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By Nicholas Ballasy, Just the News
10-10-23
While war in Ukraine rages on and Israel continues its war against Hamas, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are competing for the speakership on Wednesday in a high stakes election before the House GOP conference following the House vote to remove of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
The closed-door meeting where the secret ballot election will take place is now underway on Capitol Hill.
Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Scalise made their pitches and took questions at a candidate forum on Tuesday, which multiple GOP lawmakers said didn’t yield a clear frontrunner.
Votes in the House are paused until a speaker is formally elected by a House floor vote. House GOP members have called on Congress to pass legislation to assist Israel in their response to the terror attack carried out by Hamas, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Israelis and 14 Americans. More Ukraine war funding will also be debated in the context of the next spending bill that Congress must pass before the Nov. 17 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
Jordan told House members on Tuesday that another continuing resolution (CR) would have to be put on the floor for a vote to keep the government funded to give lawmakers enough time to pass a larger-scale appropriations bill. Prior to his removal in an unprecedented vote last week, McCarthy put a 45-day CR on the floor that received votes from Democrats to the ire of the conservative wing of his conference.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who sponsored the motion to vacate the chair, and other conservatives argued that the GOP-led House should not be governing by passing CRs. Gaetz advocated for the House passing 12 “single subject” spending bills to fund each cabinet agency separately as a way to curb federal spending. Under McCarthy’s speakership, the House passed 4 of the 12 appropriations bills prior to his ousting over moving ahead with the 45-day CR.
After the forum, Gaetz said on Tuesday that both candidates would be an “upgrade” from McCarthy.
Read the full article here: High stakes House speaker election underway between Jordan and Scalise | Just The News
