Scalise withdraws candidacy for top job in Congress

2023-10-13 02:45:37

After a day of agonizing negotiations in the Republican caucus in the US House of Representatives, Steve Scalise gave up on Thursday evening. The majority leader, who narrowly prevailed on Wednesday in a vote against Jim Jordan, the representative of the party’s right, announced in a parliamentary group meeting that he was withdrawing his candidacy for the third-highest state office. He had previously tried in vain to change the minds of around twenty representatives who had announced that they would not bow to the majority vote and would deny the representative from Louisiana a vote in the plenary if elected.

Majid Sattar

North American political correspondent based in Washington.

A week and a half after the fall of speaker Kevin McCarthy, everything was open again. On Thursday evening it was not yet clear whether Jordan would seek the candidacy again. On Wednesday he received 99 votes in the group; Scalise 113. Several representatives who voted for Jordan had made it clear that they would continue to vote for the Ohio representative if it came to a vote in the House of Representatives. Scalise said the group still faces the task of unifying itself. There are still some MPs who pursue their own agenda.

Congress is unable to act without a speaker

Congress remains paralyzed for the time being. Without a speaker, the first chamber cannot carry out its legislative tasks. Since the beginning of October, the federal administration has only been financed through a transitional budget because the House of Representatives was unable to agree on the appropriations laws for a regular budget. Congress is currently unable to approve additional military aid for Israel and Ukraine. Because the legislature is unable to act without a speaker, some Republicans are considering giving interim speaker Patrick McHenry greater authority to restart the legislative process until McCarthy’s successor is elected.

Majid Sattar, Washington Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4 Majid Sattar, Washington Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 37

While the Democratic representatives remained in their offices on call throughout Thursday, as it could not be ruled out that a speaker election would be scheduled in the plenary session at any time, the Republican faction had been meeting in the basement of the Capitol since midday. The statutes actually stipulate that the group must unite behind the candidate who receives the majority of the votes of the group members. But the deviants did not follow the rules. Neither the first parliamentary group meeting in the afternoon nor the individual discussions brought a solution. It was conceivable that Jordan could run again. However, it was not ruled out that a third candidate could be nominated.