Republicans abandoned the nomination of Jim Jordan for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, today, Friday, and made the decision in a closed session after the failure of the hard-line ally of Donald Trump to win in the third round.
“We asked them the question, and they made a different decision,” Mr. Jordan later said of his colleagues.
The Judiciary Committee chairman also said House Republicans should come together now and “figure out who it’s going to be.” [le] president “.
The House gridlock is escalating into a full-blown crisis, with Republicans having no realistic plan to unify the party’s divided majority, elect a new speaker, and get back to work in a paralyzed Congress. Since hardliners ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Advance this month.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise said they would “come back and do it again” on Monday.
Disagreements
Angry and frustrated Republicans, who had seen their control of the majority descend into chaos, left the special session blaming each other for the divisions they had created.
The next steps are highly uncertain as lawmakers begin proposing new ideas to a potential president. But it seems that no one can currently achieve a majority in the Republican Party.
“We are in a very bad place now,” Mr McCarthy said earlier.
In a vote on Friday morning, Mr. Jordan’s third attempt, his nomination was rejected by 25 of his Republican colleagues. This is a worse result than seen earlier in the week, and far from the necessary majority.
With a Republican majority in the House of Representatives of 221 to 212, any candidate would lose only a few critics. It appears that no party member can currently obtain a clear majority, or 217 votes, to become president.
Many saw the extremism of Mr. Jordan, a founding member of the far-right Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives, as disqualifying him from presiding over the House of Representatives, the central seat of American power.
“The one thing I cannot stand or defend is a bully,” Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said in a statement. She voted against Jordan in the second round, and said she had received “credible death threats.”
Biden aid plan
In this context of deadlock in the House of Representatives and political chaos, Joe Biden on Friday requested a budget increase of $105 billion in particular to support Ukraine and Israel, two US allies involved in major international crises, and respond to challenges. Due to immigration on the southern border of the country.
Unusually, Mr. Jordan’s ultra-conservative allies quickly rejected the idea of giving the acting Speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry, more power for the next few months to at least get the House back in session and to conduct critical business.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries emphasized that his party is “ready, willing and able” to partner with more traditional Republicans on the path to reopening the House. Especially since Congress is called upon to examine the aid program provided by President Joe Biden to Israel, Ukraine, and the management of the border between the United States and Mexico, among other countries.
Lawmakers reported that the tone rose during a closed meeting on Thursday, as Republican factions blamed each other for plunging their majority into chaos.
Elevating Patrick McHenry to a broader role as Speaker of the House may be a possible way out of the crisis, but it will not be as politically simple as it seems.
Republicans are reluctant to partner with Democrats in a bipartisan way on this deal, and Republicans are unlikely to agree to give Mr. McHenry more powers on their own, because that approach does not please their party’s hardline supporters.
Furthermore, Patrick McHenry himself rejected attempts to hold the position permanently.
