Posted on 10/24/2023 7:05:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Their third speaker pick in three weeks lasted barely four hours. Now, with their desperation on full display, Republicans are trying again.
The House GOP is convening Tuesday night for its fourth internal huddle of the day as it hears from yet another unwieldy field of candidates to lead its broken ranks. No one has demonstrated the ability to do what the three previous failed speaker hopefuls couldn’t: unite enough Republicans to land 217 votes on the floor.
Two members of tonight’s five-man field have already run and lost. That includes Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the second highest vote-getter earlier Tuesday.
There’s little hope for relief among the bitterly divided GOP, where the fruitless search for a speaker has become so miserable that some members even floated a return to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as an “assistant speaker.” (The idea has not been taken seriously inside the conference.) Others are again mulling ways to empower acting Speaker Patrick McHenry, maybe even without a formal vote on the floor, an idea that risks significant constitutional challenges.
“It’s going to get more and more difficult to move forward in this process. The animosity is high. The tension is high but we have to put that aside,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said.
Republicans now plan to hold their next internal vote for speaker nominee Tuesday evening, with some — like Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who helped oust McCarthy earlier this month — saying they’re even willing to do it at “three or four o’clock” in the morning. One member, Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, suggested that a late-night session could speed up the process for choosing a speaker as “people get tired.” (The full House, having adjourned, can’t actually vote until at least noon Wednesday.)
In reality, though, many Republicans fear they’ve reached the point where no candidate can get 217 votes on the floor — which means losing no more than four GOP votes. The fracture began even before eight members voted with Democrats to boot McCarthy on Oct 3. Some believe the break is now unfixable.
“Right now, I think it is apparent to the American people that the GOP conference is hopelessly divided,” said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.). “Can it be overcome? Never say never. But the signs are, right now, that this conference is at some kind of an impasse.”
Womack then suggested that Republicans should work to empower McHenry, even if it means testing the “constitutional limits” of his powers — a suggestion that the institutionalist Republican said he doesn’t make lightly.
“It’s sad. I’m sad. I’m heartbroken. Lots of really, really good people left in the wake here,” Womack added.
A visibly frustrated Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) put it another way, calling out the conservative who originally moved to oust McCarthy: “Are we screwed? Ask Matt Gaetz that question.”
He later said he didn’t believe any of Tuesday night’s candidate could get to 217.
Miller belongs to a freshman class that has seen unfathomable levels of turmoil within the House GOP since electing McCarthy for speaker on the 15th ballot earlier this year. In the months after, a gang of GOP hardliners moved to paralyze the floor multiple times to protest McCarthy — before some of those same members ultimately triggered his ousting earlier this month. That final play came after McCarthy moved to prevent a government shutdown on Sept. 30 — while setting up another deadline that’s now less than a month away.
And it’s that looming Nov. 17 funding deadline that’s making House Republicans even more anxious. Without a speaker, the chamber can’t conduct any business on the floor — even if the GOP conference were able to agree on passing its own spending bills.
The deadline carries another threat: Even if Republicans can elect a speaker before Nov. 17, he may not be able to keep the gavel if he, too, moves to avert a shutdown by forging a compromise plan with Democrats.
Whether that glaring leadership vacuum is filled by then, however, is anyone’s guess.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), who ran his own short-lived speaker bid earlier Tuesday, said this on whether anyone can get 217 votes: “if I knew that, I’d be in Vegas.”
It’s a game of chicken. Let’s all pray that the GOPe Reps. do the blinking. They need to lose this one. They created this problem by constantly caving to the Democrats.
This looks like a set up by the dims.
Lock them all into a room with cots and a bathroom. Bring them their meals, and don’t let them out until they have a Speaker.
And Pelosi must be laughing. Dems stick together and Reps are like a jigsaw puzzle with several missing parts.
Yes.
And why? You don’t listen to your voters.
Shows what the right have no real REPUBLICANS/Conservatives.
What a clown show!
Laughing stock of the century!
It’s Johnson’s turn in the barrel...He has oat least 15 or so hours to sell himself as speaker in the GOP dog and pony show.
Not missing parts. Forever lost.
BTTT
It took 5 people to write the article. Lol
NONE OF THE ABOVE
I think it’s safe to say an article in Politico that has 5 authors can be ignored.
The establishment must finally submit.
For decades we have been told to hold our nose and vote Repub
even if we had serious disagreements with Dole, Bush, McCain, Romney, Ryan, Boehner, McCarthy, Cantor, etc etc etc.
Time for the GOP to hold THEIR nose. Our numbers may be smaller in the MAGA Freedom Caucus, but we have finally reached that moment where they get no more cooperation without some results for us.
Shut the whole damned place down until they do it our way for once.
We’ve been screwed for a long time.
Well, McCarthy was voted down by the Unified Democrats supported by some relegates.
These are the real RINO’s.
I actually think this isn’t a dem set up. I think the GOP congress just has too many self-important idiots. They are putting there own personal desires ahead of the good of the country. I think deep down, they loved Pelosi as leader. They never had to produce anything. It’s much easier to complain that fix things. They also got very rich from all the scams, insider trading and other nefarious dealings that no real America First congress member would allow.
Elected officials have long forgotten they are supposed to be servants of the people, not royalty.
Didn’t read the article. Only came by to say, I don’t read articles written by five people, lol!
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