Jim Jordan Dropped as Nominee for House Speaker

Republicans dropped Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday as their nominee for House speaker, making the decision during a closed-door session after the Donald Trump ally failed badly on a third ballot for the gavel.

"We need to come together and figure out who our speaker is going to be," Jordan told reporters as he confirmed he would end his bid for the gavel, which places the holder second in line to the presidency.

"I'm going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people. And I'm also going to get back to work."

In the 17 days since Kevin McCarthy was removed in a rebellion by right-wing hard-liners, no other Republican has been able to muster enough votes to replace him, sparking one of the worst institutional crises Washington has seen in decades.

"We'll have to go back to the drawing board," said McCarthy.

The House is now ending its third work week without a leader. That means it cannot act on a $106 billion national-security package unveiled by Biden on Friday that would bolster U.S. border security and send billions to support the war campaigns of Israel and Ukraine.

Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 majority and can afford few defections on party-line votes.

Aside from McCarthy and Jordan, Republicans have also rejected their No. 2, Steve Scalise, who won the nomination last week but dropped out after he was unable to consolidate support.

Scalise said they're going “come back and start over” on Monday.

Lawmakers said they would hear from candidates on Monday evening, with a possible vote on Tuesday. Two Republicans, Austin Scott and Kevin Hern, said they would try for the job, and another, Jodey Arrington, said he would make a decision by Sunday.

Republicans have already considered and rejected a backup option that would allow the House take up pressing matters, like Biden's aid package or funding for the U.S. government that is due to expire on Nov. 17.

That plan would give more authority to Republican Representative Patrick McHenry, who is filling the speaker's chair on a temporary basis. House Democrats and the White House have said they are open to the idea, but Republicans opted not to pursue it on Thursday.

McHenry himself has not publicly backed the plan. 

Jordan's failure has deepened bitter divisions within the Republican Party, extending a weeks-long paralysis of Congress at a time of heightened international tension and with a government shutdown looming in less than a month.

The blocked-House impasse deepening, Republicans have no realistic or workable plan to unite the fractured GOP majority, elect a new speaker, and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.

In all, Jordan lost 25 Republican colleagues in Friday's vote, leaving him far from the majority needed, with next steps uncertain.

For more than two weeks the stalemate has shut down the U.S. House, leaving a seat of American democracy severely hobbled at a time of challenges at home and abroad. The House Republican majority appears to have no idea how to end the political turmoil and get back to work.