Republican nominee Jim Jordan will continue his campaign for speaker of the House despite losing the second round of balloting for the position this afternoon.
“We’re going to keep going,” Jordan’s spokesman Russell Dye told me.
The House has once again failed to agree on electing a speaker, with Jim Jordan rejected for the second time in two days after 22 Republicans said no to their party’s nominee. What happens now? Who knows. Some Republicans want to hold a vote on giving acting speaker Patrick McHenry the job’s full powers so the chamber can get back to legislating on issues like aid to Israel and government funding. Jordan has said he would be in favor of holding a vote on that motion, but has also vowed to stay in the race. It appears we will not find out how Republicans’ conundrum resolves itself today – no more votes are expected in the House.
Here’s a look back on the day:
Capitol police were arresting protesters in a House office building, who had entered by the hundreds to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid.
Jordan pleaded for unity, but one of his supporters warned he would lose more support in the second round of voting – and was right.
Romney-Cruz 2016? Not as far-fetched as it sounds, former Republican presidential candidate turned senator from Utah Mitt Romney writes in a new book.
McHenry’s acting capacity means pretty much all he can do is gavel the House into and out of session, and count the votes for speaker.
A Jordan opponent voted for John Boehner. Remember him?
The House is done with voting for the day, a source familiar with the matter tells me, as Republican lawmakers remain unable to agree on elevating rightwing congressman Jim Jordan to the speaker’s post.
Hours ago, the second election to install Jordan as Kevin McCarthy’s successor failed after 22 Republicans and all Democrats rejected his candidacy for speaker. The House then adjourned, though there was speculation lawmakers could return for another round of voting, or to consider a resolution to give acting speaker Patrick McHenry the job.
Police have arrested some of what appear to be hundreds of protesters who converged on the US Capitol calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
The protest was organized by activist group Jewish Voice for Peace, which said some of its members had planned acts of civil disobedience. Reporters in the Capitol say the arrests took place in the Cannon office building, where House lawmakers have their chambers and which is open to the public:
Here are more photos from the protest:
For the latest on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and Joe Biden’s just-concluded visit to Israel, follow our live blog:
Texas’s Republican representative Chip Roy said that to grant further powers to the House’s speaker pro tempore in order to resume the House’s business “makes no sense” and is “directly contradictory to the Constitution.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Roy said:
“We should do our job and select a speaker. The constitution says that so any move to do otherwise is contrary to the Constitution and would do enormous damage to not just the Republican party but the House of Representatives. I violently oppose any effort to do that on the floor of the House…
I think it is directly contrary to the Constitution in terms of saying that we shall choose a speaker and to go appoint somebody with the full powers of the speaker without having chosen the speaker. It makes no sense so I think we need to take a step back, do our job and choose a speaker.”
He went on to add that he will support Jim Jordan for House speaker “for however long it takes.”
As Jim Jordan fails for the second time to garner enough votes to become speaker, a handful of Republicans are speaking out about the strong-arming they have been facing by Jordan’s allies in attempts to make him speaker, including allegedly sending anonymous text messages.
On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted against the hard-right Ohioan’s speakership, continuing to leave the House in a state of limbo since extremist Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy in a historic vote earlier this month.
With Jordan struggling to secure the 217 votes needed to become speaker of the House, several Republicans have told Politico of Jordan’s “broader team … playing hardball” in attempts to garner votes.
The Nebraska congressman Don Bacon – one of the 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan in the first vote – told the outlet that his wife had received anonymous texts that warned of her husband never holding office again.
Screenshots of the alleged text messages sent to Bacon’s wife and shared with Politico showed one saying: “Talk to your husband tell him to step up and be a leader and help the Republican party get a speaker. There’s too much going on in the world for all this going on in Republican party. You guys take five steps forward and then turn around take 20 steps backwards – no wonder our party always ends up getting screwed over.”
For further details, click here:
Here is video of the moment a pro-Palestinian protestor interrupted the former treasury secretary Jack Lew’s Senate confirmation hearing for ambassador to Israel.
“How many children need to be killed? Our families are dying! We need a ceasefire now!” the protestor yelled at Joe Biden’s pick as security escorted him out of the room.
Another protestor then appeared, yelling: “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza … and we’re funding it!” She also was escorted out by security.
Utah’s Republican senator Mitt Romney considered a third presidential bid in 2016 in attempts to stop Donald Trump with “scary” Texas senator Ted Cruz, a new book reveals.
The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
“Romney was willing to wage a quixotic and humiliating presidential bid if that’s what it took,” McKay Coppins writes in Romney: A Reckoning, a biography of the 2012 Republican nominee written in close cooperation with its subject.
“He might even be able to swallow sharing a ticket with Cruz, a man he’d described as ‘scary’ and ‘a demagogue’ in his journal. But Romney didn’t think the gambit would actually succeed in taking down Trump. The problem was that no one else in the party seemed to know what to do about Trump, either.”
Widely trailed, Coppins’ book will be published in the US next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For further details, click here:
Democratic minority House speaker Hakeem Jeffries who received 212 votes on Wednesday urged Republicans to work alongside Democrats, tweeting:
“The time has come for House Republicans to reject extremism and embrace bipartisanship.”
Jeffries’ tweet follows another one he made earlier in the day in which he called on House Republicans to “get real, end the Republican Civil War and join House Democrats in a bipartisan path forward.”
The House has once again failed to agree on electing a speaker, with Jim Jordan rejected for the second time in two days after 22 Republicans said no to their party’s nominee. What happens now? Who knows. Some Republicans want to hold a vote on giving acting speaker Patrick McHenry the job’s full powers so the chamber can get back to legislating on issues like aid to Israel and government funding. Jordan has said he would be in favor of holding a vote on that motion, but he has also vowed to stay in the race. We’ll see if he opts to push for a third round of voting.
Here’s a recap of the day so far:
Jordan pleaded for unity, but one of his supporters warned he would lose more support in the second round of voting – and was right.
McHenry’s acting capacity means he can pretty much just gavel the House into and out of session, and count the votes for speaker.
A Jordan opponent voted for John Boehner. Remember him?
It’s tough to tell what happens next in the House.
Democratic whip Katherine Clark has told members “additional votes are possible today”, but there’s no saying when, or if, that happens.
A Republican aide told the Guardian’s US politics live blog that the party’s lawmakers were told to expect a meeting of the Republican conference, but that has not yet been officially scheduled.
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell is at the Capitol, and spotted one of the surest signs that lawmakers aren’t leaving anytime soon: pizza is being delivered.
With their party apparently deadlocked over making Jim Jordan speaker of the House, more Republicans are calling to make Patrick McHenry the chamber’s leader.
McHenry took over as acting speaker following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster two weeks ago, while the GOP has nominated Jordan to become his permanent replacement. But Jordan has now twice failed to secure a majority of votes necessary to ascend to speaker’s chair, and some supporters now think it would be best to give McHenry the job and allow the chamber to begin functioning again.
Here’s California’s David Valadao, who represents a Democratic-leaning district and backed Jordan in the just-concluded round of voting:
Jordan’s detractors are also making their case to give McHenry the job. Here’s Jen Kiggans, a recent arrival in the House who represents a Virginia swing district:
And another vulernable Republican, Carlos Gimenez, remains upset about McCarthy’s removal. He, too, is in favor of putting McHenry in charge:
Republican nominee Jim Jordan will continue his campaign for speaker of the House despite losing the second round of balloting for the position this afternoon.
“We’re going to keep going,” Jordan’s spokesman Russell Dye told me.
“No person having received a majority the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected,” Patrick McHenry declared from the House dais.
What now? Some Republicans want to hold a vote on expanding McHenry’s powers from acting speaker to full speaker of the House. Earlier today, Jim Jordan said he would be in favor of putting that resolution up for consideration.
That could be a very interesting affair, since Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the party may be open to supporting that, but McHenry gaveled the House into recess, so it seems that vote won’t happen right away.
Jim Jordan has lost the second election for House speaker, as more Republicans voted against elevating him to the chamber’s leadership role.
Jordan lost 22 GOP votes, two more than in the initial round of balloting on Tuesday. He received 199 votes in total, while Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries received 212.
Voting appears to be over, and we are now waiting for acting speaker Patrick McHenry to make the result official.
Jim Jordan has for the second day in a row failed to receive a majority vote to become speaker. After McHenry confirms the election, the question will become: what will the GOP do now?
There are now 21 no votes against Jordan – one more than in the first round of balloting yesterday.
The election has not yet concluded, but his margin of defeat is an indication of the amount of opposition Jordan will have to overcome if he is ever to get the speaker’s gavel.
Democrats, meanwhile, have unanimously voted for their minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. He has received 200 votes to Jordan’s 184.
Jim Jordan’s Republican objectors have voted for other politicians, usually former members of the House.
Pennsylvania’s Mike Kelly voted for John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, who resigned his position in part due to trouble with the party’s conservative wing:
Michigan’s John James voted for former GOP congresswoman Candice Miller, one of the more obscure names called out in this round of voting,
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
