Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is the latest Republican who is trying to cobble together enough votes to become speaker of the House of Representatives.
But like Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) before him, it appears that Jordan is well short of the votes needed to secure the job, as members of the caucus who hail from swing districts are balking at making the bomb-throwing Ohio Republican the face of the party.
Given this, reports Semafor, some swing-district Democrats are warming to the idea of giving Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry more powers so that he can bring bills to the floor of the House for a vote in the absence of an official speaker.
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“I think they’re going to go down in flames on that because there’s just no way that Jim Jordan, with Donald Trump’s support, gets to 217 or 218 votes in the House," Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) tells the publication.
Semafor goes on to describe Nickel's plan for empowering McHenry and, in addition to this, getting legislation in the House of Representatives unstuck and moving.
"Wiley is backing a plan that would temporarily expand McHenry’s authority in the House for 15-day increments, and direct him to only bring legislation to the floor that would avoid a government shutdown in November, provide aid to Israel and Ukraine, and deal with the remaining 2024 appropriations bills," explains Semafor. "They’re also asking McHenry be allowed to introduce so-called suspension bills — which are allowed to head straight to the House floor — 'evenly distributed' between Democratic and Republican priorities, to avoid legislation being held up in the GOP-led Rules Committee."
