NEW THIS MORNING: Scalise's path to 218 unclear with MTG, others opposed
MTG to vote for Jordan, complicating Scalise's path to gavel
House Republicans on Wednesday nominated Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana to serve as Speaker of the House.
But any chances of a swift conclusion to this Capitol Hill chaos have practically evaporated. A handful of far-right Republicans say that they will not be supporting Scalise on the House floor. Republicans adjourned the House Wednesday afternoon without officially voting on a Speaker as they had promised.
Scalise, currently the No. 2 Republican in the House, narrowly defeated Judiciary committee chairman and conservative media fixture Jim Jordan in a secret ballot vote taken by their fellow GOP conference members. Jordan, an Ohio native who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is now said to be encouraging his supporters to back Scalise.
In order to win the gavel, Scalise must win a vote by the full House. With 435 members, it takes a simple majority — 218 — to win the Speakership. But several conservatives, including Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, have said that they will not vote for Scalise. This means we could be right back where we were at the beginning of the year: a long and drawn-out battle on the House floor to crown the most powerful lawmaker on Capitol Hill.
Greene, a Republican from Rome, says she plans to vote for Jordan, citing Scalise’s recent health challenges. “I lost my father to cancer so I’m not saying this lightheartedly,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju. “Unfortunately, Steve is going through a cancer battle of his own and I like Steve a lot and I like him so much I would like to see him put his full efforts into defeating that.”
Scalise is being treated for blood cancer but says he has been cleared by his doctors to run for Speaker. He was severely wounded in a shooting at a baseball practice several years ago.
The growing opposition to Scalise is reflective of an all-too-familiar pattern: a narrow Republican House majority that remains divided on several important issues. The conservative hardliners who toppled Kevin McCarthy seem to have only been emboldened by this ordeal, not weakened.
It also raises questions about Greene’s influence in the GOP conference going forward. Greene was a McCarthy ally from the very beginning, having supported him in all 15 speaker elections last January.
McCarthy rewarded Greene with important committee assignments. She also became a huge part of the conference’s fundraising operation. But even as she was voting against many of his bipartisan government funding bills, she did not support removing him from the speakership.
Since McCarthy was ousted, she had said that she would like to see Donald Trump in the speaker’s chair, even though he is ineligible to be nominated due to his legal troubles. Now she says she’ll be voting for Jordan on the House floor.
Greene’s opposition to Scalise is probably the clearest sign yet that she will not have such easy access to GOP leadership under a Speaker Scalise, or any future Speaker.
The House will return to session at noon Thursday.