Conservative Jim Jordan told fellow Republicans that he has dropped out of his bid to be president of the House of Representatives of the U.S and will support Republican Patrick McHenry to temporarily occupy the position, deputies said this Thursday (19).
The House has been without a leader for more than two weeks, and Jordan, who was supported by Donald Trump, for the second day in a row, did not reach the 217 votes needed to fill the vacant seat of Speaker of the House, as 22 Republicans and all 212 Democrats voted against him.
The hard line of Republicans expressed outrage at the agreement. This group has exerted enormous influence in the House this year, bringing Washington to the brink of default and close to a government shutdown in a campaign of budget cuts that has had limited success so far.
Asked what he expected going into a closed-door meeting with other Republicans, Jordan said, “I won’t know until I talk to my colleagues.”
At that meeting, Jordan said he would not seek a third vote to win the seat and would instead support a plan to leverage McHenry into the seat by January, according to several deputies.
McHenry, who has served as interim speaker since the dismissal of Kevin McCarthy on October 3, it stated: “No comment. We are having an active and vigorous conversation.”
That option, which Democrats also said they could support, would allow Congress to get back to work. Democratic President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress this week to approve up to $60 billion for Ukraine and $10 billion for Israel, and funding for U.S. government operations is also set to expire in less than a month. .
“I can’t believe we’re going down this path,” said Republican Rep. Jim Banks.
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Possible vote this afternoon
The House could vote on the proposal in the afternoon, said Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said she does not support it.
“Our Republican voters worked hard to give us a majority. And that conference was cut short because the Republicans worked with the Democrats and got us here,” he said.
It was unclear whether Jordan, who is backed by former President Donald Trump, would abandon his leadership bid entirely or continue trying to build support among Republicans.
The long leadership battle has revealed divisions among Republicans, who control the House by a narrow margin of 221 to 212 Democrats. Investors say the turmoil on Capitol Hill is also contributing to market volatility.
“Right now, the Republican agenda, the conservative agenda, is completely derailed,” said Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, an opponent of Jordan.
Jordan would be the third candidate for President of the House who has fallen victim to infighting. Kevin McCarthy was removed from office on October 3 by a small group of Republican insurrectionists. Steve Scalise, the House’s No. 2 Republican, won party support last week but withdrew after failing to consolidate it.
Jordan had 200 votes in the first attempt on Tuesday and 199 votes on Wednesday. One opponent, Republican Rep. Don Bacon, predicted he would lose ten more votes on a third try.
Republicans, who voted against Jordan, cited differences over taxes and spending and accused him of undermining Scalise’s leadership bid last week. Others objected to telephone harassment and even death threats from his supporters.
Jordan’s supporters say he would be an effective fighter for conservative policies in a city where Democrats control the White House and Senate.
Unlike other leaders in Congress, Jordan built his profile as an uncompromising defender of Republican party coming into conflict with both Republicans and Democrats.
He encouraged government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018 and was a “key player” in Trump’s attempts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, according to a congressional investigation. He is helping lead an impeachment investigation into Biden, which has so far failed to find evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
Source: CNN Brasil
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