The House GOP’s long and embarrassing nightmare is over. Or has it just taken a pause? After more than a week of leadership battles and a moribund House, the Republican caucus nominated Steve Scalise as the next Speaker of the House.
It was not by acclamation, needless to say:
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is the GOP’s next pick for speaker.
The Louisiana Republican defeated Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in a secret-ballot vote on Wednesday, securing a simple majority of the GOP conference.
The 113-99 vote count came from Rep. Darrell Issa, although it is not yet official. The split raises the obvious question — can Scalise unite the caucus when it comes to the floor vote, presumably later today? The fact that the final vote total looks to be nine short of the House GOP caucus’ total of 221 seems a bit of a caution on that assumption.
On the other hand, perhaps the events in Israel have provided more of a humbling context in which to proceed. Scalise and Jordan are only really different in temperament; they both supported Kevin McCarthy, and both will face the same obstacles McCarthy did. Having flexed their muscles on McCarthy and facing a choice between going back to work and facing even more scorn over their unseriousness, even the Gaetz Eight and/or the Freedom Caucus has to figure that there’s not much more juice in this squeeze, if there was any at all from the beginning.
Or … maybe not:
Still, given the slim margin, it was not entirely clear whether that coalition would be enough to propel him to victory on the House floor, where he must win a majority to claim the speaker’s gavel. Some Republicans already were vowing to force a fight on installing Mr. Jordan, the far-right co-founder of the Freedom Caucus.
“I’m not switching my vote,” said Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio. “I’m Jim Jordan all the way.”
Well, that’s just peachy. Isn’t that why the caucus held a nomination process in the first place? This is nonsense, and it only makes Republicans look more unserious than their Democrat counterparts.
Anyway, we’ll add updates as events merit, although the actual speaker election in the full House will merit its own post. Meanwhile, let’s hope seriousness prevails, especially as Americans die and are held hostage in the Middle East. That matters a little more than House members’ butthurt over personalities and process.
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