House Republicans are angry with each other with the World in Crisis

What the House is going to do next week to get rid of a Speaker of the House, Rep. Scott McCaul, R-La.

House Republicans once hoped they could quickly select a new Speaker of the House and quell the drama within their ranks, but by Thursday afternoon an easy resolution seemed to be slipping further away.

Less than 24 hours after a narrow majority of House Republicans selected Steve Scalise, R-La., as “speaker designate,” his chances of winning enough votes to be elected speaker in a vote on the House floor seemed to be shrinking. Any candidate would need roughly 217 votes to be approved.

It would be difficult for any of the members to get the 217 votes needed if all of them are present and voting.

If he was to secure a majority, he’d have to lose some Republicans. And as the vacancy drags on, it is raising concerns about not only Republicans’ ability to govern, but their ability to convince voters that they deserve to stay in power next year.

McCaul pointed to the room where his colleagues continued to meet and said he saw a lot of threats but the biggest was in that room. We can’t unify as a conference because we don’t have a speaker in the chair.

McCaul claimed that Congress needs to act soon to give more aid to Israel, because they will need a speaker to do that. He warned that instability undermines the U.S. image abroad.

They appeared to be on the verge of a quick recovery on Wednesday when they voted narrowly to replace Kevin McCarthy with the second most senior Republican in the House. It quickly became clear that Republicans wouldn’t support him on the House floor. Some of his colleagues had agendas, and he quit the fight on Thursday night. Some were dug in for Representative Jim Jordan, the hard-right Ohio Republican who co-founded the House Freedom Caucus and challenged Mr. Scalise for the nomination, falling just 14 votes short.

The only way to move forward would be for members to force a vote on the floor, and see what happens.

Resolving Scalise’s Controversy with Social Media: How the Republicans Can Correct the Ship in the War Between America, Europe and Russia

“We want to know what the numbers are,” he said. “People can say what they want, and then use social media to amplify it.” We’re all over the map on this thing.

Some members, including those who voted for them, started talking with reporters and airing their concerns on social media.

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.

McCarthy was given the nod from Trump in January, but he had to go through 14 rounds of voting before Trump made a decision on who he wanted to work with.

In past moments of crisis, such as the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, lawmakers have been able to set aside personal and political differences, if only temporarily, to show a unified front to reassure the country and the world. It was unclear if Republicans would change course despite the press of world events and how they could right the ship after Mr. Scalise made a gut-wrenching decision.

Mr. Scalise had summoned his colleagues to a lengthy private meeting that lasted into the afternoon and one Republican described it as a parody of a holiday called Festivus. They said they were hurting the nation and their own image by doing so.

Representative DonBacon is a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force general who is in a swing district and could be in danger if voters deem his party 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. Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, in Europe during a Senate recess for meetings with high-level officials, said he faced persistent questions about the U.S. commitment in those regions and the instability in the House.

The Future of the House: Rep. Scott Scalise, the Great Clarifier, or a Political Lightning Rod: What Does He Want to Do?

House Republicans will try to unify around a candidate for speaker this afternoon, after Majority Leader Steve. Scalise failed to get enough votes to be nominated for speaker.

Georgia Rep. Scott stepped up to challenge Jordan in a surprise bid. “We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” he announced on social media.

Jordan, 59, has served in Congress since 2007 and has evolved from hyper-partisan outsider who helped start the House Freedom Caucus to hyper-partisan insider, with a seat at the leadership, a committee gavel, a close relationship with former President Trump and a leading role in the ongoing impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a Jordan ally, was confident that Jordan could win the gavel on the floor, but conceded it could take several rounds of voting. Jim Jordan is unpopular to vote against on the floor. The people support him. I think his numbers increase under subsequent rounds if he didn’t get to 217 on the first round.

“The candidate forum matters and that’s what I think, but I will see who else runs and that Jordan is also supporting him,” said the congressman. The debate actually matters. The policies matter.”

A full House vote was not expected Friday, but Garcia said if the nominee was within 20 votes, it could move to the floor quickly to pressure holdouts. The great clarifier is the floor, lights, pressure and the public opinion.

“I can tell you that my priority is that we have a functioning government,” he said. “And if that means that I support someone that may be more conservative than me and may be a political lightning rod, but I’m willing to do that, especially if he’s the only candidate.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla. said he was not planning to vote for Jordan. Jordan undermined the nomination and didn’t work hard enough to consolidate the support for Scalise, according to him.

When it comes to bad behavior, “when you reward it you get more of it,” said Congressman Don Bacon, R-Neb. Other supporters of Scalise expressed similar concerns, and the mood among House GOP lawmakers was tense as members filed out of the meeting with many saying they had no idea when their party could coalesce around a speaker and get back to work.

Bacon is among a small group of Republicans who has floated the idea of seeking a consensus candidate that would require some level of Democratic support. At some point, we’re going to need a bipartisan solution when we’re at the end of the well. He said “a lot of our folks are in denial so you’ve never going to get 8-10 folks on board.”

Jeffries stated that they are ready, willing and able to do so. “I know there are traditional Republicans who are good women and men who want to see government function, but they are unable to do it within the ranks of their own conference, which is dominated by the extremist wing. We have continued to extend the hand of bipartisanship to them.

Jeffries said Democrats could provide votes to elect a speaker and change the rules to make it harder to remove a sitting speaker from power, if that speaker promised more Democratic seats on key committees and a pledge to bring legislation with bipartisan support to the floor, including aid to Ukraine, Israel, and the 12 annual spending bills to avoid a shutdown.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters on Friday that there are generally 300 lawmakers willing to work together on big issues. “What I’m saying is, we are agonizing about a small, willful, extremist group that has been holding the Congress of the United States hostage. They should walk across the aisle and ask what they can do.