Talked to US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) (R) to Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as the House of Representatives prepares to hold a vote on a new Speaker of the House at the US Capitol on October 18, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Win at Mcnamee | Getty Images
The House of Representatives on Friday will vote a third time on Rep. Jim Jordan to be the next speaker, the Ohio Republican spokesman confirmed to CNBC.
The House will vote on Jordan at 10 a.m. ET, the spokesman said.
The Ohio Republican’s bid to secure the gavel failed in two separate votes this week. Jordan is unlikely to prevail on the third vote because he faces a wall of opposition from 20 Republican lawmakers.
The decision to hold a third vote came after GOP lawmakers scrapped a plan to give interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry the power to oversee passage of the legislation until January.
Jordan said he pitched that plan in a closed-door meeting but the Republican conference didn’t want to advance the idea.
“We’ve decided that’s not where we’re going,” Jordan told reporters. “I’m still running for speaker, and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.”
Jordan supported the plan to empower McHenry as a bridge that would allow the House to move forward on important legislation until the deeply divided Republican conference could come together on a permanent replacement.
Congress faces a fast deadline to pass spending legislation by November 17 to avoid a government shutdown. President Joe Biden also urged lawmakers to pass emergency security assistance for Israel as the Middle East descends into war.
The plan to empower McHenry is a potentially viable option to end the impasse in the closely divided House as Democrats have expressed openness to supporting the measure.
But Jordan’s allies were furious with the plan to empower McHenry for exactly that reason.
“Expanding powers for an interim Speaker is a dangerous precedent and exactly what Democrats hope will happen,” said Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana in a post Thursday on “X.”
Several other GOP lawmakers after leaving the conference meeting said the resolution was dead.
“On reading the room, this thing is dead,” said Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida to reporters.
“It was pretty clear in our conference call that the resolution was not going to be supported,” said Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida. “So I think that’s almost over.”
“I don’t think we’re going to move forward with that resolution,” said Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado.
McHenry said Thursday that he had not spoken to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York or other Democrats about giving him the power to oversee the legislation.
“I’m committed to electing Jim Jordan, the speaker’s nominee, as speaker of the House. That’s my goal, that’s my goal,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters.
House Republicans have been unable to find a candidate with enough votes to become speaker for more than two weeks after a faction of eight GOP lawmakers ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.
The House is paralyzed and unable to pass legislation until lawmakers elect a speaker.
The GOP has a narrow majority in the House, and in the absence of Democratic support any Republican speaker candidate can only lose four votes from within their party.
So far, no Republican has been able to rally the party behind them. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was the original GOP nominee to replace McCarthy, but the Louisiana congressman was forced to drop his bid last week after it became clear he didn’t have the votes.
Jordan, who originally lost to Scalise in an internal party vote for the nomination, then threw his hat back in the ring.
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