Jim Jordan suspends bid for US House speaker, backs Patrick McHenry as interim

Hardline conservative Jim Jordan told his party members he will suspend his bid to serve as speaker of the US House of Representatives and back fellow Republican Patrick McHenry to fill the role on a temporary basis, lawmakers said on Thursday.

The House has been without a leader for more than two weeks, and Jordan has twice failed to secure the 217 votes needed to claim the speaker’s gavel as he has faced opposition from Democrats and more than 20 of his fellow Republicans.

Republican hardliners expressed outrage at the deal. That group had exercised enormous influence in the House through the course of this year, bringing Washington to the edge of default and the brink of a government shutdown in a budget-cutting drive that has had limited success so far.

Asked what he expected as he entered a closed-door meeting with other Republicans, Jordan said only: “I’m not gonna know until I talk to my colleagues.”

In that meeting, Jordan said he would not seek a third vote to win the post and instead will back a plan to empower McHenry to hold the post until January, according to several lawmakers.

McHenry, who has served as acting speaker since Kevin McCarthy’s ousting on October 3, said only: “I’ve no comment. We’re having an active and vigorous conversation.”

That option, which Democrats have also said they might support, would allow Congress to get back to work.

Democratic President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress this week to approve as much as US$60 billion for Ukraine and US$10 billion for Israel, and funding for US government operations is also due to expire in less than a month.

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“I can’t believe we’re going down this route,” Republican congressman Jim Banks said.

The House could vote on that proposal in the afternoon, said Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said she does not support it.

“Our Republican voters worked very hard to give us our majority. And this conference is broken because Republicans worked with Democrats and put us here,” she said.

It was not clear whether Jordan, who is backed by former US president Donald Trump, would drop his leadership bid entirely or continue to try to build support among Republicans.

The prolonged leadership battle has laid bare divisions among Republicans who control the chamber by a narrow 221-212 margin. Investors say the turmoil on Capitol Hill is also contributing to market volatility.

“Right now the Republican agenda, conservative agenda, is totally derailed,” said Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a Jordan opponent.

Jordan would be the third speaker candidate who has fallen victim to Republican infighting. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the job on October 3 by a small group of Republican insurgents. Steve Scalise, the No 2 House Republican, won his party’s endorsement last week but dropped out after he was unable to consolidate support.

Jordan got 200 votes in his first attempt on Tuesday and 199 votes on Wednesday. One opponent, Republican congressman Don Bacon, predicted he would lose another 10 votes in a third attempt.

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Republicans who have voted against him have cited differences on taxes and spending and accuse him of undercutting Scalise’s leadership bid last week. Others have objected to harassing phone calls and even death threats from his supporters.

Jordan’s supporters say he would be an effective fighter for conservative polices in a city where Democrats control the White House and the Senate.

Unlike other leaders in Congress, Jordan built his profile as an uncompromising advocate for the party’s right wing, clashing with Republicans and Democrats alike.

He encouraged government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018 and was a “significant player” in Trump’s attempts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, according to a congressional investigation. He is helping to lead an impeachment investigation of Biden that has so far failed to find evidence of wrongdoing by the president.