Important deadlines approaching as House fails to select a speaker
Lawmakers hinted that current speaker pro tem Patrick McHenry should be given at least more power so some bills can pass.
LEARN MOREPosted: 11:41 a.m. EDT Oct 19, 2023 Updated: 5:31 p.m. EDT Oct 19, 2023
Rep. Jim Jordan's immediate plans to gain the House speaker position are on hold.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Jordan said he was going to talk with the Republicans who have voted against him on two previous occasions.
The Ohio Republican lost floor votes on Tuesday and Wednesday when nearly two dozen Republicans voted against him. He can only afford to lose four Republican votes if all Democrats continue to also vote against him.
Jordan had considered trying to empower Rep. Patrick McHenry as House speaker pro tempore while he tried to secure the votes needed to become speaker, but he said the Republican conference wasn't in agreement about that idea.
"We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work," Jordan said. "We decided that wasn't where we were going to go.
The House was thrown into chaos after Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his job after fellow Republicans filed a motion to vacate on Oct. 2. Rep. Matt Gaetz was upset that McCarthy joined Democrats to pass a temporary resolution to keep the government open.
McHenry was appointed to the temporary position after McCarthy was ousted. His role is limited, only allowing him to oversee the vote of a new speaker.
This predicament puts Congress in a tough spot as it faces a looming deadline to avoid a government shutdown and future requests to provide aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Jordan, however, remains insistent that he will not give up his bid to become speaker of the House, hoping he will be able to convince the Republican holdouts.
