USA. Steve Scalise Withdraws From House Speaker Race
The US Legislative Branch is in gridlock, with lawmakers unable to consider any measures, while the Republican Party is in deep crisis.
Steve Scalise is withdrawing from the race for Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Republicans nominated him only on Wednesday, October 11, but just 24 hours later, after a new meeting of GOP lawmakers, Scalise could not get the 217 votes of support he needed to win the election. The reason being, adherers of his opponent, Jim Jordan of Ohio, refused to support him.
During a brief meeting with reporters, Scalise himself confirmed his refusal to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was sensationally removed from office last week by a vote of no confidence. To observers, Scalise’s “no” represents another sign of deep internal dissent within Republicans, who will now have to try to find a new bipartisan candidate.
Speaking to reporters, Scalise acknowledged there were “disagreements that need to be resolved” in the Republican Party, which prevented him from getting enough votes to be elected. He also said he plans to remain House Majority Leader. Republican lawmakers called a new session for Friday morning (evening in Europe) to decide how to proceed. According to some rumors, Republicans could return to the candidacy of Tom Emmer from Minnesota or Jordan himself, but it is still completely unclear who will be chosen to replace Scalise, and in the current situation, it is really impossible to make predictions.
As the Washington Post wrote, “The situation has left the House of Representatives at an impasse, with the Legislature currently unable to consider any measures, either to avoid another possible shutdown in mid-November, or to provide support to Israel during the conflict with Hamas.”
Scalise’s step back left the House without a speaker and plunged Republicans into chaos. Scalise, 58, served in Congress from 2008 to 2014. The American of Italian origin is the majority leader of the House of Representatives, and his role is less important than that of the Speaker. In 2017, Scalise was wounded in the leg by an assailant who shot at some Republican lawmakers to protest the election of Donald Trump as US president.