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House Republicans again failed to elect a speaker on Wednesday, leaving lawmakers scrambling to fill the role that’s been vacant for more than two weeks and pushing some Republicans to weigh a deal with Democrats.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the conservative spending hawk from Ohio and Judiciary Committee chairman, could not garner 217 votes. A simple majority would have required the support of all but four GOP lawmakers.
Mr. Jordan has not given up his quest for the gavel, even though his support decreased to 199 votes, down from the 200 votes he garnered Tuesday.
Meanwhile, frustrated Republicans are threatening to strike a deal with Democrats to temporarily fill the vacancy with Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who currently serves as emergency speaker. Democrats would want to extract concessions.
Such a bipartisan accord to elect Mr. McHenry would likely include spending legislation to extend government funding and provide aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
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Mr. McHenry, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is filling the role as an appointed speaker. However, House rules only allow an elected speaker to conduct legislative business. Lawmakers are eager to vote on unfinished spending legislation ahead of a Nov. 17 shutdown deadline and measures in support of Israel’s war against the terrorist group Hamas.
Mr. Jordan, after losing the vote a second time, called the McHenry option “a call for the conference.” He later met with Mr. McHenry in the Capitol.
Republicans, who have a four-seat majority, could elect Mr. McHenry on their own, thus excluding any need to give concessions to Democrats, such as the spending deal they are seeking.
But it’s unclear if the GOP would be any more likely to provide the 217 votes for Mr. McHenry, even temporarily. Mr. Jordan, Majority Leader Steven Scalise and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3, all failed to get enough support, too.
The House has been frozen since Mr. McCarthy’s ouster that came from eight Republicans voting with all Democrats to remove him. The chamber’s rules require a speaker to be elected by the House to conduct legislative business.
Mr. Jordan was nominated Wednesday by Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican and chair of the powerful House Rules Committee. Mr. Cole praised Mr. Jordan as one of the few lawmakers willing to address reforming entitlement spending, the main driver of the nation’s debt, and called him one of the toughest proponents of fixing the nation’s lax border security.
Mr. Jordan, he said, “is a person whose principal you know, whose actions you can trust, and in a time of crisis will respond with the leadership we need.”
It wasn’t enough to flip 22 holdouts. Lawmakers are now eyeing a midlevel Republican leadership member, Mr. McHenry, to get legislative business moving again.
Mr. McHenry was elected to the House in 2004 and has served in lower leadership positions including chief deputy whip. He’s an ally of Mr. McCarthy, who put his name atop a special list of emergency replacements who could take temporary control in the event of a disaster or other event that removed the elected speaker.
Democrats are recoiling at the idea of Speaker Jordan, whom they call “an insurrectionist” for questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election and for supporting former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Jordan is a hard-line spending hawk and his stance on slashing government funding legislation left him at odds with some Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, who again helped to defeat him on Wednesday.
House Democrats voted again for their minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who received more votes than Mr. Jordan. Mr. Jeffries told reporters yesterday he would consider cutting a deal with Republicans to elect Mr. McHenry as speaker.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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