在...之后周三失败的议长投票众议员吉姆·乔丹(Jim Jordan)仍然目中无人,坚持认为即使在失去比前一天更多的选票后,他仍有机会赢得议长的议事槌。
“我们将继续与会员交流。他告诉美国广播公司资深国会记者雷切尔·斯科特说:“麦卡锡议长从被提名到成为议长有两个月的时间。“我们有200张选票,我们得到了大会中支持我们的所有人,所以我们将继续讨论并听取我们同事的意见。”
当被问及是否考虑过退出时,俄亥俄州共和党人乔丹回答说“没有”,并认为他仍然是团结共和党人的最佳人选。
离开国会大厦时,临时议长帕特里克·麦克亨利告诉记者,乔丹将有“只要他需要”的时间来争取选票,共和党人将于周四会面,并可能再次投票。
“我有责任继续选举议长,”他说。"我的努力集中在让吉姆·乔丹当上议长上."
2023年10月18日,在华盛顿特区的美国国会大厦,临时议长帕特里克·麦克亨利主持众议院投票选举新的众议院议长
Mandel Ngan/法新社
但是乔丹的批评者尽管反对乔丹可能会带来政治甚至个人的负面影响,并使该党处于不稳定状态。
“这是一个统一战线,一个正在发展的有机运动,集体决定他不是众议院议长的最佳选择,”共和党众议员史蒂夫·沃马克说。,告诉美国广播公司的斯科特,暗示更多的共和党人反对乔丹,但“捏着鼻子,因为他们害怕反弹。”
“他们都有他们的理由。我也有我的,”他说。“我希望人们至少给予我们尊重我们地位的礼貌。不同意我们,生我们的气,投票反对我们。做你该做的。但请理解,我们都向宪法宣誓,我们正尽力而为。”
内布拉斯加州共和党众议员唐·培根重申了他对乔丹的反对,并表示,由于乔丹的盟友在保守媒体上发起的压力运动,他和他的家人受到了威胁和骚扰。
“我妻子一直收到匿名短信和电话,强迫她让我改变投票,这是不对的...想欺负我老婆是不对的。”
其他潜在的候选人正在准备中,包括众议员汤姆·艾默、迈克·约翰逊、凯文·赫恩和密歇根州的杰克·伯格曼,他是一名退休的海军陆战队中将。
伯格曼的一名助手表示,鉴于乔丹的“狭窄”道路,同事们就议长竞选“接近”了他,并将在第118届国会剩余时间内“在混乱时期”插手“稳定”众议院。
但不清楚他们中的任何一个人能否在议会中获得217票。在乔丹用尽他的选择之前,他们不太可能宣布任何出价。
僵局也导致更多关于临时授权麦克亨利的讨论,临时议长采取支出立法,为以色列和乌克兰提供资金援助,避免政府关闭。
但是这位北卡罗来纳州的共和党人认为他的作用是有限的。他的盟友反驳了这一建议,即他们将与民主党就任何形式的让步分享权力协议进行投票,这是民主党领导人所说的任何合作的代价。
“我们的目标是选举一名共和党人担任议长,因为我们拥有共和党人的多数席位,这也是我们努力实现的目标...我在这里的角色是确定的,但我已经按照规则的规定做了严格的解释,我们不能交易一个演讲者,所以这就是我要看到的,”麦克亨利说。
如果代理议长反对暂时扩大他的权力以使众议院重新运转——而且没有明确的选择可以赢得议长的选票——那国会怎么办?
威斯康星州共和党众议员迈克·加拉格尔告诉记者,他对授权临时议长开创新的“先例”持谨慎态度,这只会在议长之争中一脚踢开。
他说:“更好的解决办法是,如果麦克亨利是那个人,那么我们就提名麦克亨利为那个人(议长),”直到国会结束。
“我们就像消防队的成员。整个城市都有警报。加拉格尔说:“我们不是跳上卡车把以色列、台湾、南部边境、乌克兰等问题解决掉,而是在为谁将坐在副驾驶的位置上而战。”。
“公开表达分歧是好事,但总有一天,分歧会变成功能障碍和瘫痪,我担心我们正在走向那个阶段,”他说。
Jordan defiant after repeated GOP rejections in House speaker voting
AfterWednesday's failed speaker vote, Rep. Jim Jordan remained defiant, and insisted he still had a path to win the speaker's gavel even after losing more votes than the day before.
"We're gonna keep talking to members. Speaker McCarthy had like a two-month runway from when he was nominated until he became speaker," he told ABC Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. "We're at 200 votes, we got a cross section of the conference who is supporting us, so we'll continue to talk and listen to our colleagues."
Jordan, R-Ohio, answered "nope" when asked if he had considered dropping out and argued that he's still best positioned to bring Republicans together.
Leaving the Capitol, Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry told reporters that Jordan will have "as long as he needs" to wrangle votes and that Republicans will meet Thursday and could vote again.
"It's my duty to keep electing a speaker," he said. "My effort is focused on getting Jim Jordan the speakership."
ButJordan's criticswere just as dug in, despite the potential for political -- and even personal -- blowback for opposing Jordan and leaving the party in limbo.
"This is a united front, an organic movement that is now growing, that has collectively decided that he is not the best choice for speaker of the House," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told ABC's Scott, suggesting that even more Republicans oppose Jordan but are "holding their noses because they fear the backlash."
"They all have their reasons. And I have mine," he said. "I hope people will at least give us the courtesy of respecting our position. Disagree with us, be mad with us, vote against us. Do what you've got to do. But understand, we all took an oath to the Constitution, we're trying to do our very best."
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., reiterated his opposition to Jordan, and said he and his family have received threats and been harassed as a result of the pressure campaign Jordan's allies have waged across conservative media.
"My wife has been getting anonymous texts and phone calls to compel her to get me to change my vote, which is wrong ... trying to bully my wife is wrong."
Other potential candidates are waiting in the wings, including Reps. Tom Emmer, Mike Johnson, Kevin Hern and Jack Bergman of Michigan, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general.
An aide to Bergman said he was "approached" by colleagues about a speaker run given Jordan's "narrowing" path and would step in to "steady" the House "in a time of chaos" for the remainder of the 118th Congress.
But it's not clear that any of them can get to 217 votes on the floor. And they aren't likely to announce any bids until Jordan exhausts his options.
The impasse is also leading to more talk around temporarily empowering McHenry, the temporary speaker to take up spending legislation to fund aid for Israel and Ukraine and avoid a government shutdown.
But the North Carolina Republican argues that his role is limited. His allies push back on the suggestion that they would vote with Democrats on any sort of power sharing agreement with concessions, which is what Democratic leaders have said is their price for any cooperation.
"The goal here is to elect a Republican speaker because we have a Republican majority, and that's what we're trying to achieve ... my role here is to be determined but I've constructed that as narrowly as the rules say I should and we can't transact a speaker, so that's what I'm going to see to it," McHenry said.
If the caretaker speaker is opposed to temporarily expanding his powers to get the House working again -- and there's no clear choice that can win the votes for speaker -- where does that leave Congress?
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told reporters that he'd be wary of setting a new "precedent" by empowering a temporary speaker, and that it would only kick the can down the road on the speaker fight.
"The better solution would be, if the McHenry is the guy, then let's just nominate McHenry as the guy [speaker]" through the end of Congress, he said.
"We're like members of a fire department. We're getting all these alarms all over the city. And instead of hopping in the truck and putting them out - Israel, Taiwan, the southern border, Ukraine - we're fighting over who is going to ride shotgun," Gallagher said.
"It's great to have disagreements out in the open, but there comes a point where the disagreement turns into dysfunction and paralysis and I fear we're getting to that point," he said.