Congress is in a mess after the race for speaker of the House was decided by scalaise

The War Between Israel and Hamas: Running for the House of Representatives isn’t the Same as the Battle Over Mr. McCarthy

war rages between Israel and Hamas and a government funding deadline loom as the House remains frozen because of no Republican nominee for speaker The path forward will be discussed at the meeting Friday morning.

Only two candidates, Representatives Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, are officially running for speaker. Neither seems to have a majority of Republicans locked up yet, and both are trying to appeal to the party’s worst instincts — making it clear they would perpetuate the chaos that was unleashed during the reign of Kevin McCarthy, who was overthrown by a group of far-right rebels on Oct. 3. In several ways, Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan would probably be worse.

Both express opposition to the Biden administration’s request for additional military aid to Ukraine. Like Mr. McCarthy, both have cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, and voted against certifying the election results, a permanent stain on their reputations. For anyone who cares about basic governmental function, the most unnerving part is that they seem to be repudiating two key moments when Mr. McCarthy addressed a fiscal crisis in recent months. They believe that the House could use more leverage in battles against Biden.

If you weren’t aware, it’s Washington’s euphemism for blackmail in the battle over Mr. McCarthy. A small group of extremists can try to get a win on an unrelated matter, if they hold the country’s credit hostage or shut down government functions. The anti-McCarthyites said that he failed to use his authority to change the rules in Washington.

Speakers of the House aren’t Bothered by Personal Fidelity or Particle Spectra: Rep. Jim Jordan and the House Freedom Caucus

Jim Jordan went to the Longworth House Office Building on Wednesday to attend a candidate forum for the position of Speaker of the House.

Ms. Houchin was the president of the freshman G.O.P. class after she became a member of the Main Street Caucus. She voted for the debt limit deal that Kevin McCarthy brokered with President Biden and pushed for her GOP colleagues to approve the stopgap funding measure so that the government would stay open.

But on Wednesday as Republicans met to select a new speaker to replace Mr. McCarthy, Ms. Houchin was set to deliver a nominating speech for Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the right-wing hard-liner who co-founded the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.

She is a member of a group of legislators who believe in pragmatic centrists but are now working with Mr. Jordan, who has close ties to former President Donald J. Trump.

The chairman and the vice-chairman of the Main Street Caucus have not spoken publicly about who they are supporting. The rule change that they were unsuccessful in getting would have made it more difficult for Representative Steve Scalise to succeed Mr. McCarthy as the No. 2 House Republican.

They are close friends of Mr. McCarthy. Their stated purpose as members of the Main Street group is to develop common sense, pragmatic legislation and promote kitchen-table policies in Congress. Mr. McCarthy moved him from the fringe into the center of politics after he forged a deal with Mr. Jordan.

This strange alignment is the ultimate reflection of how much of what happens on Capitol Hill is dictated more by what clique you belong to — and who you or your friends have a personal beef with — than where you sit on the ideological spectrum.

In order to unify the conference, both of the candidates proposed that they were men who could move beyond personal pride and work together.

Speaker Timing in the House: How Steve Scalise and the Louisiana Student Government Association Worked Together in Sacramento, Calif., last November

Scalise defeated Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, but has yet to lock up the 217 votes necessary to win on the House floor. A source with direct knowledge of the matter said Jordan plans to vote for Scalise on the floor of the House and is encouraging his colleagues to do the same.

The House recessed at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Patrick McHenry told reporters that a vote on speaker could be held as early as today.

The former systems engineer got his start in politics at Louisiana State University, where he was twice elected speaker of LSU’s Student Government Association. He served as a member of Louisiana’s state Legislature for 12 years before being elected to the U.S. House.

Scalise has a track record of dealing with adversity. In 2017, the congressman was shot by a gunman at a congressional baseball team practice in Alexandria, Va. He wrote a letter to colleagues asking for their support of his nomination and said that he believes the conference is a family. When I was shot in 2017, it was Members of this Conference who saved my life on that field. … It was the chance to return to work that kept me motivated after I was in the hospital for more than a month.

In August, Scalise announced that he has been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. He has since said that the cancer has “dropped dramatically” crediting chemotherapy treatments.

Steve Scalise has dropped out of the race for speaker of the House after failing to get the necessary votes.

It’s not quite clear when a full vote will take place and whether the speaker’s position will be held by a Republican or a Democrat.

Port Fourchon is one of the nation’s leading oil and gas seaports and supplies about one-sixth of the nation’s oil supply. The GOP’s energy bill, which was passed earlier this year, would increase US energy production and lower the cost of energy to consumers, according to Scalise. The legislation was dead on arrival in the Senate and the White House threatened to veto it, according to Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader.

But in a letter sent earlier this month to his GOP colleagues asking for their vote to nominate him as speaker, Scalise touted the bill’s House passage as an example of his priorities and leadership style.

“I have a proven track record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our Conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible,” he stated in the letter.

During that time, he spoke as a guest to the European-American Unity and Rights Organization — a white supremacy group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. The incident came back to haunt Scalise in Congress. He apologized for speaking to the group, but he was not aware of the group’s history.

His time with the group, and his adjacent association with Duke, has been dredged up again as he looks to move into the No. 1 role in the House. In one column that has received new attention on X, formerly known as Twitter, Louisiana politics writer Stephanie Grace recalls a young Scalise describing himself as “David Duke without the baggage.”

In an interview about her column, Grace pointed out that Duke is from the same area of Louisiana as Scalise. At the time Scalise made that comment in the ’90s, Grace noted that Duke had recently lost in a runoff to be Louisiana’s governor and said Scalise’s comment was likely reflective of his effort to appeal to a conservative voter group that supported Duke.

Grace characterizes him as a “conservative guy who supports a lot of conservative policies such as affirmative action and against same-sex marriage.”

Scalise’s relationship with Cedric Richmond, a former Democratic Congressman from New Orleans, is often cited as an example of this bipartisanship. The two brothers are often described as the “soulmates” of the Louisiana Legislature and in Congress. The senior advisor for the Democratic National Committee, who was named after it, refused to comment on the story. But when Scalise was previously criticized for talking to a white supremacy group, Richmond defended Scalise, saying he doesn’t have a “racist bone in his body.”

The House Republicans had hoped that a new Speaker of the House could be selected quickly, but by Thursday afternoon they had given up hope of doing so.

If he wants to get a majority, he’ll have to lose a few Republicans. Concerns about the ability of Republicans to govern, and their ability to convince voters that they should stay in power next year, is being raised as the vacancy drags on.

“I see a lot of threats out there, but one of the biggest threats I observe is in that room,” McCaul said while gesturing to the space where his colleagues were meeting. “Because we can’t unify as a conference and put a speaker in the chair to govern.”

Congress will need a speaker soon to provide more aid to Israel, according to McCaul. He also warned that the infighting and instability undermines the U.S. image abroad.

McCarthy told reporters that he wasn’t able to get the support he promised when he won on Wednesday. It is a distinction that speaks to the fragility of Scalise’s position.

Even members who supported Scalise and worked to win votes have openly suggested that the only way forward is to force a vote on the floor and see what happens.

Scalise, Greene, and Trump: Why America is So Glad to See You, When You Can’t See What You Are Doing

“We need to know what the numbers are,” Womack said. “People can say one thing on social media and use it for something else.” And so we really are all over the map on this thing.”

Womack’s comments come after a number of members, including those who voted for Scalise, started airing concerns on Twitter or in conversations with reporters.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been clear that Scalise’s health is part of her motivation in opposing him. Greene is also a close supporter of Jordan and is in frequent contact with former President Trump, who has repeatedly sought to influence the House GOP leadership race.

Trump endorsed McCarthy for the position in January, but he still had to endure 14 rounds of voting before Trump weighed in a final time for McCarthy to get over the finish line in a 15th round.

After the Sept 11 2001 attacks, lawmakers were able to set aside personal and political differences to show a unified front, which was important during a time of crisis. The Republicans were unwilling to end their disagreements even though the press of world events was surrounding them, and it was not clear how they could get back on track.

The congressman, trying to stem the tide against him, called his colleagues together for a long meeting that stretched into the afternoon and was described as an outing of slights big and small. Lawmakers warned that they were hurting their own image and the nation as well.

“It sends a terrible signal,” said Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force general whose swing district seat could be at risk if his party is deemed by voters to be incapable of governing. “We’re not a governing body and we should be.”

The concern overseas about what is transpiring as Israel engages with Hamas and Ukraine with Russia is real. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, said he faced a lot of questions about U.S. commitment to Europe and the instability in the House during a Senate recess.

“I was very clear we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs,” Scalise told reporters in the Capitol. “This country is counting on us to come back together. The House of Representatives needs a speaker and should be open again.