Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, still faces an uphill climb to the House speakership, with at least 10 to 20 Republican members who oppose his nomination, CBS News has learned, based on background conversations over the weekend with six key House Republicans and more than a dozen sources familiar with the deliberations.
“At least 10 to 20,” one of the House Republicans told CBS News on Sunday, while another added that that Jordan’s support has grown incrementally in recent days but remains soft.
While Jordan’s confidants remain optimistic that he can get to the necessary 217 votes Tuesday, when the House is scheduled to bring a vote to the floor, several who are more critical of Jordan privately insisted this weekend that at about a dozen Republicans remain unwilling to support him, due to their frustrations over how Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, was treated during his speaker bid and their simmering anger over the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They also are wary of whether Jordan can handle the intensity of the challenges facing Congress in the coming months.
The clock on the 45 day continuing resolution that Gym Jordan did NOT vote for runs out in November.
Unless a budget is passed, government will shut down: this is what Jordan wanted the last time, and McCarthy out-maneuvered him.
So add a shutdown government to the current crises, at the very least, as well as the fact that he will not bring any legislation to the floor for a vote that does not have unanimous or close to unanimous GOP support (Hastert rule) and I think it’s safe to say that pretty much all government will bottleneck at the House and cease to function unless someone else becomes Speaker.
That, and he becomes third in line for President. Whether any succeed or not, just putting Jordan that close to the presidency is going to light a flame under all manner of nasty right-wing homemade succession plans.