'A disaster': GOP's top speaker prospect loses votes as Republican House fractures

Negotiations about appointing a new Speaker of the House appear to be breaking down among Republicans, as Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is actually losing votes rather than gaining them, and Republicans are debating trying to find a different candidate just a day after nominating him.

That's what CNN correspondent Melanie Zanona reported seeing on Thursday afternoon.

"Congressman Steve Scalise's bid for the speakership of the House of Representatives now appears to be in very serious jeopardy," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "How are Republicans finally going to break this deadlock?"

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"That is the question of the day, Wolf," said Zanona. "Republicans had this closed-door meeting earlier today, and based on my conversations with lawmakers, it was a disaster. Steve Scalise failed to win any holdouts, and in fact, he seems to be bleeding support. Last night, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna told us she was going to be behind Scalise, but she left that meeting telling my colleague she is going to be voting against him on the floor."

"Things seem to be turning in the wrong direction for Steve Scalise," Zanona continued. "He is meeting in his office as we speak with some of these holdouts, trying to win over their support and assuage their concerns. There are serious doubts whether Steve Scalise can ever get there. That is creating deep frustration in the GOP now. Members are warning they don't have that type of time. It's not like in January they can go through rounds of votes and dealing with a crisis in Israel, and they have another government funding deadline coming up."

"At this moment there are discussions about a Plan B," Zanona added. "If Steve Scalise can't get there, they're talking about drafting a new candidate to step up to the plate. There's a group of centrist Republicans talking about empowering the interim speaker to help the House function more properly. At this moment the House is paralyzed and no consensus on the path forward."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Melanie Zanona says speaker talks are a "disaster"www.youtube.com