Stefanik pushes for GOP unity
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., pushed for Republican unity amid the speakership nomination process, in a post on X.
"As Conference Chair, my goal is to ensure we unify to elect a Speaker to deliver legislative results for the American people to save the country," she wrote.
Jordan enters the meeting
Jordan has entered this morning's meeting. When asked if he would support Scalise for speaker, he said, “I’ll support anyone who can get 217 votes.”
The two lawmakers are pitted against each other for the GOP speakership nomination.
Bilirakus backs Scalise
Rep. Gus Bilirakus, R-Fla., heading into this morning’s meeting says he’s backing Scalise and opposes the rules change:
“You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game”
Jordan pitches Republicans on a plan for government funding
In a closed-door meeting last night, Jordan proposed a novel plan to avert a government shutdown next month and pass spending bills if he becomes House speaker.
He said Congress should pass a bill to extend current funding levels through April, when a 1% across-the-board cut would automatically take effect, suggesting that would give Republicans leverage on appropriations bills in negotiations with Democrats.
His remarks were confirmed to NBC News by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., and a third source familiar with the talks.
House Republicans are considering an internal rule change
Republicans are expected to vote on a change to the rules crafted by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., that would temporarily require a Republican candidate to receive 217 votes — almost the entire 221-person GOP conference — to be considered the GOP nominee for speaker.
If a candidate gets at least 185, but not 217 votes, on the House floor, the rules change would also poll members on whether they would support a candidate receiving a majority of votes on the House floor and move to a roll call vote, rather than a secret ballot after a certain number of rounds.
It’s unclear whether this rule change has the votes to pass.
House GOP to meet at 10 a.m.
The House Republicans will start their closed-door process of picking the next speaker at 10 a.m. The meeting was originally scheduled for 9 a.m. but got pushed to accommodate a different briefing.
The 'McCarthy rule' may change the speaker process
House Republicans have scheduled a closed-door vote for 10 a.m., but it remains unclear how long it will take lawmakers to actually head to the House floor and formally vote for a new leader.
When McCarthy was nominated in January, the process ground to a halt when he lacked the needed votes to win on the House floor. It took 15 rounds of voting before he could secure victory.
This time, Republicans say they won't do the same and are instituting what may henceforth be known as the "McCarthy rule" — requiring that 217 House Republicans sign off behind closed doors.
And that means that while one candidate may have a majority of Republicans after one vote, the process could drag on while they try to wrangle 217 votes before emerging to make it official.
McCarthy tells allies not to nominate him for speaker again
McCarthy might be hinting he's willing to take the job back, but he's been telling his allies not to nominate or vote for him today.
Scalise or Jordan? Republicans will try to nominate their next speaker
House Republicans will huddle behind closed doors today and vote to nominate a successor to McCarthy — but many remained pessimistic that the full chamber will quickly elect the winner.
Whoever wins the secret ballot vote for the nomination will face the arduous task of uniting the party behind them. The nominee will still need to secure a simple majority of all House members, which will translate to getting the votes of at least 217 of the 221 GOP members. Democrats are expected to rally behind Jeffries.
“I put it at 2%,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said last night when he was asked whether Republicans would settle on a speaker this morning.
Former Ohio State University wrestlers say Jordan betrayed them and shouldn’t be House speaker
Four of the former Ohio State University wrestlers who have accused Jordan of failing to protect them from a sexual predator when he was the team’s assistant coach in the 1980s and ‘90s said yesterday that he has no business being the next speaker of the House.
“Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” said former OSU wrestler Mike Schyck, one of the hundreds of former athletes and students who say they were sexually abused by school doctor Richard Strauss and have sued the university. “Is that the kind of character trait you want for a House speaker?”
The wrestlers’ decisions to weigh in adds a new dimension to the speaker race, bringing in a controversial part of Jordan’s past that continues to hang over the Ohio Republican and staunch ally of former President Donald Trump.