The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a new president. Here’s what you should know
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans head to the House on Tuesday for the second time this Congress to try to elect a speaker, marking what they hope will be a unifying moment for a party in turmoil for weeks.
GOP lawmakers are expected To mobilize their votes behind Rep. Jim JordanThe Ohio Republican is scheduled to be the next speaker, despite reluctance from some who worry about his hard-line approach. The conservatives are launching an intense pressure campaign to convince the last opponents to support him.
Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, won the Republican nomination for committee chairman in a secret ballot on Friday. But the second round of voting showed that more than 50 Republicans would oppose Jordan in the chamber, leaving him well short of the 217 votes needed to win the gavel.
Since then, with the help of former President Donald Trump and some conservative media, Jordan has managed to turn a large number of critics in its favor. But he will need the support of almost every Republican to become president, as Democrats are certain to back their nominee. New York. Republicans control the House 221-212.
Here’s what to know before the speaker election:
When is the speaker elected? How does it work?
The House of Representatives is expected to hold its session on Tuesday afternoon to hold what could be the first of several votes to elect a president. It is a presidential election like no other after the impeachment of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, who was Suddenly and unexpectedly he was ousted from this position After only nine months of work.
The President of the Council is usually elected every two years, in January, when the Council organizes a new session. New elections can only be held if the Speaker of Parliament dies, resigns, or is removed from office.
Once the council has a quorum – meaning a minimum number of members are present to move forward – each party will put a name in nomination for council president. Republicans will nominate Jordan, and it is possible that another GOP candidate will come to protest.
Democrats will nominate Jeffries and are expected to vote for him in unison.
Members of the House of Representatives sit while voting on the presidency of the House. It is one of the few times — including the State of the Union address — that all lawmakers are seated in the chamber.
How many votes are needed to elect a speaker?
It takes a majority of the votes of the members of the House of Representatives present and voting.
Once the speaker’s roll call begins, House members are called one by one to announce their choices. The House of Representatives, which currently has 433 members and two vacant seats, will vote as many times as necessary until someone wins.
It is uncertain how many rounds it may take for Jordan to grab the gavel, but his supporters are confident that a public vote will force the remaining holdouts to turn the corner. McCarthy narrowly won the speakership in January In the 15th round of votingafter five painful days.
It is unlikely that it will take Jordan nearly as long to achieve victory. House Republicans are exhausted by weeks of infighting over who will lead the conference, and frustrated by the House’s inability to pass legislation, especially in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Who supports and who opposes Jordan?
Jordan, a darling of the party’s far-right base, still faces opposition from some members of the conference who doubt his ability to lead.
“Being speaker of the House is not the same as being president,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, one of the holdouts, said Friday. “Because you deal with foreign policy, you deal with heads of state, you deal with domestic politics, you deal with security issues.”
He added: “I think there are a lot of questions about whether he can unite the conference and lead it, and whether he can even lead his people, the people closest to him.”
Some Republicans are upset with the way the House Speaker’s race has unfolded.
representative. The majority leader won his colleagues’ nomination for Speaker of Parliament for the first time on Wednesday. Jordan, who came in second place, threw his support behind Scalise, indicating he would support his candidacy when it came to floor and urging the rest of the caucus to do the same. But more than a dozen Republicans refused to support Scalise. Which prompted him to withdraw after one day.
These same members who refused to support Scalise now became the strongest support base in Jordan. They spent the weekend privately and publicly pressuring both of his critics to drop their opposition and become a “team player.” They say that pressure from the party’s grassroots could be decisive in the vote.
“Voting for Jim Jordan is more popular than voting against him,” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Jordan supporter, said in an interview Friday. Before God and country, say a name, and your voters hope you say Jim Jordan.”
