After a secret vote behind closed doors, Republicans, the majority in the US House of Representatives, elected Steve Scalise as their candidate for Speaker on Wednesday, October 11th. His nomination by the party – 113 votes in favor and 99 against – suggests the possible end of the soap opera over the successor to Kevin McCarthy, who was removed from his post last week after internal disputes, but without certainty.
The 58-year-old elected official from Louisiana, currently number two in the Republican hierarchy in the lower house of Congress, has received the support of many of the party’s “heavyweights.” He was chosen over Jim Jordan, who chairs its Judiciary Committee, is known for his skepticism of U.S. aid to Ukraine and has been endorsed by Donald Trump.
But to officially ascend to the throne, Mr. Scalise must now pass the crucial phase of voting in the full session of the House of Representatives, which is narrowly controlled by his colleagues – 221 seats to 212 for Democrats – probably the most difficult moment of this process. To be elected he needs 217 votes. This vote could be organized in the coming hours.
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Uncertain vote in the plenary session against the backdrop of disagreements among Republicans
It remains to be seen whether the Republican elected officials who supported Jim Jordan’s candidacy will support Steve Scalise in the vote: The insurrection of just eight Republican elected officials last week was enough to topple Kevin McCarthy, against a backdrop of divisions between the moderates and Trumpists within the party.
Enough to suggest the potential difficulties the new speaker might encounter in his own camp. Last January, it also took fifteen ballots for McCarthy to be nominated – a first in the history of the House of Commons.
But the need not to leave the speaker’s seat further vacant was reinforced by Hamas’s attack on Israel on Saturday, with the House of Commons having to vote on additional aid to the Jewish state, a historic ally of the United States as well as which has been debated for weeks Approval of additional aid for Ukraine.
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“It’s very, very important that this Congress gets back to work,” said Steve Scalise on Wednesday, who had pledged in closed-door discussions the previous evening that he would support Jim Jordan if elected.
The Democratic Party, a minority in the House of Representatives, is primarily a spectator of the chaotic negotiations. During a speech in support of Israel on Tuesday evening, the President of the United States nevertheless called on Congress to take “urgent action” as soon as possible to “fund the national security needs of our partners.”
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Without a speaker, the American Congress cannot vote on a new federal budget. The current budget expires in a few weeks, putting the world’s leading economic power once again at risk of a political and financial impasse.
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