Republican stalemate over speaker’s gavel drags on, paralyzing House

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A group of conservative holdouts dashed Republicans’ plans to elect a House speaker on Wednesday, leaving the chamber paralyzed for a second week as lawmakers struggled to unite their conference behind a candidate.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana hoped to claim the speaker’s gavel Wednesday and immediately bring up a resolution supporting Israel’s fight against Hamas, the terrorist organization that invaded the country and killed more than 1,000 over the weekend.

Despite winning a majority of Republican votes in a closed-door meeting, Mr. Scalise, a reliable conservative, couldn’t round up 217 Republican lawmakers needed to win the gavel in a House floor vote. Mr. Scalise garnered 113 votes, more than his rival, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who received 99.

Without an elected speaker, the House is unable to legislate.

Rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly frustrated with their fringe of hard-line conservatives who make up the bulk of holdouts.

Some are among the rogue handful of Republicans who voted with Democrats last week to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, leaving the chamber rudderless.

“Frankly, I think it would be easier in a political environment where people understood that governing requires some give and take,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. “There are a lot of people around here who don’t understand, and it makes it hard to govern.”

Many of the holdouts say they plan to vote for Mr. Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who narrowly lost the party’s nomination for speaker to Mr. Scalise in the secret ballot vote Wednesday.

Mr. Jordan and Mr. Scalise are largely aligned politically, but Mr. Jordan is considered more conservative and is a hero among Republican hard-liners who have long admired his willingness to stand up to the Republican leadership on spending cuts and significant policy issues such as border security.

Mr. Jordan has since rallied behind Mr. Scalise and even plans to nominate him on the House floor, but enough holdouts who have longed for a Speaker Jordan aren’t budging.

“I will be voting for Jim Jordan to be speaker of the House on the floor when the vote is called,” Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado said after Republicans nominated Mr. Scalise. “The American people deserve a real change in leadership, not a continuation of the status quo.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, said she plans to vote for Mr. Jordan. She said he “is prepared to take on the fight” against the Democrats in the Senate and White House.

Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky said they were not ready to back Mr. Scalise.

Rather than hold a floor vote that will likely produce no winner, Republicans are punting until at least Thursday, giving them more time to twist arms or otherwise plead for cooperation from more than a half-dozen Republican lawmakers refusing to back Mr. Scalise.

The Democrats won’t help. They have nominated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker.

The House has been shuttered since last week, when eight hard-line conservatives voted with all Democrats to oust Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, from the speaker’s chair.

The House clerk has appointed Rep. Patrick McHenry, North Carolina Republican, to serve as temporary speaker, but his authority is limited to gaveling in and out of session and the oversight of the speaker’s election. He cannot conduct legislative business.

Mr. McHenry executed one of his few powers on Wednesday by gaveling the House in recess for the night around 7 p.m.

Mr. McCarthy said it’s now up to Mr. Scalise to talk to the holdouts and figure out “what their concerns are.”

Some of it involves the still-unresolved fiscal 2024 spending legislation.

Mr. Massie said he wants a plan to ensure the House votes for spending bills separately and not lumped together in one piece of legislation.

Some said the Republicans should have remained in a closed session until either Mr. Scalise or Mr. Jordan could win the 217 votes, not just a majority of the conference.

Three of the votes for Mr. Scalise were cast by delegates who cannot participate in the House floor vote for speaker. A dozen Republicans did not vote for either Mr. Scalise or Mr. Jordan.

“I wouldn’t have left that room,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, Texas Republican. “Right now, I don’t know if you’re going to get 99 or even 90 to support Steve.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Scalise expressed confidence that he could generate the 217 votes.

Mr. Scalise said his first action after he wins the gavel will be to bring up a resolution, written by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael T. McCaul of Texas, supporting Israel as it works to defeat the terrorist organization Hamas.

“We see how dangerous of a world it is and how things can change so quickly,” Mr. Scalise said. “We need to make sure we’re sending a message to people all throughout the world that the House is open and doing the people’s business.”