Dear Commons Community,
Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana withdrew yesterday from consideration for the speakership he was on the cusp of claiming after hard-line Republicans balked at rallying around their party’s chosen candidate, leaving the House leaderless and the G.O.P. in chaos.
After being narrowly nominated for speaker during a Wednesday closed-door secret-ballot contest among House Republicans, Mr. Scalise, their No. 2 leader, found himself far from the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor. Many supporters of his challenger, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the right-wing Republican endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, refused to switch their allegiance.
With no clear end in sight to the G.O.P. infighting that has left one chamber of Congress paralyzed at a time of challenges at home and abroad, Mr. Scalise said he would step aside in hopes that someone else could unite the fractious party. As reported by The New York Times.
“I just shared with my colleagues that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate for speaker-designee,” Mr. Scalise said. “If you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together, and it’s not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas.”
His abrupt exit left Republicans back at square one, as fractured as ever over who should lead them and trading recriminations about the disarray in which they found themselves.
They planned a Friday morning meeting to discuss how to move forward.
“Steve won fair and square, and yet we had people who refused to vote for him,” said Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, adding, “If you reward bad behavior, you’re going to get more of it.”
Mr. Scalise’s downfall came after an extraordinary few days on Capitol Hill that put Republican divisions on vivid display. Mr. Scalise surpassed Mr. Jordan during the internal party contest by just 14 votes. But rather than consolidating his narrow base of backers, Mr. Scalise almost immediately began hemorrhaging supporters, as lawmakers from several factions publicized that they did not intend to fall into line behind him.
Then Mr. Trump weighed in yesterday against Mr. Scalise, arguing that the Louisianian was unfit for the speakership because he has blood cancer.
“Steve is a man that is in serious trouble, from the standpoint of his cancer,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News Radio, adding, “I just don’t know how you can do the job when you have such a serious problem.”
Other top House Republicans refrained from publicly rallying around Mr. Scalise, allowing the resistance to fester. Mr. Jordan never made a full-throated endorsement of Mr. Scalise, despite indicating his support. And Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the ousted former speaker who has an icy relationship with Mr. Scalise, said the Louisiana Republican had overestimated his backing and might be unable to recover.
What a mess the Republicans have created in the House!
Tony