‘Delaying it is not going to help;’ Republicans divided over next steps amid House Speaker voting

WASHINGTON DC — More than two weeks since Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted, there is still no speaker in the House of Representatives.

Miami Valley Congressman Jim Jordan canceled a third scheduled vote after failing to get the 217 votes needed in the first two votes.

There is still a divide within the Republican party about the next steps.

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Many Republicans say they want to keep voting until a speaker wins, while others want to put a temporary solution in place so that Congress can get back to work in the meantime.

A third vote for the speakership was expected to occur today after Jordan lost the first two rounds of voting, however, the third round never happened.

Instead, Republicans met behind closed doors to discuss the path forward.

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Republicans are considering a resolution to temporarily give more power to the interim speaker Patrick McHenry.

News Center 7′s Samantha Manning spoke with House democrats who say they’re in talks about potentially supporting this proposal.

“I’m definitely leaning towards it. We’re still empowering our leader to get certain concessions,” Rep. Darren Soto (D-Florida) said.

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The specifics of the potential concessions are still unclear.

Republicans who support Jordan told Manning they don’t want a temporary solution and want to keep voting until there is a new speaker in place.

“I wanted it to keep going today and find a way to work with the holdouts to get together so that we can continue to do our work,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said.

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Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) is also among those who believe they should continue voting.

“Delaying it is not going to help particularly with what’s going on in the world,” Norman said.

The timing for another vote for speaker of the temporary resolution is unclear. The House will reconvene tomorrow at 10 a.m.

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