As House Republicans reconvene to try to elect another Speaker eight days after ousting Kevin McCarthy, one top reporter is delivering a tough assessment of their performance and actions over this year and the current state of the GOP conference.
Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman, who is also an MSNBC/NBC News political analyst, blasted the GOP just before 9 AM on Wednesday.
“In an hour and a half, House Republicans will head to 1100 Longworth to elect a speaker,” Sherman writes.
“I’ve never seen the House Republican Conference so discombobulated, rudderless and confused in my time covering Congress,” he observes. Sherman is the author of the 2019 book, “The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump’s America.”
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“They said they’d spend the fall passing bills using regular order, instead they’ve booted their speaker and are warring over the next one,” he continues. “They are rewriting the rules for the election the day of the election after criticizing states for doing that in 2020.”
Pointing out the extraordinary security measures being implemented, Sherman reports, “They are taking the cell phones of elected officials when they go into meetings — these are adults with staffs who are not able to bring their electronics into party meetings.”
“This speaker election could go a while,” he warns. “Two weeks now on an internal party matter with govt funding expiring in a month and change.”
In his last major act as Speaker, McCarthy passed bipartisan legislation, a continuing resolution to keep the federal government from shutting down. Currently, the government can remain open until Friday, November 17, the week before Thanksgiving. There are five weeks and two days until the clock runs out.
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Punchbowl News this morning adds “this is as discombobulated and disorganized as the House GOP conference has been for more than two decades. They’re leaderless, angry and upset over how they got here and worried about what’s next. There’s backstabbing, bad blood and mistrust. Evidence: After preaching unity for the last week, Jordan declined to say openly whether he’ll back Scalise if the Louisiana Republican wins the nomination for speaker. And that may cost him some votes.”
Meanwhile, neither of the top two Republican candidates for Speaker, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, reportedly have anywhere near the necessary 217 votes to win the majority and the gavel. Jordan has said he does not want a battle on the House floor, he wants consensus before any vote. In January, it took Republicans 15 vote attempts – and many concessions – before McCarthy finally won.
Democrats are again totally united behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who unanimously won their nomination for Speaker Tuesday night.
Experts suggest no House business can be conducted – no legislation voted on or passed – until a Speaker is in place. That means any potential funding for Israel is on hold until Republicans choose a leader. And any funding for Ukraine, given both Jordan’s and Scalise’s positions, is unlikely even after a Speaker is chosen.