Temporary Speaker McHenry threatens to quit
In a closed-door meeting last night, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told GOP colleagues he might resign as speaker pro tempore if Republicans push him to try to move legislation on the floor without an explicit vote to expand his powers, according to multiple lawmakers in the room.
“If you guys try to do that, you’ll figure out who the next person on Kevin’s list is,” McHenry told the room, three sources said, referring to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s secret list of GOP lawmakers who would serve as temporary speaker in the event of a vacancy.
McHenry’s comments underscore the quandary Republicans are in: They can’t really do anything until they choose a new speaker, but they can’t agree on someone who can get the votes to be that new speaker.
And McHenry is unwilling to set a precedent that would give future temporary speakers the full power of speakers who are elected on the House floor. It could mean that the House wouldn’t need to elect speakers in the future.
Jim Jordan’s effort to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry collapses
An effort backed by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry of North Carolina collapsed yesterday after it became clear it wouldn’t get enough support from House Republicans.
Jordan, the GOP’s latest nominee for speaker, who lost two rounds of votes this week, had floated the idea of temporarily empowering McHenry while he worked to shore up enough support for his own candidacy, according to three sources. The plan would have empowered McHenry until January, the sources said, allowing legislative business to continue in the face of two wars and a looming government shutdown.
But after leaving a heated, 3½-hour closed-door meeting with GOP members, Jordan said empowering McHenry was not a viable option. He said that it was a way to “lower the temperature and get back to work” but that “we decided that wasn’t where we’re going to go.”
Jordan reiterated that he was not planning to drop out of the race.