Jordan to run again for Speaker as backup plan fails

Jim Jordan says he will seek a third vote in his bid to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives after Republicans abandoned a backup plan.

The Ohio congressman earlier indicated he would hit pause and back a temporary proposal allowing acting Speaker Patrick McHenry to run the House.

But Republicans railed against the move, some reportedly shouting and swearing, in a tense meeting Thursday.

The lower chamber of Congress has had no leader for the past 16 days.

Without a Speaker in place, the House is unable to pass bills or approve an impending White House request for aid to Israel and Ukraine.

After the meeting on Thursday, Mr 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.”

His spokesman, Russell Dye, said the House would hold a third Speaker vote when it opens for business at 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Friday.

But, in consecutive votes over the past two days, Mr Jordan has failed to get more than 200 votes. He needed 217 – a majority in the chamber – to win the gavel.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman has faced criticism over intimidation tactics and even death threats against lawmakers from some of his backers.

Ken Buck of Colorado, who firmly rejects Mr Jordan’s nomination, predicted to the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Republican defections could grow from the current 22 to 30 or 40.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Jordan had told colleagues he would not hold any more votes for now and would instead back a proposal for Mr McHenry to conduct the House’s business for a month or more.

Mr McHenry, a bow-tied lawmaker from North Carolina, was appointed interim Speaker following the unprecedented vote to oust Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

He has taken the view that he has only limited authority to preside over floor votes and the selection of a permanent Speaker, in line with succession procedures put in place after the 9/11 terror attacks.

But legal experts argue that, as long as a majority of the chamber is in favour of expanding his authority, the House can function largely as normal.

Members of both parties, including two former Republican Speakers, have floated the option of extending Mr McHenry’s powers until January to allow him to preside over urgent legislative matters.

That could potentially enable Mr McHenry to be the person that shepherds through legislation to avert a government shutdown next month, and aid packages for Israel and Ukraine.

Republicans who support the idea have said the House must move on with its business rather than prolong its internal divisions.

“We have to get the conservative agenda back on track,” said Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, who has so far declined to back Mr Jordan.

Nebraska’s Don Bacon, another anti-Jordan defector, said: “McHenry has 100% of my support. I love McHenry.”

But several more Republicans erupted over the proposal, with tempers flaring at a lengthy closed-door conference.

Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman who led the coup to remove Mr McCarthy, slammed the idea to empower Mr McHenry as a “constitutional desecration”.

“We need to stay here until we elect a Speaker and, if someone can’t get the votes, we need to go on to the next person.”

Mr Gaetz also said that Mr McCarthy had screamed at him and another colleague had lunged at him in a meeting earlier on Thursday that felt “like a Thanksgiving dinner”.

“I think the entire conference screamed at him,” Mr McCarthy. a California Republican, told reporters when asked about the confrontation.

Jim Banks, a conservative Indiana lawmaker, predicted half the party would vote against the measure and said it was a betrayal of Republican voters.

Others, including New York Republican Elise Stefanik, said electing Mr McHenry amid internal opposition would “create a Democrat backed coalition government”.

“We must work to unify Republicans” behind Mr Jordan, the congresswoman wrote on X.

On Thursday, Democrats did not say whether they would back Mr McHenry as Speaker.

But some indicated they were open to the idea, with California’s Lou Correa telling the BBC: “We’ve been without a Speaker for a number of days.”

“I’m hearing the rumour is to give him [McHenry] power until January – I’ll take it,” he added.

But multiple Republicans emerged from their party conference declaring the option “dead”.

With Mr Jordan now pursuing a third Speaker vote, Democrats will probably once again vote unanimously for their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as they have done in previous votes.

With no alternatives to Mr Jordan or Mr Jeffries emerging this week, there is no end in sight to the House’s leadership crisis.