There are people who aren’t on his team, What Rep. Barry Moore said about Scalise
They are expected to meet behind closed doors on Thursday to try to work out their differences before the vote to choose the next speaker by the whole House.
After a vote behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., was chosen as the next Republican candidate for speaker.
But as soon as some GOP lawmakers said they would not back him in a chamber-wide vote, there was little hope that the deal would be sealed quickly in the House.
The hard-line-right House Freedom Caucus met, and Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., said, “They knew I was with [Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio] in the room, and I thought I might go with Scalise if everyone was going to get behind Scalise, that was fine, but it’s just not that way.” “There’s just people that are not on his team.”
On Wednesday, Scalise got 113 votes from Republicans, while Jordan got 99.
Some members were angry that Scalise supporters had voted down an earlier bill that would have raised the number of votes needed to elect a speaker candidate to 217, which is a majority of the House.
“Because I can count votes, I put forward the amendment this morning to say, Let’s figure this out.” The amendment that a lot of GOP members backed was led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. “I’m not a whip, but I can count votes,” he said.
“I just wanted to make it clear that I won’t agree to rushing this to the floor.” We’re going to talk about it and then find out where we’re going.
“But I did not want this to go to the floor before we’re united, and we should have done that this morning,” said Roy.
There was a lot of tension in the GOP party, which was already broken up. After talking with GOP leaders, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the moderate leader of the Main Street Caucus, said that the fighting “does not look good for the House or for the country.”
“Frankly, I think it would be easier in a political environment where people understood that governing requires some give and take,” said Johnson. In negotiations, I never get everything I want. A lot of people here don’t get that, which makes running the country hard. Even though it’s not unique to the Republican Party, it’s very clear in ours right now.
People asked Johnson if Republicans should get together in a room to work out their differences. He laughed, “I would love to be able to lock some people in some places, for sure.”
The way the House is now, a Republican candidate for speaker can lose only four votes and still get the gavel without Democratic backing. At least 11 Republicans have said they will not vote for Scalise as of Wednesday night.
It seems likely that people who support Scalise will try to get a vote scheduled as soon as possible, but it’s not clear when that will be.
Someone from the Republican Party who spoke to Fox News Digital said, “Seems like we are a long way off” when asked if there would be a vote Thursday.
