On Wednesday, the GOP’s second choice for speaker of the House, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), lost his second attempt to get elected to the position. With the clock steadily counting down until the next government shutdown, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) attempted to float a novel temporary solution: create a “caretaker speaker” with the power to bring new legislation, allowing lawmakers to pass the essential budget bills that were postponed in September.
After discussing the idea behind closed doors for nearly four hours on Thursday, the GOP seemed to have rejected the suggestion.
“The resolution is dead,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told reporters outside the meeting room.
“Even Patrick, to his credit, and to his fidelity to the US Constitution, understands that we cannot just drop powers in the lap of somebody,” Donalds added. “The house has to elect a speaker.”
Now, the Florida lawmaker said, Jordan was “gonna go back and talk to the 22 members” of the House GOP Caucus who voted against him.
On the Democrats’ side, the party is united behind its pick for speaker as Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who leads the Democratic House Caucus. As of yet, neither Republicans nor Democrats have shown interest in a cross-party alliance to elect a speaker and resume normal congressional business, although there are some reports of such talks.
If the House is unable to select a new speaker and pass the essential budget bills by November 17, it will trigger a shutdown of the US federal government, hamstringing many of its non-essential functions.