicans and Democrats alike.

He encouraged government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018 and was a "significant player" in Trump's attempts to overturn Biden's 2020 election win, according to a congressional investigation.

He is helping to lead an impeachment investigation of Biden that has so far failed to find evidence of wrongdoing by the president.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Makini Brice, Moira Warburton and Katharine Jackson; additional reporting by Nandita Bose, Davide Barbusca and Julio-Cesar Chavez; writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Nick Zieminski, Deepa Babington and Grant McCool)

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