J. Scott Applewhite Associated Press Jim Jordan failed three times to become speaker of the House of Representatives, due to opposition from several of his Republican colleagues.
Kevin Freking – Associated Press, Lisa Mascaro – Associated Press, Stephen Groves – Associated Press, Farnoush Amiri – Associated Press in Washington
5:29 p.m.
- United States
The Republicans on Friday abandoned Jim Jordan's bid for speaker of the House of Representatives, making the decision in a closed session after the hardline ally of Donald Trump failed to win in the third round.
“We asked them, they made a different decision,” Mr. Jordan later said of his colleagues
Also chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he said Republicans in the House must now come together and “determine who will be [the] president.”
The gridlock in the House of Representatives is deepening into a full-blown crisis, with Republicans having no realistic plan to unite the party's fractured majority, elect a new president, and return to work in the paralyzed Congress. since hardliners ousted Kevin McCarthy as speaker earlier this month.
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The leader of majority Steve Scalise said they were going to “come back and do it again” on Monday.
Dissensions
Angry and frustrated, the Republicans, who saw their majority control descend into chaos, left the private session blaming each other for the divisions that they created.
The next steps are very uncertain as lawmakers begin to propose new ideas for a possible president. But it appears that no one can currently achieve a majority in the Republican Party.
“We're in a very bad situation right now,” Mr. McCarthy had said earlier.
In a vote Friday morning, Mr. Jordan's third try, his candidacy was rejected by 25 of his Republican colleagues. A result worse than what he had experienced earlier in the week, and far from the necessary majority.
With a 221-212 Republican majority in the House, any candidate can only lose a few detractors. It appears that no party member can currently secure a clear majority, 217 votes, to become president.
Many viewed the extremism of Mr. Jordan, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, as far-right, disqualified him from the House speakership, a central seat of American power.
“One thing I cannot tolerate or stand for is a bully,” Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Republican of Iowa, said in a statement. She voted against Mr. Jordan in the runoff and said she received “credible death threats.”
Biden's aid plan
It is in this context of blockage in the House and political chaos that Joe Biden requested on Friday a budgetary extension of $105 billion, in particular to support Ukraine and Israel, allies of the United States involved in major international crises. , and respond to the challenges posed by immigration at the country's southern border.
Out of the ordinary, an idea to give the acting Speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry, more powers for the next few months to at least bring the House back into session and conduct crucial business was quickly rejected by Mr. Jordan's ultraconservative allies.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries reiterated that his party is “ready, willing and able” to partner with more mainstream Republicans on the path to reopening the House. Especially since Congress is invited to examine President Joe Biden's aid program for, among others, Israel, Ukraine and the management of the border between the United States and Mexico.
< p>Tone rose during a closed-door meeting Thursday, with Republican factions blaming each other for plunging their majority into chaos, lawmakers reported.
Elevating Patrick McHenry to role A broader House speakership could be a possible way out of the crisis, but it would not be as politically simple as it seems.
Republicans are reluctant to partner with Democrats in a bipartisan way on this agreement, and it is very unlikely that the Republicans will be able to agree to give more powers to Mr. McHenry on their own, since this approach displeases their hard-liners.
Besides , Patrick McHenry himself rejected attempts to take the position more permanently.