After an hours long contentious GOP conference members meeting today – where cursing and violations of personal space reportedly occurred – House Speaker designate Jim Jordan (R-OH-4) emerged to speak with reporters.
Jordan briefly stated that the proposed “McHenry resolution” – giving the Speaker Pro Tempore limited powers to conduct legislative affairs until January, the end of this session – “that wasn't where we are gonna go. I'm still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and win this race but I plan to go and talk to a few of my colleagues, particularly the 20 individuals who voted against me so that we can move forward and begin to work for the American people.”
Today's conference meeting went over the proposal to allow Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10), who is serving as interim speaker, to have been given powers to permit select legislation brought to the floor. This proposal was widely derided by a majority of conference members who desired to move forward with the process of selecting a speaker of the House and avoid a complex, embarrassing delay that could only further divide their ranks. While proposed to “lower the temperature,” this interim idea succeeded in only angering Jordan supporters.
That frustration was evident as several heated exchanges between former Speaker McCarthy (R-Calif.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and others devolved into finger pointing and cursing.
Of course, this meeting also served as an opportunity for Jim Jordan to address his colleagues regarding his bid for the Speaker's Chair. While there are still 20 holdouts, he intended to speak with them individually as soon as he can today. During this time, he also expressed support for the McHenry resolution – which was roundly shouted down. Even McHenry expressed doubts about the viability of such a resolution being put into practice. This interim speaker idea is, by all accounts, dead on arrival and not going to be brought up at this time.
As of now, Jordan is going to speak with holdouts after two rounds of voting and this meeting, with supporters citing the 15 rounds needed to elect the previous speaker.
It appears that Jordan will go to the floor again for a vote in the very near future – today is the plan. This is a surprise turnaround from earlier today – but reports indicate Jordan wants to go to the floor tonight, and he currently plans on it, obviously depending on the outcomes of these holdout talks.
Ominously, however, in political parlance, Jordan indicated to his conference that after his discussions with holdouts, and a possible third round of voting, that he would “reassess” with his family and discuss “next steps” based on those outcomes. This could foreshadow his dropping out of the race, but given the rhetoric from his supporters and the amount of time it took to elect McCarthy, this seems highly unlikely at this early stage in the process.
Stay with us for up-to-date and in-depth information surrounding this one-of-a-kind event in our congressional history.
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