Staff Reports
It's going to feel like deja vu in the House of Representatives! Byron York of the Washington Examiner said that history could happen again during the next vote for House speaker. With the latest nomination of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), something like what happened earlier this year could happen again.
.@dcexaminer's @ByronYork says House 'could be headed' for repeated speaker voting event
DETAILS: https://t.co/XOVBnC5Gk8 https://t.co/XOVBnC5Gk8
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 12, 2023
Scalise beat Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a vote of clear majority and is now the Republican Party's choice for House speaker. You won't be able to easily become the speaker, though. The problem starts with the fact that Scalise needs 217 votes from the House.
The top political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, York, talked about his worry on Fox News. Simple math shows that the 113 votes for Scalise in the nomination vote and the 99 votes for Jordan don't add up to 217. I think someone needs to work on their math!
This reminds me of what happened in January, when the House voted 15 times before the right person, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), was chosen as speaker. York thinks it might be hard for Scalise to become speaker if the 99 people who voted for Jordan don't support him.
There's no doubt that Republicans in the House are in a tough spot. They only got a narrow majority in the midterm elections of 2022, so they need to work together like glue to get anything done. What a lot of pressure!
Plus, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has publicly said that he will only vote for Jordan, which makes things even more interesting. He hasn't even thought about Scalise or anyone else until Jordan drops out of the race. Miller's vote could have a big effect on the result because Scalise can only afford to lose four votes in the speaker vote.
The events in this story are happening not long after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was removed from his post as speaker. McCarthy is no longer in the running for the job because eight Republicans in the House voted with Democrats to get rid of him. Even worse, McCarthy has made it clear that he will not be running for speaker again. You guys are so rude!
Make sure everyone is buckled up! The House of Representatives may be on the verge of repeating the same mistakes. With 217 votes, Scalise needs to win, but what if the Republicans end up in another messy and never-ending speaker vote? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure: if House Republicans want to get any bills passed, they need to get their act together. This time, let's hope they work together a little more and have a little less trouble!
