GOP Nominates Steve Scalise to Be Next House Speaker, but Now What?

House Republicans have formally nominated Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) as the conference’s pick to be the next Speaker of the House. But the nomination doesn’t place the speaker’s gavel in Scalise’s hand. 

Scalise edged out Ohio Republican Jim Jordan with 113 votes to Jordan’s 99, enough to win the nomination in a closed-door conference meeting Wednesday. 

“There is a lot of busy work to do, a lot of work to do on behalf of people who are struggling not only here in America but people all around the world. We have a lot of work to do,” Scalise said after the vote.

The vote didn’t immediately settle the issue, however. 

“Leader Scalise won, but it’s not over. I’m still throwing my support behind Jim Jordan for Speaker and I’m not going to change my vote now or any time soon on the House floor,” said Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Miller and a handful of other Republicans didn’t commit to supporting Scalise in a floor vote in the immediate aftermath of the nomination.

Some Republicans wanted to change a rule requiring 217 votes from the conference in order to secure the nomination. That didn’t happen, meaning the divide could spill out into a floor vote. The future Speaker would need 217 votes on the floor to get the gavel.

“We can’t afford this dysfunction. The nation can’t afford it. The American people can’t afford it. We need a speaker in the chair. We’re in dangerous times right now. We’re in potentially three global conflicts right now, and we cannot afford to not have a speaker in the chair. And the first bill the speaker told me will be my resolution condemning Hamas and praising in support of Israel,” said Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX).

Meanwhile, Democrats have made it clear they’ll only vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries while Republicans work out their differences.

“What we spent our morning talking about was Israel, policy, friendship, alliance, strength, national security. That’s what the Democratic caucus talked about this morning, in classified and unclassified versions. The Republican conference is talking about rule changes and who’s in charge. Dramatic difference,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA).

It took former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) 15 rounds of floor votes and hours of debate earlier this year before he won the speakership. 

Republicans are hoping to lock up enough votes for Scalise before it potentially spills over to another multi-round marathon on the House floor.

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