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In the United States, the second vote to elect Republican Representative Jim Jordan as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives also failed. Jordan received only 199 votes: to be elected speaker he would have needed 217 votes, all within his own party, since the Democrats’ opposing votes were obvious and certain.
The US House of Representatives has not had a speaker (the analogue of a president) for two weeks, since the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was removed by a motion of no confidence. Before Jordan was nominated, the Republican Party had selected Steve Scalise, the House majority leader and a Republican with more moderate positions, as its candidate for the office, but Scalise himself had given up, realizing that he did not have enough support among Republican lawmakers to reach the position ‘choice.
The Republicans’ difficulties in finding a new speaker are due to the deep divisions within the party, which has leaned towards increasingly extreme positions in recent years and whose political line is often determined by an even more radical and aggressive minority, also thanks to the narrow Majority The Republican majority’s lead in the House of Representatives is only four seats. The votes of eight MPs, including Jordan, were enough for the vote of no confidence against McCarthy. His election as speaker would have been another victory for the extremist component of the party.
Jordan, a congressman from Ohio, is part of this minority of extremist positions. In 2015, he founded the House Freedom Caucus, a group that brings together some of the most conservative Republican representatives. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and fellow party member John Boehner called him a “legislative terrorist” to underline his particularly radical positions. Since 2016, he has become one of Donald Trump’s most loyal allies, being part of his defense team during the first impeachment and then playing a significant role in the attempt to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Since January, he has served as president of the House Judiciary Committee, a position that allowed him to launch some investigations into President Joe Biden.
Jordan had already been voted out of the House by 200 votes on Tuesday, and subsequently some Republicans who did not vote for him said they would be willing to support him in a second vote. However, things didn’t go in his favor: on Wednesday he received one vote less. Of the 199 MPs who supported him, two changed their vote from Tuesday, but four who voted for him in the first round did not do so this time (another who voted for him was absent on Tuesday), leaving Jordan Overall, he lost more votes than he earned.
The decision by several Republicans with more moderate positions not to vote for Jordan and to have to leave the House of Representatives without a speaker represents an unusual show of power, as the Republicans, who represent the traditional identity of the party, have been willing to compromise on several occasions recently with the more radical ones.
– Also read: The Identity Crisis of American Republicans
Given the difficulty of electing a new speaker from among the deputies, the possibility of extending the mandate of Patrick T. McHenry, Republican representative from North Carolina, who has been temporarily carrying out the speaker’s duties in recent days, is being discussed Purpose of managing the votes for new elections. Republicans are discussing the possibility of voting on a motion that would give McHenry the authority to fully assume the speaker’s duties during that period and possibly until Jan. 3 to allow the House to vote on new legislation. In particular, this would allow the House to address the possible shutdown, the partial cessation of U.S. federal government activities in mid-November, and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.