Republican House Speaker nominee Steve Scalise is nowhere near the 217 votes he needs as Congress stalls for an eighth day amid the Israeli crisis and looming government shutdown
- Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan squared off in an internal House GOP vote that saw Scalise selected as the Republican nominee for speaker by a 113-99 margin
- Since the vote, the list of those who will oppose Scalise on the House floor has grown — not smaller
The Republican nominee to lead the US House of Representatives is nowhere near securing enough support to become Speaker.
It means the House is still paralyzed without a leader eight days after the historic ouster of former President Kevin McCarthy.
Steve Scalise, the second-highest ranking Republican in the House, secured his party’s nomination, but some of his colleagues still opposed him.
Scalise and Donald Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, squared off in an internal House GOP vote that Scalise won 113-99.
Now, he must win a vote on the House floor — where Republicans only have a four-vote majority.
Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the Republicans opposing him, told CNN: “I personally cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who attended a white supremacist convention and compared himself to David Duke.”
Scalise spoke at a conference hosted by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and white supremacist David Duke in 2002, but later claimed he didn’t know what they stood for and said he regretted it.
Early in his political career, Scalise also told a reporter from Louisiana that he was “like David Duke without the baggage.”
Meanwhile, Democrats met and selected Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as their speaker nominee in less than 10 minutes. All Democrats are expected to vote for him on the floor.
House Republicans met again Thursday to try to chart a path forward. It is not clear when the vote for the speaker of the House will be held.
The list of Republicans who say they will oppose Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the number two House Republican, for the post has grown, not smaller, since he was chosen at the conference.
Scalise, who is considered more conservative than McCarthy but is still part of the current leadership, has lined up at least a dozen critics, many from the right-wing Freedom Caucus who have said they will continue to vote for Jordan on the floor.
Jordan withdrew his name from the running and said he would ask his supporters to vote instead of Scalise.
With the House in gridlock, Congress is headed for another government shutdown on Nov. 17 and is unable to pass any legislation at the outbreak of war in Israel.
Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, faced an internal House GOP vote in which Scalise was selected as the Republican nominee for speaker by a 113-99 margin.
In just over a month the House Continuing Resolution, (CR), which extended the deadline for funding the government by six weeks, will expire.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had filed a motion to oust McCarthy because he didn’t want to pass a CR in Congress — instead he wanted the House to work through 12 separate spending bills on a single issue.
But now that the House has wasted weeks ousting its speaker and fighting over who should take the job next, it’s nearly impossible for the remaining spending bills to pass before the deadline.
The House also cannot pass a bipartisan $2 billion aid package for Israel – even though Israel already receives $3.3 billion in military funding and $500 million in missile defense funding from the US each year.
About 1,200 people died in Hamas attacks on Israel and about 1,100 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s counterattack. So far 25 Americans have been killed in the violence.
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