The U-S House is expected to try again tomorrow and elect a new Speaker of the House. Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves says Ohio Representative Jim Jordan is the top candidate but it’s not a given that he’ll get the 217 votes to replace Kevin McCarthy.
“We’re going to have another internal discussion and determine if Jim Jordan has enough votes to bring it to the floor. Ultimately that’ll be up to Jim Jordan and he’s going to have to make a determination on whether or not it makes sense to go to the Floor.”
Jordan can only afford to lose no more than four party votes from a 221-212 House Republican majority. Garret says the house is unable to do legislative business and there are a lot of issues that hang in the balance.
“I spent time talking to a number of different folks about how urgent these conditions are in terms of things like the southern border – Israel, the Ukraine, and Taiwan situations, the appropriation situations that affect issues right here in Louisiana.”
More than fifty Republicans voted against Jordan in a vote on Friday after House Republican Steve Scalise withdrew his bid after being chosen as the party’s first nominee, due to opposition from Jordan supporters. Graves says the focus should be selecting a Speaker so the House can conduct business.
“Whether we take Patrick McHenry and give him some type of interim authority whose the Speaker Pro Tem today, or we actually coalesce behind a Speaker candidate. I’m in but my goal is restoring functionality to the House.”
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