Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) will not seek a third vote for House speaker and instead is backing a plan in which Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry will be vested with an interim speakership to get the chamber running again.
What’s unclear is whether there are enough votes to even pass that resolution. Some Republicans exiting a closed door meeting expressed anger and frustration.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) called the plan a “big mistake” and told reporters that it “walking Republicans off the plank” and handing power to Democrats. He predicted that more than half of Republicans would vote against it, and that it would take “Democrats to make it happen, and that is a historic betrayal to our Republican voters if we go along with it.”
“We don’t deserve the majority if we go along with a plan to the Democrats control over the House of Representatives,” Banks said.
Democrats also were meeting today, with speculation that a number of lawmakers will get behind the plan.
Under the plan, Jordan reportedly would still be in the speaker race, but that vote would be put off until January. He has been unable to lineup the 217 votes necessary to clinch the speakership, and support for him dropped in the vote on Wednesday. Some hold out GOP members complained that they received death threats and other harassment after they refused to back him. Jordan condemned those threats on X/Twitter on Wednesday, but his detractors had already complained of a right-wing media pressure campaign over last week to get them to support him.
More to come.
