The House of Representatives remained without a speaker on Thursday, as the fractious Republican majority refused to unite behind their party’s chosen nominee, congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
A day after narrowly becoming House Republicans’ candidate for speaker in a secret ballot vote, Scalise appeared no closer to overcoming the entrenched divisions imperiling his quest for the gavel.
Expectations were low that the House would hold a floor vote for speaker on Thursday after an hours-long, closed-door meeting failed to sway Scalise’s many skeptics.
Supporters of the congressman Jim Jordan, the chair of the judiciary committee, who challenged Scalise for the nomination, said they would continue to push for his candidacy, while other members fumed that their conference was once again consumed by the very chaos that led to the sudden and historic ousting of the former Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.
“Time is of the essence,” McCarthy told reporters upon arriving at the Capitol on Thursday. He added that Scalise, his former deputy, still faced a “big hill” in his quest to secure enough votes to win the gavel.
Although some of McCarthy’s allies had suggested he should run again for the speakership, the California Republican has said he would support Scalise and encouraged his colleagues not to re-nominate him for the post.
Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who was part of a hard-right coalition that forced 15 rounds of balloting to elect McCarthy as speaker, left a meeting with Scalise on Wednesday night saying he had won her vote after promising that her committee would be empowered to pursue its investigations into Biden. Hours later, during a private meeting with Republicans on Thursday, she said it had become clear Scalise could not form a consensus coalition and “no longer” had her vote.
Among Scalise’s other detractors are South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace, one of the Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy. On Wednesday, she pointed to Scalise’s past as a reason she would not vote for him on the House floor.
“I personally cannot in good conscience vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke,” she said in an interview on CNN Wednesday. “I would be doing an enormous disservice to the voters that I represent in South Carolina if I were to do that.
Scalise apologized in 2014 for attending the conference, saying he was unaware of the group’s political views. He represents the Louisiana congressional district once held by Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said concerns over Scalise’s health were the reason she would not support him. Scalise is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for blood cancer, but has insisted his prognosis is good and that he is well enough to serve.
“I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor,” Greene said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress.”
Meanwhile, embattled congressman George Santos, of New York, who is now facing expulsion from Congress, said he would not vote for Scalise “come hell or high water”.
The chaos has infuriated many House Republicans who feel Scalise’s objectors have not stated a clear rationale for their oppositions.
“Your vote is for your constituents, not your personal grievances,” said Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, who plans to vote for Scalise.
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In a gesture of goodwill, Jordan has encouraged his allies to support Scalise and offered to give his nominating speech on the House floor. So far those entreaties have done little to help Scalise persuade his skeptics, many of whom say they plan to vote for Jordan.
Because of Republicans’ razor-thin majority, Scalise can only afford four defections within the conference and still win the speakership, assuming all 433 current House members participate in the vote. As of Thursday morning, more than a dozen House Republicans had signaled they would not support Scalise on the floor, with several more still undecided.
The House gaveled into session midday on Thursday. With no clear path for Scalise to secure the 217 votes needed to claim the speakership, no votes were scheduled, and some members suggested the standoff could stretch into the weekend.
The pressure is on for Scalise to show he has a viable path forward, and to do so quickly. Without a speaker, the House is effectively at a standstill. Democrats, many Republicans and the White House have implored the House GOP to move swiftly to elect a new speaker so Congress can resume consideration of pressing matters, among them providing support to Israel in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which has claimed thousands of lives on both sides, including 27 Americans.
The minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Thursday that his caucus was willing “to find a bipartisan path forward out of the chaos and dysfunction”. But Democrats are unlikely to find either Scalise or Jordan palatable choices for speaker, as both voted against certifying the 2020 electoral college vote and are now using their House majority to pursue investigations into Joe Biden and his administration.
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, called the Republicans’ struggle to elect a speaker “shambolic chaos” and said the American people have never seen a majority party “behave this way”. The White House is expected to soon ask Congress to appropriate additional funds for Israel and Ukraine, while the threat of a government shutdown looms next month if lawmakers fail to act.
Donald Trump, who had endorsed Jordan for speaker, also weighed in against Scalise on Thursday, arguing that instead of pursuing the gavel he should focus on recovering from cancer.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
