GOP STRUGGLES TO FILL POWER VACUUM
Ousted speaker positions himself as a de facto leader
Republicans have no clear idea who will be House speaker, leaving an unprecedented power vacuum in Congress and severely limiting America’s ability to quickly respond to the crisis in Israel — or any number of other problems at home or abroad.
On Monday, the ousted former speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, quickly jumped into the void, criticizing President Joe Biden’s administration over the strength of its defense of Israel and positioning himself as a de facto Republican leader even though his colleagues toppled him from power.
But it’s not at all clear if McCarthy could seriously make a comeback — or if one of the other Republicans seeking the gavel, Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan, can be elected speaker as their majority stumbles into infighting. House Republicans were scheduled to meet behind closed doors Monday evening to try to regain control of their majority ahead of possible speaker votes this week.
“Whether I’m speaker or not ... I can lead in any position I’m in,” McCarthy said at the Capitol.
The upheaval in the House puts Congress at a crossroads during a time of crisis, the first time in history it has booted a speaker from power, operating without a constitutional officer,
second in line to the presidency. House business, and with it most congressional action, has come to a standstill.
It’s not at all clear what, if anything, the Congress can do with only an interim leader. At risk is immediate aid to Israel along with passage of a resolution that would show U.S. support for Israel and condemnation of Hamas for the attack as the region is now engulfed in war.
And there are broader demands on Congress, including Ukraine’s requests
for aid as it fights Russia and the need to fund the U.S. government again by Nov. 17 or risk a federal shutdown. The Senate is also in a recess until next week.
“Does anybody have the votes? No,” said Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, a centrist Republican pushing for McCarthy to be reinstated as speaker.
Republicans were assessing the path forward after McCarthy’s ouster by eight Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Gaetz has said on social media there are “two great
men” running for speaker, indicating he could support either Scalise or Jordan.
But neither Scalise, the majority leader who is the second-ranking Republican in the House, nor Jordan, who is chair of the Judiciary Committee and backed by Donald Trump, appears to have the votes needed to secure the majority vote.
Both Republicans who have eyed the speaker’s gavel for some time come with political strengths, but also baggage that leaves colleagues split and skeptical.
Scalise is battling blood
cancer and is seen as a hero among colleagues for having survived severe injuries from a mass shooting during a congressional baseball game practice in 2017. But the Louisiana Republican had apologized in 2014 after he was found to have addressed a White supremacist group in 2002 founded by a former Ku Klux Klan leader. Scalise said he didn’t know of the group’s racial views.
Jordan is a high-profile political firebrand known for his close alliance with Trump, particularly when the then-president was working to overturn the results of the 2020 election, leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Some years ago, Jordan and his office denied allegations from former wrestlers during his time as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University who accused him of knowing about claims that they were inappropriately groped by an Ohio doctor. Jordan and his office have said he was never aware of any abuse.
“House Republicans need to unite and show the country that we’re fighting for them,” Jordan said Sunday on Fox News.
The House Republicans hold a slim majority, and they are considering rules changes to avoid another spectacle electing a new speaker, like the 15 rounds it took McCarthy in January to win the gavel when Gaetz and others first blocked him at the start of the year.
While the full House ultimately votes on the new speaker, the position usually falls to a person from the party with the majority.
One idea is to require the candidate for House speaker to reach the 218-vote majority threshold during internal voting behind closed doors before the Republicans bring the vote up publicly on the House floor.
Another idea is to change the rule that allows a single lawmaker to make a “motion to vacate” the office — which is the rare procedural tool Gaetz used to force a snap vote that ousted McCarthy. In previous years, it required more the one lawmaker to make the motion.