It’s not clear when the vote on the speaker will happen.
The House is still not moving because Republicans are trying to choose a new speaker.
After winning the initial GOP nomination, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., spent days trying to get more Republicans to back him. But in the end, he dropped out of the race late Thursday night.
About 10 a.m. Friday, the House GOP will meet to talk about conference rules. Some members of the conference said they hoped to be able to come to an agreement on who should be the next speaker.
It’s not clear how long it will take, though. One Republican, Ohio’s rookie Rep. Max Miller, said he thought it might go on into the weekend.
Miller told reporters Thursday night, “I am very hopeful that we will find someone very soon with 217 by the end of this weekend.”
On Thursday, the Republicans got together behind closed doors to keep talking and negotiating, even though some party members who are still not on board with Scalise say they are not.
Late Thursday night, negotiations went on after the House held a prayer service for the victims of Hamas’s surprise terror attack and attack on Israel.
To avoid being a speaker, Scalise told his coworkers at the second conference meeting that he would not be running.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who was Scalise’s opponent in the race for speaker, could be the next person to be nominated as speaker.
Republicans in Congress have started to say whether they support Jordan. Some support the Ohio member, but it might be hard for him to get 217 votes from Republicans.
Jordan needs 217 votes to become House speaker, but the conference is quickly splitting on whether or not he should run, so he will have to get more support to get there.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said Thursday night, “We need to choose a speaker.” While I backed Steve Scalise, I will also back Jim Jordan if he wants to try to get the 217th. We need to finish this process so we can get back to doing business for the American people.
He did not say anything, though, when asked Thursday night if he would run for speaker again. “Any type of announcement about what may or may not happen I think is best done tomorrow,” he stated.
A few people in the GOP party want to meet until the speaker problem is fixed.
Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, wrote a letter to his colleagues on Thursday afternoon asking them to “lock the door” at the conference meeting and keep going until a speaker is chosen, even if it means skipping the weekend.
The House GOP doesn’t have a clear candidate for speaker yet, so it’s not clear when the House will vote on who will be the new speaker.
“We don’t have a Paul Ryan,” said a top House Republican, referring to Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the House who saved Republicans when John Boehner quit suddenly in 2015.
